The Handmaid's Tale

I strongly enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. It's now one of my favorite novels, actually. I found it to be very intriguing, thought-provoking, and at times unsettling. I was rather attached to Offred as a character; she was very unique and intelligent but not annoying as lead female characters often tend to be. One thing that makes these characters irritating is that they often feel that it is necessary to rebel against their society, such as in We, Fahrenheit 451, and The Hunger Games. They don't always succeed, but almost every one of them tries. I like that Margaret Atwood refrained from having Offred spark a revolution. This is the first time I've read a literary work in which the main character tries to live with the dystopian society. Granted, Offred did have her occasional moments of personal rebellion, such as when she discovered the phrase "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum," committed it to memory, and said it to herself whenever she was feeling particularly discouraged. However, this wasn't a routine course of action for her. Most of the time she simply adhered to the demands of the society, at least outwardly, and went about her life peacefully. I appreciate that Margaret Atwood took this unique approach. I was also fond of the situation in which Offred was placed: she wasn't born into the society. Rather, she had what we would call a "normal" life before it, and that she was forced into the new society of Gilead. Most often the characters in a work such as this are born into the malfunctioning world and know nothing else, but Offred had a life of her own beforehand. She was married and had a child and was even working for payment, all prohibited in the new society of Gilead.

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One of the most general themes of the story was conflict, both internal and external, but I particularly liked the conflict of Offred vs society, because it means more than what it is on the surface. It shows Offred's personal take on what she has to go through, but it also expands to apply to everyone in that society, most obviously women. Offred's thoughts were undoubtedly similar if not identical to those of the other women in that society. This ties into another aspect of the novel that I liked. Atwood made the society blatantly against women, but she also subtly incorporated that Gilead was also against men through the restriction of women. Obviously Offred represents the women more, being that she is a woman herself, but she recognizes the issues that Gilead presses upon the men as well. The Commander was routinely breaking the rules Gilead had organized, specifically by playing Scrabble with Offred and taking her to Jezebel's. He did these things in secret because they were prohibited; they all went against the biblical base that the society was founded on. Men were terribly restricted. Perhaps not as brutally as women, but they were still unable to do much of anything. It was specified oppression, yet everyone had to deal with it.

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I couldn't pick a favorite quote or passage, but I picked one of the ones that caught my attention the most.

“I pray where I am, sitting by the window, looking out through the curtain at the empty garden. I don’t even close my eyes. Out there or inside my head, it’s an equal darkness. Or light… Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much. If they have to die, let it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves… Oh God. It’s no joke. Oh God oh God. How can I keep on living?” (Atwood p 194-195)

In this passage, Offred does something rather out of the ordinary in her society: she prays. Usually people go to the Soul Scrolls and submit their prayers there, but she prayed right to God, even though she took it in previously laid out steps. She personalized her prayer as well, adding questions of her own such as a request that God tell her His real name, which one could never find in the Soul Scrolls. Questioning God would go against the entire structure of Gilead because it meant that the person was questioning the government as well.

This brings about another point. The prayer is personal, not worshipful. She is not praising God; she is having a regular conversation with Him. She asks him questions and asks him to do things in a very informal manner. The line that represents this the most is “You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need you for that.” It’s very casual and is more of a suggestion than something she is begging and pouring her soul out for.

Despite her selflessness in this prayer, seen through the way that it is dedicated mostly to other people, she still wonders how she is going to get through the life she is a part of. “Hell we can make for ourselves.” She is already living in hell, so she’s hoping for a Heaven to look forward to. This also proves that she has faith in God, even though previous sources would suggest otherwise.