The Handmaid's Tale

 

 

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.