So far this year we have read all dystopian books such as The Handmaid’s Tale and WE. Although these two novels share a similarity between their styles of having dystopian societies, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, goes into greater depth to illustrate the contrast between men and women. With the use of severe contrast and irony, the revealing of men and women’s role in The Handmaid’s Tale becomes quite clear.
Margaret Atwood’s novel is compiled of stereotypes of both men and women, meaning the ideal image of a woman is be care taker, cook, cleaner, and barer of children, while the men are to work outside the home and support the family. Atwood dissects these roles and put an extreme twist to them by having different groups of women in the book assigned to different jobs in the home, each distinguished by colors and names. For example, the barer of children wear red and are called Handmaid’s, while the domestic servants of the home are called Marthas, who are infertile, and wear green. The high ranking commanders, who are all older men wear the color black and have superiority over almost anyone, and then in contrast there are econowives who are low class women that wear multi-colored clothes, their roles are multifaceted. When a job and place is assigned to an individual, this person is automatically labeled for life and “now places are known by their signs alone” (Atwood 25). People are to be referred by the colors that they wear and they are to dedicate their lives to their duties until they are either to old, become infertile or die. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the author goes to new levels to accentuate the degrees of what the idea of being a man and woman is. Are women supposed to be just servants to men, clean the house all day, cook an extravagant meal, and bare children, or is there really a deeper meaning to their existence?
This book obviously discusses the roles of men and women but what may be even more important than this analysis is the irony that takes place. The society in The Handmaid’s Tale is based on the Bible and there are many biblical references encompassed in the novel, such as the servants who are named Marthas, which according to Webster’s Dictionary are referred to in the Bible as the sister of Mary and Lazarus and friends of Jesus. It is clear that this society is supposed to live as close as possible to the Bible but the irony is that they do not. How is forcing the Handmaid’s to having sex with the commanders for procreation considered holy, or killing people who are homosexual? One can assume the Bible does not state for people to be killed based on their sexual orientation nor does it say that is it acceptable for people to be forced to engage in sex, in reality that may be considered rape. Before a “ceremony” starts, the commander will read a passage from the Bible, right before he is about to technically rape her, now if that is not irony I do not know what is. The commander during one ceremony reads from the Bible “And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband” (90), which goes to show how these people try to justify their actions as being biblical. Commanders already have wives and by having sex with the Handmaid’s they are also committing the act of adultery, another sin according to the Bible. The society appears to be living their lives according to the Bible, but they are really performing acts of sin in everything they do.
Quote:
“There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it.” (24)
This quote exemplifies the change from when people had the choice to have freedom to when they were ripped of their freedom. The society can be described by this quote in its entirety because almost everyone has no freedom to do what they want, and the transition to having freedom to not having freedom was very dramatic and quick. Although the men still had some of their own freedom left, most of the women had lost everything they had worked for years to gain, liberation and independence. Choice is no longer an option in the society of Gilead, and by losing their free-will, they experienced internal misery. The society comes full circle in many ways for the reason that women begin with no equality, gain autonomy, then are oppressed in the end. They cannot even choose what they want to eat or how much, they are only given one choice, to eat all of it. Part of dehumanizing someone is ripping away their self-determination, self-worth, self- respect, and freedom. This society strived to do just that, and one can even conclude that they succeed in doing so. This quote is blunt and straight to the point; there are two kinds of freedom in life, freedom of choice and not having freedom at all, something very similar to our history. Women were controlled by their husbands, and the church supported the thumb rule. Women were not allowed to have schooling; they were raised to know how to run a household and to keep their husbands comfortable. Sex was a marital act for the sole reason of producing a male heir, and the husband sought sexual pleasure outside of the home. The list goes on and on; progression was and has been made concerning differences between the sexes but we still have a long way to go.
My Synopsis:
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The more I analyzed it the more I understood the greater meaning, and I was then able to appreciate the book and its contents as a whole. Although the helpless roles and oppression the women faced agitated me slightly, I loved how extreme the two roles of men and women were. I also took pleasure in the irony and hypocritical views of almost everyone in the society. I found it especially humorous that the people believed they were truly following the Bible, meanwhile they were killing people without even thinking about it. The whole basis of the society seemed to be a joke and was sickly obscene, but all the while I enjoyed reading this novel greatly.
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