The Handmaid's Tale 13

"I look around me again. The men are not homogeneous, as I first thought." (236)

Offred went into the bar with the Commander expecting all of the men to be white and homogeneous. When she went in, however, she realized that there were many different races, all dressed differently, all mingling. Atwood must have done this to show the reader that despite the fact that it was highly illegal at that time for Offred to be there, sexuality was still prominent more or less in underground societies, and that it wasn't a wrong thing to do. The Commander was taking a huge risk by bringing Offred there, but he was willing to do it because he was aware that you can't just extinguish sexuality in human beings, and that it's completely normal.

Works Cited:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homogeneous

Image:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?strucID=699869&imageID=816991