English 3.4 – Handmaids Tale

The society of Gilead manipulates and controls the people through an oppressive government that is all to familiar.

Margaret Atwood’s exceptionally well crafted novel The Handmaid’s Tale shows readers the cruel and punishing reality of a dystopian setting that’s revolves around a regime which confines women of their human rights and uses religion to validate the outcomes and decisions that are made in society. The book is set in a bleak and outdated Harvard university which has now become the home of The Republic of Gilead, a republic that is primarily male dominated. Though many who have read The Handmaid’s Tale are likely to think Margaret Atwood has created a book that touches on sensitive topics which have been blown out of proportion the reality is the novel is grounded in a scenario that could possibly occur in our lifetime as I can see some strong links between the society of Gilead and that of a pre existing regime, “I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist. I did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behavior.”- Margaret Atwood

Inside of Gilead the leaders are called Commanders who belonged to a group known as the Sons Of Jacob prior the creation of Gilead who were high ranking political members that devised plans for a new society that would be lead completely by them. Through the use of extremist tactics they were successful in their plans which lead to the founding of The Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian patriarchal theocracy. It’s said by Offred the Protagonist of the novel that. “they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress, and the army declared a state of emergency”, and adds that “the entire government” was “gone like that”. With the US government in shambles due to the suddiness and severity of the planned attacks the Sons Of Jacobs had executed they then took advantage of the US government’s predicament and begun to enforce changes in the law. It is unknown to us as to how they succeeded with their plans as we are only ever told information through Offred who isn’t a particularly  reliable source as she has been brainwashed by the red centers and forgotten much about her past.

In a totalitarian regime everyone is not necessarily going to agree with the leading parties ideas which is why the leaders need to find ways of manipulating the people through brainwashing them into thinking their way is the right way. As an example during the Nazi regime Hitler had to find reasons why people should vote for the Nazi Party so he uses manipulative tactics by blaming all of Germany’s economic issues on the jews by using them as a scapegoat to exploit the German peoples desperation and anger they had towards their government. By doing this Hitler had planted a seed in the minds of the German people which grew and grew until it eventually became a reality as many of the German people started to confine their beliefs to that of Hitler’s. The government of Gilead uses similar tactics to that of Hitler’s through the use of propaganda to manipulate the masses and using it as justification for their actions. Hitler manipulated the German masses by encouraging his actions as a good thing that must be done to resolve the issues within their society however in Gilead the leaders use religion to cover up the reality of the intentions behind their actions. For instance the Gilead uses religion as a way of justifying what is done to the Handmaids. Handmaids are normal women but have been deemed fertile so they are forced to become Handmaid’s which requires them to be stripped of all their basic human rights and take part in a monthly ritual in which they are raped by the commander of the household in order to hopefully get pregnant. This is done to overcome the fertility crisis that has struck the human race. I believe Margaret Atwood has chosen to write about such explicit and sensitive topics because it raises points on things that are often pushed into the shadows. This is a story that discusses about how a group of people must suffer heavy losses in order to benefit another groups ambitions. I believe the predicament of the Handmaid’s who are raped in order to benefit the leaders aspirations is very similar to how Hitler raped the Jews by stripping them of their dignity and scarring their religion for ever. It is said by one of the power driven commanders known as Fred that “Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.” This type of mentality suggests how egotistical and uncaring people can be in order to achieve their ambitions for power. When situations become dire for humans we tend to become greedy and selfish in order to preserve our own wants, however if humans persit in this type of mentality we will never evolve as a species in which acceptance is a key fundamental for everybody. People who are hungry for power like Hitler and the Commanders in the novel still exist within modern day society which is why we need to educate those who hold these ego driven beliefs or else society will continue to remain in a loophole where resolutions are rarely found.

Time does its bidding on the people of Gilead who eventually forget about their past life before the regime as they have given in to the new ways that the leaders have forced upon them which leads the people to perceive their circumstances as ‘normal’. As said by Offred she wishes she hadn’t resisted the indoctrination Gilead had forced upon them as she begins to give in to the pressures of the society and begins to perceive her life as normal, “I would like to be without shame. I would like to be shameless. I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was.” It’s at this point where the manipulation has successfully worked its magic and there is no longer any stigma behind the new ways that have been implemented into society. As the story progresses the idea of the characters escaping from this oppressive government becomes lost as  I believe Margaret Atwood has done this to help emphasize how powerful and demoralizing a government like Gilead is. We as humans have done cruel things to our race in the past so why wouldn’t these things happen again? I look at the handmaids tale as a caution sign that is essentially letting us know what a ‘bad’ future could look. It’s happened before, its happening now, it will happen again.