It was just TOO easy!

The Handmaid’s Tale has got to be one of the most interesting books I have read; Atwood has successfully created a society in which women are oppressed and used as baby-making machines. As I read through the book, one particular conversation between the Commander and Offred caught my attention. In this conversation the Commander expressed his reasoning for the creation of Gilead; apparently, “there was nothing for [men] to do…the sex was too easy…there was nothing to work for” (210), the world before Gilead was a bore for men and the creation of Gilead added the needed meaning to their lives. As I read this I laughed a little: so because sex is easy, it’s necessary to condemn women to a life of oppression as man’s property? This was the reasoning behind the creation of Gilead and they did not care about anyone as long as men were able to “feel” again and have something “to do with the women” (210). It was here that they got the idea to use women as property, for their own benefit because women could not live for themselves.

Men became the proprietors, stripping women of all rights and livelihood; women became mere property with only a function to justify their existence. The Commander only touches upon the subject of inequality between men and women when he says “better never means better for everyone… [it] means worse, for some” (211). The Commander feels Gilead definitely bettered society, and it didn’t matter if it sentenced women to a life of oppression and struggle. Offred keeps her comments to herself during this conversation, but I’m sure she thinks the complete opposite: how could this society be “better” when everyone is ranked and stripped of everything, rights, family, lifestyle, and even their own names?

As I read, I can’t help but think how our society today would react to such a drastic change in lifestyle; would we fight it, or remain submissive like the women in the book? Women today have come a long way and might have the resources to protest and fight oppression, but men are still the prominent controlling gender so the fight might not last too long. In the end, men would exercise their “macho” masculine traits and force women into submission, but I’m sure women would not go down without a fight…they might even end up victorious.

It's not love making, it's fucking!

Reading up to half of the book, I was shocked at how the story was being told. I knew that Offred was there to hopefully give birth to a healthy baby. However, I wasn’t expecting that the wife of the Commander would be there to witness the whole thing! When the book describes the sex scene, it tells us how the Wife is sitting behind the Handmaid holding her hands as the Commander basically plows into her, “fucking the lower part of her body”. Offred asked the question, “which of us is it worse for, her or me?” And that is a question I don’t think anyone could answer. There is the Wife - sitting there watching her man fuck another women so that she can have his kid, while holding the other woman’s hand! How could anyone do that? And to be the other woman, Offred, sits there and takes it, almost as if it’s a job. She is seen as an object to them. There to use her woman parts. The question is hard to answer, and like I said I don’t think anyone really could!
Another thing about this part of the book that interested me was when Offred talks about Luke and what she believes has happened to him. She describes a few different ideas and images in her head about where he is, what he looks like, what he’s doing, etc. All of which are very different. One he is lying dead in a ditch, shot in the head. Another he ran away and his hiding out. And that he has going to send her a message. She believes all of it! They’re all so different scenarios, but to keep her sane and not surprised when she finds out what actually did happen to him, it makes it easier for her to believe everything possible. I think I would go insane!!

Baby maker

The Handmaid's Tale was a very interesting novel to say the least. It sets the stage and introduces feminism in a light that we still see today in everyday life. The novel was very straight forward however it didn't exactly have one main person that played a dominant role so it was hard to point fingers for all the wrongs. Women in the novel were treated like slaves, only good for baby making. The theme of feminism is all throughout the novel and it was surprising to see different instances that revealed that. One example was how Offred became "excited" I guess you could say, to be a whore at the whore house. She felt free because she was able to wear make-up and play "dress up". It's a sad fact that her being able to dress up made her feel like she had some level of freedom. The idea of being a whore in the whore house grew on her and she developed a tolerance for it. This story signifies to some degree what women today experience just not in the same ""whore house" situation. Some women are controlled by their spouse, or partner and often seek permission and have no control over themselves anymore. I have come across many of my own friends that have conformed to what their "man" wants. They try and justify by saying "well he let me buy this because he likes it too" or other instances where they can't even go out with any girl friends because the man is that insecure she will meet someone else. Control over women is something that majority of men seek and when they find a women that will conform and do as they say, they know they found a winner. Definitely not a winner in my eyes but it's so sad to see women letting men control them. The reason stereotypes and gender inequalities exist is because majority of society has conformed to these ways and are introduced to these ideas in the strangest ways and fear being different or actually demanding some real freedom.

1/4 Handmaid's Tale

The first quarter of The Handmaid's Tale had a lot to do with inroducing us to all these characters, describing different people - what they did, what they wore, etc. It was confusing for me to read because of how Offred, one of many Handmaid's, talked about her past and present. I was trying to describe the book to someone and all I could really do was tell them about the Wives in blue, Guardians in green, etc. And it was hard to tell them how her past was like our present, and her present seemed like it should have been her past. In my mind it should have been flipped, which is why I was confused as to what could have happened to make society that way. I didn't understand how she could go from having freedom with her husband, daughter, money, clothes, etc. to having to hide under the red dress and veil and not being able to talk or touch anyone. Her life was now meant for bearing a child from the Commander, instead of having the Wife do it! When reading the first quarter of this book I also ran into some parts that I could relate to our lives today, such as the walk they went on to go to the market. They weren't allowed to talk to anyone (like we are not supposed to talk to strangers). Also, when they ran into the Japanese tourists who were wearing what our modern society might wear, asking if they could take a picture of them as if they were a tourist attraction - some kind of object for the world to look at. This book is confusing because of how it jumps around sometimes from what she's actually doing to what she's dreaming/thinking of. I keep having to go back and double check what I read.

The Birth Process

Offred and the other Handmaid's have to attend the birth of a fellow Handmaid and participate in this ceremony in which they gather in the room and chant different sayings and sway back in forth with the women in the room. I find it interesting the way all the women have to witness one of their own giving birth in a hot sweaty room. I figure it was to give the other Handmaid's a sense of what they were supposed to go through and what they were meant to do. The book references the idea that these women are merely vessels who are supposed to conceive babies. These women often think that a day like this is special because it breaks the monotony of their lives but i find that it only reinforces their oppression to keep them making babies. I can't help but think that this parallels today's society in which women are told by society that they need to become housewives and have babies and take care of the kids. Overall i found that birthing process weird because especially when you see the Wives come in an one sits on the birthing stool to with her legs draped over Janine. The whole process seems very inhuman and emotionless.

The Story of Rachel and Leah

In Chapter 15, the Commander begins to read the story of Rachel and Leah in the Bible. This story was about giving children to their husband Jacob. Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah and treated her differently than Leah. Jacob married both women because he was tricked by Laban, his father-in-law into marrying Leah when he really loved Rachel. Rachel however was not able to give Jacob children. Leah was fruitful and gave him many children. Rachel gives her handmaid to Jacob so she can give him children. Then the two women compete to giving Jacob children either offering themselves or their handmaid's to Jacob. In the novel, Offred would most likely relate to Leah and the Commander's wife relates more to Rachel because she cannot have children. The Commander's wife sobbed during the reading because she knew that she could not produce children, so like Rachel, he Commander's wife is jealous of Offred because of her fruitfulness. The job of a handmaid is to give children to those households that cannot bear children. On page 81 of the novel, Offred says that they were the household and that the Commander "is the head of the household. The house is what he holds. To have and to hold, til death do us part". This quote was really significant because it shows the control the Commander had and Offred seems to accept her lot in life. So, this also ties into the reading about what it means to be a "real woman". A "real woman" has babies and gets married. The Commander's wife is not able to be a "real woman" by those standards but in their society, handmaid's must give children to households if a woman cannot bear a child to her husband.

The lesser of two evils

As I was reading the part in where the Commander gave Offred the Vogue magazine it took me back to one of the discussions we had in class. We talked about women and the media, women’s portrayal, the glamorization of sex and the idea of the perfect body. It was puzzling to me that in the book, the main character see the women in the magazine as having freedom, freedom to chose to wear one thing over the other, use a certain shade of eye shadow, treat a guy in this manner or another etc these are vain things that are seen as luxury in the book, as something we should not take for granted. Looking back into what we have discussed in class, we were able to recognize the effects magazines, commercials, and TV shows over all have over women. We come to these conclusions because of the context and the times we live in, a time and space in where there is possibility for debate and discussion on these issues. This is a freedom that women in the book do not posses.

In the world of the Republic of Gilead in where women’s images are not even portrayed or done so with an excess of restrictions, I can understand why Offred sees the women in the magazine as exuding some sort of freedom of expression; a least in this context they have a voice. Over all, even though the media wants to dictate what we wear, what we look like, what we do etc at least form Offred point of view this is a lesser evil.

Do you think today’s portrayal of women in the media is more problematic than, having no portrayals at all?