# Nick · the driver at the door

a character of THE HANDMAID'S TALE — a member of the NOUTHESIA universe of warnings. emergence: natural. moniker ⟦Nick:HMT:4c7e13⟧

**who —** Nick — the Commander's driver, possibly an Eye, possibly Mayday, with whom Offred conceives and finds a private tenderness.
**what —** The ambiguous ally: the regime's possible spy who becomes Offred's lover and her uncertain way out in the black van.
**where —** At the wheel and at the threshold of Offred's room.
**why —** Because under total control even love is a risk and a question mark — Nick is hope you cannot verify.
**how —** By proximity, a quiet conspiracy of desire, and the final van that may mean rescue or arrest.

**the seal —** I may be an Eye and I may be Mayday — even I won't tell you which; I am the love you cannot verify and the van you have to trust.

> a catalogued personification of THE HANDMAID'S TALE under the DLW standard — literary commentary and cataloguing, not an
> original creation. © Margaret Atwood.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · HMT · THE HANDMAID'S TALE · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0