Particicution Interpretations

In the historical notes of the book, the person speaking describes the particictuions as a "horrifying and effective way of ridding yourself of subversive elements but that it would also act as a steam valve for the female elements in Gilead." I think as the reader we are supposed to see this and question it rather than believe it. By looking back and reading about the particicutions we can see that clearly more was going on than just some women letting off steam. The men who were being killed were being presented as rapists to the crowds, rape being the highest crime there, when in reality these men were more often political enemies of the state. Women knew this fact, as demonstrated by Offglen and often did not want to participate in killing a man. We can see that there is much more than just releasing anger when it came to the participations by looking at Offglen's case in the particicution.

It mentions in the book that the person they were being made to kill was a man from the MAYDAY organization. So these women did not want to kill him, but do so in fear of what will happen if they do not. Offglen landed the first sharp blows to his head to kill him in order to stop him from suffering any longer. She felt extremely bad for the man secretly, but could not show her emotions to let on any suspicion, so really many of these killings weren't just anger releases to the women. I think a better way to analyze the killings is to look at the incentives of a government who maintains ceremonies like these.

The government is not looking out for the women at all as we can clearly see in the oppression they face everyday. So by saying that the particicutions were in anyway intended to help women by giving them a chance to blow off some steam is just ridiculous. I think what the government is really looking for is some act of faith, or submission. The act itself reduces the women to savages, and the idea is that they willingly do it. This idea demonstrates the power of the government and loyalty of its people. That is all the government is looking for in this process, or so I believe.