Who is the better narrator: the victim or the perpetrator? The ability to analyze a victim’s reaction in response to the perpetrator’s actions determines the reader’s understanding of the storyline as a whole. Thus, the ultimate consideration in evaluating a victim’s state of vulnerability and repression at the hands of his or her accuser is the victim’s voice, which provides a crucial yet often neglected perspective to any story. In The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, Offred’s character serves as both the narrator and an embodiment of her society, who has fallen prey to a coercive government known as the Republic of Gilead. Throughout the novel, Offred’s tone comes across as unfeeling and diffident, as she continuously understates the extent of her trauma and robotically repeats the words of her superiors playing in her mind. Atwood’s illustrious tone serves to showcase how Offred is…show more content… Many people are naturally inclined to trust the victims, because they are often more relatable; consequently, the perpetrator’s character can be wrongly perceived because of initial prejudices. However, most perpetrators use rationale to blame someone else or even the victims themselves. For example, in Vladimir Nabokov’s graphic novel Lolita, Humbert, both the narrator and perpetrator, attempts to convince the reader that his victim, Lolita, deserves the suffering he inflicts on her due to her shallow nature. Because of this limited point of view, the readers’ only vision of Lolita is through Humbert’s eyes, resulting in a lack of understanding of her true personality amidst Humbert’s attempt to debase her character . When deceitful perpetrators like Humbert tell the story solely from their point of view, they deprive the victims of the ability to portray their own suffering and receive empathy from the
