1984 similarities

I find it interting in this novel that I see many similarities to how the people were persecuted in 1984, although it seems that instead of the entire population being persecuted it's focused on the women as the subjects of persecution. The descriptions of Offred and the Commander having sex is very moving. The fact that the wives are there holding the hand trying to make sex as cold as possible. The fact that while neither woman will most likely enjoy it there is a good chance it will still be pleasing to the man. I'd find it curious how most of the wives would feel being forced to see their husbands having sex with the handmaidens to conceive a child. Many consider sex and specifically childbearing as a unique bonding experience between a couple and while there are surrogates and artificial insemination today, the fact that one would be forced to watch this may make the wives not just resentful but perhaps distant from their husbands/children. It would also be interesting to see where the husbands looked while perfoming the act.

The society is basically using sex as a weapon, as it is one of the easiest ways to mass suppress a people, and is used in our society still to oppress women. The author shows how sex is being used simply for the pleasure of man, and that bestowing upon him a child is the only thing handmaidens are good for, he shows how these women can only be used for one thing, anything else is irrelevant.

It's also interesting to point out that while Offred gets put in a very interesting position throughout the novel as well because of her contact with the Commander. It's almost a double edged sword because of her "affair" with him. She cannot become too close because if his wife were to find out she would be banished, but if she refuses the Commander he may also send her to the same place. Offred must balance the two.