Ways Of The Gilead Society example essay topic

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood creates the new world of Gilead, which has arisen out of 1980's America, yet which is a future few people would find desirable. In creating Gilead Atwood warns us against taking our present freedoms for granted, as well as suggesting that we should be careful about how we allow our social, political and environmental world to develop. At first glance it seems as though Atwood has created a distressing dystopia; a worst case scenario in a society which endures totalitarian rule. However, Atwood provides hope and resistance in many subtle ways. She wonders where the balances lies and what are the costs of the safety this society provides. Throughout the novel Atwood depicts her major concerns with contemporary American society, in particular, the abuses of power through the use of propaganda and the loss of individual freedoms.

Propaganda in the novel concentrates mainly on women, as they are the elements of society that have lost the most due to the establishment of the new government and they must therefore be controlled and convinced the most. The Aunts, are a group of women that train the handmaids for their new roles, from the Red Centre continually pump religious propaganda into the girls in an attempt to manipulate them into accepting the ways of the Gilead society. With their ferocious rules, their use of punishment and their sheer intensity, the Aunts are tools of the regime - a regime that betrays their own gender. For a little power they have sold themselves to a state which hates their kind. Most of the handmaids were manipulated into believing that they were a lesser race, only there to serve men, and were responsible for all the sins men made.

The handmaid, Janine, tells a story about how she was raped and had to have an abortion and ends up saying, "It was my own fault. I led them on. I deserved the pain". (p 82) This is an example of someone who did not have the resources to fight back, and succumbed to the regime's brutality. We learn through the life of Offred, a handmaid, that life without freedom is not really worth living. Gilead is a society based on Old Testament patriarchy. Women have no power, no property and no importance, except as childbearing vessels.

"I would like to steal something... some small thing... it would make me fell that I have power". (p 90) This shows that, Offred, longs to own something for herself. In Gilead, the purpose of childbearing and sex is not pleasure for the individuals concerned, or to create a family for personal happiness, but to sustain the society. Nuclear accidents and environmental degradation have devastated the world, causing fertility to plummet and making children a rarity. Pregnancy and childbirth are social obligations, for those who can have children, not personal choices. In this society, women's bodies are viewed as walking wombs and sex is not for pleasure. Even the women are supposed to see their bodies as vessels for pregnancy and childbirth, to be nurtured and kept healthy for this purpose.

The idea of safety in Gilead is an illusion, as everyone lives in fear of 'The Eyes', the guards and even people in their own houses. Offred is in more danger of being killed in Gilead for doing something forbidden, such as reading or talking, than she was in her old life of being killed by a burglar or street criminal. Meanwhile, she has lost all her freedoms and choices, which were central to her previous life and has become a tool of the state. Gilead seeks to deprive women of their individuality in order to make them passive carriers of the next generation. The Latin words of the message scratched into the cupboard by the previous handmaid said, "Don't let the bastards grind you down". (p 197) Its meaning for the handmaid is not to give up, not to let herself sink into despair. It serves to highlight the suicide of the earlier handmaid who clearly did allow the situation to grind her down.

The extent of rape and pornography in the pre-Gilead world justified to the founders their establishment of the new order. Gilead's authorities claim that women are better protected in Gilead, that they are treated with respect and kept safe from violence". 'There is more than one kind of freedom,' said Aunt Lydia. '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. ' " (p 34) While it claims to suppress sexual violence, Gilead actually institutionalizes it, as we see at Jezebel's, the club that provides the Commanders, the head man in each household who holds power over everyone, with prostitutes. Most important, sexual violence is apparent in the central institution of the novel, The Ceremony, which compels Handmaids to have sex with their Commanders. This is a prime example of the male oppression of women, where the violation of one woman has been legitimized with another woman's participation being demanded. Offred's participation in The Ceremony is regarded as her only function.

This part of the novel is the most disturbing as the true extent of Offred's bleak existence is revealed. Her pride and dignity are stripped away and she can do nothing except lie there. "One detaches oneself". (p 106) This is the only way Offred can cope with being used in such a demeaning way. The way the Gilead society functions is derived from fundamental religious beliefs. The Bible plays a crucial role and the leaders try to justify what is being done to women by stories from the Bible. The Ceremony comes from Genesis 30: 1-3, which is one of several passages of the bible that make clear that in patriarchal Hebrew times it was perfectly legitimate for a man to have sex and even have children by his servants, particularly if his wife was infertile.

Even though this society is heavily based on religion, the bible is kept locked up and only a few men are allowed to read it. This is done so that no one can interpret the Bible in their own way and rebel against the system. The attitude that rules Gilead comes from the Bible. "As in all the churches of God's people, women are to remain quiet, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is a subordinate part". (1 Corinthians 14: 34) Gilead develops its own words to give the state control over the sentiments and ideas people can express. Having made it illegal for women to hold jobs, Gilead creates a system of titles.

Men are defined by their military rank, while women are defined solely by their gender roles as Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. Stripping them of permanent individual names strips them of their individuality, or tries to. Handmaids' names simply reflect which Commander owns them. "Of Fred" gets collapsed into "Offred". Every time the women hear their names, they are reminded that they are no more than property. Gilead maintains its control over women's bodies by maintaining control over names.

Since Gilead is a theocracy, where religion fills every aspect of life, biblical terminology is plentiful. Blacks and Jews are defined by biblical terms, "Children of Ham" and "Sons of Jacob", that set them apart from the rest of society and makes their persecution easier. Using religious names provides an ever-present reminder that the founders of Gilead insist they act on the authority of the Bible itself. Specially created terms define the rituals of Gilead, such as "Prayvaganzas,"Salvaging's", and "Particicutions". Despite the seemingly hopeless situation that has arisen, Atwood still creates hope and symbols of resistance throughout her novel. This is seen most through Moira, who is a strong individual and a female rebel.

She refuses to let the system beat her. Throughout the novel she is continually fighting for her freedom. She provides Offred with the courage to endure. "Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life. In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd.

Their power had a flaw to it". (p 143) Moira represents an alternative to the meek acceptance of one's fate that most of the Handmaids adopt. Offred also finds a new kind of existence with Nick, a worker at her house. It is through this relationship that Offred expresses her hopes for a future life beyond Gilead. Offred's situation restricts her horribly compared to the freedom her former life allowed, but her relationship with Nick allows her to reclaim the tiniest fragment of her former existence. The physical affection and companionship becomes a compensation that makes the restrictions almost bearable. The historical notes at the end of the book show that Offred did escape unharmed from the Commander's house, but we do not know what happened after that.

It also gives an optimistic conclusion, because we realise that the Gilead society has fallen and that Offred's story was heard. The handmaid's tale is itself prohibited. Making the tapes is treason because it is an attempt to communicate in an unauthorised way and to pass on illicit materials to others. The entire story is in fact a forbidden message, and therefore the ultimate rebellion. It symbolizes one of the most important human facilities and freedoms, the ability to communicate. Gilead seeks to silence women, but Offred speaks out, even if it is only to an imaginary reader, to Luke, or to God.

Gilead denies women control over their lives, but Offred's creation of a story gives her control over the ending. Most importantly, Offred's creation of a narrative gives her hope for the future, a sense that there will be an ending and that real life will come after it. She can hope that someone will hear her story, or that she will tell it to Luke someday. Offred has found the only avenue of rebellion available in her totalitarian society. In this way she denies Gilead control over her inner life.

Atwood creates a new world embodying values which on the surface sound beneficial, such as safety in the streets, Christian belief, very little crime and each child highly valued. However, the novel warns us that the apparent security is only obtained at the price of both individual and collective freedom, which the people of Gilead have swapped for regulated daily lives, repression, isolation, alienation and fear. This is a society where women are safe from attack, but at the cost of everything else they value. The Gilead society was a distressing dystopia, but it can be seen as unsuccessful. The novel's historical notes show that Gilead had disappeared.

In order for a society like Gilead to work there has to be no resistance. The final message is that this is impossible to achieve because there is no way to stop people thinking so they could still resists in their mind.