The Handmaids Tale Written by Margaret Atwood - Essay Example

THE HANDMAID’S TALE The Handmaid’s Tale Dystopian novels would normally portray the future world featuring exaggerated aspects of contemporary happenings. The Handmaid’s Tale written by a Canadian author named Margaret Atwood is a work of science fiction set in a not-too-distant future, where an oppressive government of patriarchal theocracy is ruled by the religious fundamentalists known as the Sons of Jacob. The totalitarian regime affects people’s lives, particularly women, who are subjugated and deprived of their rights and freedom. The saddening story is a narrative by a protagonist named Offred, a handmaid who faces ills of societal oppression initiated by a male-dominant society. The story mainly explores the themes of control and women subjugation in the ill-fated society. The complex ways in which Sons of Jacob control the Gilead’s people and the ways anti-feminism is indoctrinated throughout the story are analyzed in detail. The narrative provides a clear view of the ways feminism has gone awry in the near future with the rise of patriarchy which in-turn was controlled by the religious totalitarianism. Set in the near future, the dystopian world is marked with rigid laws and women subjugation by a totalitarian Christian theocracy called Sons of Jacob. After the assassination of the president, a group of Right-wing fundamentalists take control of the entire State through a military coup and establishes the Republic of Gilead. The state was founded with the desire to restrict freedom and control every aspects of the society. “The Gilean government maintains its power by means of surveillance, suppression of information, ‘re-education’ centers, and totalitarian violence”.1 Owing to the pollution and radiation, the society sees a steep increase in sterility among men and women, which declines the birth-rates to dangerous level. Because of the declining birth rates, the oppressive puritan government of Gilead focuses on increasing its population by recruiting handmaids to repopulate the state. Offred was assigned to bear children for the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, an elite couple who have trouble conceiving. The freedom of Offred is completely restricted by the totalitarian government. “Offred in The Handmaids Tale is victimized by a totalitarian system that attempts to control her thoughts and deny her humanity”.2 She is allowed to leave the house only for shopping trips and her monthly doctor visits. Even when she is away from home, her every public move is watched by the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force. She is forced to thrive in a life of constant oppression, void of any emotions and sexual desires. The men of Gilead society hold inordinate power and control over every woman in the society, depriving them of their rights and desires. The extremity of control in the Gilead society even goes to the extent of not allowing the women to read, write, or even talk with others who are in the higher level of hierarchy in the society. They were denied of things that would help them to lead an independent life, so that they would remain subjugated under the men’s control. When Offred recounts her present life, she often slips into flashbacks, remembering her past life. When the Gilead came to power, her marriage with a divorced man was declared void, despite her having a child. Since the women in the society were deprived of their rights, she was forbidden to hold job or any kind of property. Even her attempts along with her husband and daughter to escape ended in failure, as they were caught up and separated by the military and sent to the Re-education center. She had no traces about the existence of her husband or daughter. The ‘Red center’ thereafter indoctrinated her about the traditional ‘values’ and ideology of the Gilead society. Aunt Lydia played a major role in preparing her to become a handmaid. The beliefs of Gilead were focused on keeping women subservient to men. In addition, women were objectified because they were mainly used as a physical source for child-bearing. This ideology was justified through the argument that such a restricted social order might in a way offer respect and protection for women, when compared to the conditions of the women in the pre-Gilead period. The entire notion of freedom was distorted as “Freedom to and freedom from.” She was instructed that, “In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Dont underrate it”.3 Offred’s restrictive routine at the Commander’s house started changing when she was instructed to have frequent secret visits to the Commander’s study. Her Scrabble play with the Commander, visit to the Jezebel’s pub, and their nighttime conversations revealed her the realities of the Gilead regime. Apart from that, she comes to know about the Mayday, an underground organization dedicated in overthrowing the Gilead through Ofglen. Later, Offred was persuaded by Serena to have a secret sexual relationship with Nick, the Commander’s chauffeur, for bearing a child for her husband, and in exchange for her cooperation Serena promised Offred to give her long-lost daughter’ photograph. Soon, the affair between Offred and Nick gets passionate, without anyone’s knowledge and they began to rendezvous frequently. So, in these sections, Offred is able to operate without much control and other restrictions. However, this relief from the control is short-lived. On knowing that Serena had found out her relationship with the Commander, Offred contemplates suicide. However, Nick insists her that the Eyes are actually the Mayday members coming to offer her help. She reluctantly goes with the men, not knowing whether she is escaping or being captured. The novel concludes with an uncertain future for Offred as she is being taken away by the Eyes. The epilogue of the novel is in the form of a transcription read by a professor sometime in the distant future. It implies that the Gilead regime has collapsed and a new society has re-emerged granting the people with freedom of religion and equal rights for women. The control and resistance to that control are the two key themes occurring throughout the novel’s setting. Not only is control a pivotal feature in the novel’s plot, it consequently leads to the subplots, affecting the characters and the entire society. Every aspects of life including recreation, sex, and family life are controlled oppressively in the Gilead’s society. Especially women only have light or no freedom in their day-to-day life and are totally stripped of their rights. They are restricted from any sort of activity and are assigned to perform only the role of child-bearing and child-rearing. This clearly implied that women were severely controlled and only held a powerless position in the patriarchal structure. “Most women in this new society experience very little freedom due to the fact that they essentially belong to their male commanders and must submit to their will, based on the ideological framework of a Biblical precedent from thousands of years ago”.4 Resistance to this controlling is also widely featured in the novel’s setting. However, these resistances resulted in more ill-effects to the people. Resistance by the people of Gilead is represented through threatening colonies as well as the women’s bloodshed execution customs that are called as ‘Salvaging’ and ‘Particicution’. Moreover, the Sons of Jacob had so much control and immense power that they would brutally slay anyone who shows resistance. This clearly shows that although there was resistance to this control, those resistances were destroyed by the authorities. The way that a patriarchal system controls the female sexuality through its power structure in the society is well exposed throughout the novel. The society completely restricts female expression in any form, particularly their sexual expression or desire of any kind. Women are indoctrinated to stay contented with their current circumstances as they are manipulated to believe that the current restrictions is kind of protection for them. The entire society betrays and subjugates the women, particularly the Handmaids, who are stripped of their identity and left to live with impersonal relationships. The way that every household is reined by its male member shows the domestic totalitarianism existing in the society. Moreover, women operate in a power-dominated ménage à trois relationship, where there is no absolute freedom or self-expression. The male-dominant society has deprived them of all thinking and emotions like sex, justifying it to be a means of self-preservation. This could be evident from the novel’s characters such as Aunt Lydia and Serena who tend to indoctrinate or advocate the ‘values’ of Gilead society into the minds of other women. When Offred mentions, “where I am, is not a prison but a privilege”, it shows her unwilling contentment that is indoctrinated into her by the Red Center.5 The Gilead society totally takes control of the women’s bodies, objectifying it as a vessel of procreation. “Offred understands very well how much her body and her womb have been objectified, and how much she is reduced to the basic level of biological function of a female body, and that makes her even more anxious to restore her subjectivity.”6 Many of petty pleasures were denied for the handmaids, mainly because it would affect the health of their bodies which is only intended for the purpose of child-bearing. Offred’s thoughts about smoking reflect her longing for freedom-filled past life. During her past life, she had complete control of her body and had the right to do anything independently, irrespective of whether it would affect her body in a positive or negative way. The Gilead’s restrictions regarding cigarette smoking is not for the purpose of promoting good values in the society but mainly appear to be a opportunist move. That is, although restricting handmaids from smoking could be healthy move, Gilead did that not considering the handmaid’s health but to make the process of child bearing a healthy affair. Everything that she independently did and enjoyed before were restricted by the Gilead for the sake of maintaining a powerless position for the women. The control exerted by the Sons of Jacob in the Gilead society was probably the key reason for the establishment of patriarchal anarchy. The selfish nature and the controlling mindset of the founders of Gilead can be evidenced from the ways they try to put down the freedom and rights of women, for the sake of gaining power. As the Commander notes to Offled, the reasons behind the Gilead foundation was to restore a purpose into men’s life, which was lost in the era of feminism and sexual revolution. Since the men in pre-Gilead period had easy access to everything they desired, particularly women and sex, there was nothing for them to pursue. The lack of motivation and a feeling of void-ness within them possibly created an ‘inability to feel’. According to the Commander, the life at Gilead society had brought meaning to men’s life making them happier and fulfilled. However, he fails to recognize that such a sense of worthiness for men comes at the cost of human misery, women oppressiveness, and ghastly lifestyle for the entire society. When Offred questions him of her unhappiness at the Gilead society he remarks that, “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. We thought we could do better.” He callously adds that, “better never means better for everyone. It always means worse, for some”.7 The sexual oppression of women in the novel can be clearly observed at various instances. For example, when the ‘Ceremony’ takes place, Offred is not allowed to touch or derive any pleasure from the act. She has to submit to her Commander and his wife for a wordless, impersonal sex. They are not supposed to reason out any of the ideas or show off their emotions. It is surprising for the readers to note that the women in the novels are complied with their roles even after being subjected to oppression and abuse. Whatever roles have been assigned to them, they tend to permit that abuse and even perpetuate that abuse among and against themselves. “She allowed herself not to question the way women were displayed, adjusting to that image in order to gain personal success, something that would probably not have been possible if she had questioned the official “truth” of women”.8 It can be clearly observed that women in Gilead are controlled by the theocracy and are at a vulnerable position to men. In the life of Offred, she was many times left with no choice but to comply with the desires of men and even her Commander’s wife for the sake of securing her life or from being sent to the colonies. Not only is Offred sexually abused by the men such as the Commander, his chauffeur, Nick and the doctor, she is also subjected to domestic and emotional abuse by Serena and other women in the society. Control in Gilead dominates all aspects of life, from minor aspects such as dress codes and food restrictions, all the way up to how, when, and with whom the women have to have sexual relationships. The struggles of Offred to find a way out from the patriarchal subjugation appear to be never-ending one. She is consequently left with no option but to remain uncertain of her own future. Atwood tries to call the attention of the readers to the power and the control system of the Gilead society, which promotes female oppression and subjugation. However, she ends the story with no solution or hope for change to the problems suffered by the women in the society. The complex ways of control enacted by the Sons of Jacob upon its subordinates is the reflection of the brutality towards humanity and the extremity of the male hierarchy structure. This kind of control and power portrayed by the author is truly a saddening vision for any society. Bibliography Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Random House, 2012. Hsieh, Julia Pei-Hsuan. “The Handmaid’s Tale – The Female Body as a Site of Resistance.” Fu Jen Department of English Literature. Accessed on November 4, 2014. english.fju.edu.tw/lctd/word/Handmaid.pdf Neuman, Shirley. “‘Just a Backlash’: Margaret Atwood, Feminism, and the Handmaids Tale.” University of Toronto Quarterly 75, no.3 (2006): 857-868. Petterson, Fredrik. “Discourse and Oppression in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” Linnaeus University. Accessed on November 4, 2014. http://www.diva- portal.org/smash/get/diva2:321781/FULLTEXT01.pdf Porfert, Joseph. “Hell on Earth: The Feminist Dystopia of The Handmaid’s Tale.” Old Dominion University. Accessed on November 4, 2014. al.odu.edu/english/pubspdfs/Joseph-Porfert-essay.pdf Thomas, Deborah A. “Dont Let the Bastards Grind You Down: Echoes of Hard Times in the Handmaids Tale.” Dickens Quarterly 25, no. 2 (2008) Read More