One
of the themes portrayed in the novel, The
Handmaid’s Tale, is the role that women have in society and the allusions
used to create them. In Gilead, there are only so many positions women can fill
and none of them include having a career or a voice. The positions that the
women living in the society must fill are very specific and have no opportunities
for individualism. They are not able to hold a position of power; such a position
is only reserved for the men in the society. The few roles that woman can undergo
are Wives, Marthas, Handmaids, and Jezebels. The role of a Wife is to be
supportive of her husband, no matter what he may do. A Wife must be loyal and obedient,
however the Wives are unable to become pregnant that is why the Handmaids are
used. The last purpose of the wife is to raise a child. Marthas are the cooks
and housekeepers. They tend to the members of the household; they will also be
nannies to the child once it is born. Handmaids are only supposed to be a
vessel for impregnation and the undergo a horrifying ceremony once a month
which is purely for the purpose of becoming pregnant, nothing having to do with
love or affection. The Handmaids are considered property of the Commander, they
are not called by their own name but a name that refers to the Commander that
she is currently with. And lastly, the Jezebels are purely used for their
physical appearance and sexual ability. The Jezebels reveal the hypocrisy
within the society. Woman must be pure and holy, but when men need to cut loose
they are allowed to participate in vulgar and unholy activities. The ideas and
laws of Gilead are extreme and very literal interpretations of the Bible. While
religion should be joyful and fulfilling, the religious aspects of Gilead are
quite disturbing and frightening, specifically in the scenes regarding the monthly
Ceremony and the double standards concerning the promiscuous activity among the
Commanders and the Jezebels. Throughout the novel, women have no voice or even
an opinion regarding the way the society is run. Gilead is a society dominated
by men that are claiming to be “protecting” the woman when in reality they are stripping
them of their freedom to make decisions and voice their opinions. Women are perceived
as foolish temptresses that must keep their place in society. In the scene on
the novel where one of the Handmaids is explaining her experience of being gang
raped and her peers around her are chanting that it was her fault and that she
was asking for it. That is why the women in the society are not allowed to have
a voice, because they would not be “protected”. The only sense of power Offred
feels is when she swivels her hips underneath the long, concealing red outfit
to antagonize the guards that were watching. The women of Gilead have no power
in anything that they do, even death. The Handmaids’ rooms must not have light
fixtures because they could try to hang themselves. Women are not even remotely
close to being equal to the males in this society and this idea can also be
reflected in our world today. In many places woman are only supposed to be at
home with the children and the laundry. Even people in the United States of
America feel that women should not be going to college to become more educated
and pursue fulfilling careers. This novel, even though the ideas are pushed to
the extremes, does relate to the roles women have in our society today and how
women are viewed.
“‘He
asks, are you happy,”’ says the interpreter. I can imagine it, their curiosity:
Are they happy? How can they be happy?
I can feel their bright black eyes on us, the way they lean a little forward to
catch our answers, the women especially, but the men too: we are secret,
forbidden, we excite them. Ofglen says nothing. There is a silence. But sometimes
it’s as dangerous as not to speak. “‘Yes, we are very happy,”’ I murmur. I have
to say something. What else can I say?”(29) This passage stuck out the most to
me because it portrays how in Gilead, there is no such thing a happiness,
freedom, or love. She has to respond she is happy to what the interpreter asks
because she feels that is the only response. Offred questions whether she is
happy or not. Gilead offers not opportunities of happiness. This passage is an
example of how the Handmaids were not considered human beings, but vessels. It shows
how happiness does not exist.
I
liked this novel because it opened my eyes to how hypocritical our society is
and how some people still have these certain ideas of what women should be or
do. Margret Atwood uses The Handmaid’s
Tale to try and make the reader realize that some of the viewpoints of
women expressed in Gilead are still occurring in our society. The use of
horrifying images, like the Ceremony, forces the reader to analyze the way our
society views and treats women. Margret Atwood is attempting to change the way
the world depicts women as objects and not as human beings. The extremely
sexist views in the novel make the reader take a moment and consider the
society that we are currently living in and think of ways that it can be
changed for the better.
