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Nick is a Guardian assigned to the Commander’s home, although he lives in a private studio in the carriage house as opposed to the main house, which gives him a relative degree of privacy and independence compared to Offred and the Marthas. Nick’s main roles in the household are chauffeuring the Commander and helping to tend to Serena Joy’s garden. He appears to be somewhat low status, considering he has not been given a wife, but his relaxed, confident behavior strikes Offred as out of place for a man in a servile position. Consequently, Offred is both intrigued by and suspicious of Nick. On the one hand, Nick’s flirtatious interactions with Offred suggest that he might not be a true believer, and that he could be exhibiting subtle rebellious behaviors in Offred’s company to show her that he has not been brainwashed by Gilead. However, on the other hand, Offred is terrified that Nick’s nonchalance stems from the fact that he is secretly an Eye, and that he may deliberately be testing Offred by initiating forbidden encounters to sniff out insurgents. Like Ofglen, Nick’s character exhibits how successful Gilead has been in creating a state of terror, in which it is exceedingly difficult for citizens to parse whether their companions are trustworthy.
Nick and Offred have a brief romantic encounter even before Serena Joy meddles in their relationship, which thrills the lonely and touch-starved Offred. However, after Serena Joy gives her initial permission for Nick and Offred to secretly have sexual intercourse in the hopes of impregnating Offred, the two begin a genuine affair. Nick seems to share an unspoken understanding of and sympathy for Offred’s need for sex and physical affection, but he also makes it clear that they are not to form a romantic bond. Nick’s hesitancy to cultivate any sort of emotional intimacy with Offred suggests that, despite the leniency he enjoys as a male in Gilead’s patriarchal order, he’s afraid of taking too many risks. He’s already risking his life and his good standing with the Commander by carrying out an illicit affair with Offred – falling in love with her would make him vulnerable to Gilead’s tactics of using the attachment between partners and family members to control people’s behaviors via threatening, torturing, or killing their loved ones should they fail to comply with the regime. Despite this, Nick does appear to care for Offred to a meaningful extent, considering that he procures an escape method for her after Serena Joy discovers her forbidden nighttime escapades with the Commander. Nick’s assistance in Offred’s escape no doubt puts him at great personal risk. Although, there’s also the possibility that Nick is an Eye, and that he isn’t helping her at all, but rather luring her into even greater danger. The novel’s epilogue reveals that Offred at least made it to the Canadian border, which would imply that Nick did in fact aid in her escape from Gilead. This information suggests that Nick may have secretly been a rebel, and that he was exceedingly intelligent and patient, managing to ingratiate himself with a powerful family and work against Gilead from the inside without ever bringing suspicion on himself.
