I have a confession to make.
This year, I've been trying to catch up with new releases (or relatively new releases, those that were published after 2010) in my reading list. I've found gems that I normally wouldn't have immediately picked for my reading list (hello, Too Like the Lightning, Red Rising trilogy, and author Joe Hill). But upon reflection, I realize that I am sorely lacking in the classics.... I don't just mean books published more than a century ago (though I do have to work on that, as well), but contemporary fiction titles that are now considered classics or must-read reading material. The number of Stephen King titles I've read won't exceed the number of fingers of my hands, and that only includes one book of The Dark Tower series. I haven't started on Discworld (heaven forbid, why did I put this off for so long... I'm so terribly sorry). I haven't read a single Kurt Vonnegut title. The same goes for Haruki Murakami. And just a couple of months ago, I had yet to read any of the works of Margaret Atwood.
So, yeah, I had a lot of 'catching up' to do. I resolved to remedy this, and I wasn't going to wait until 2017 to begin. I started with The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (this was actually my 2nd choice, but the sheer number of volumes in Discworld is making me break out in sweat).
Offred is a Handmaid. In a future world run by men in power, she is stripped of her name, shrouded in red to mark her place in society, and is considered property. She serves in the home of a Commander of the Republic of Gilead, laying with him once a month, when she is considered most fertile, as part of a ceremony. The commander's wife, Serena Joy, can't bear him children, thus the necessity of a Handmaid, who are chosen because they can still reproduce. And in a world where fertility is an issue due to pollution and radiation leading to sterility and birth defects on top of the many STDs one could be infected with, Handmaids are only awarded to the powerful, though even in their importance, they are judged by others. Offred tries to be dutiful in her role, but it's hard to ignore the imbalance of their society and its defined roles for men and women. Neither is it easy to ignore memories of her life with her husband and daughter.
In the past, I would read articles about how The Handmaid's Tale has garnered criticisms from parents in the US who feel that it's inappropriate reading material for their children in high school. Time and again, I would encounter stories of teachers defending it as required reading and its many merits. And of late, The Handmaid's Tale comes up frequently because of people's fears relating to change in leadership or those in positions of power who are apt to make sexist remarks. After reading The Invasion of the Tearling and its revelation of a past world where women are dependent on and are defined by the men in their life, The Handmaid's Tale further drives home the scenario of men in power who like to keep the scales of gender roles tipped in their favor. Both stories featured women who are treated as property and their role in providing men with children to continue their line.
In reading both novels, it's easy enough to think that I would never find myself in the same mindset as Lily Mayhew and Offred. But further into my readings and thinking on what I've read, I realized that it's not impossible after all. If your government dictated that norm, made it legal and ensured that censure or punishment is doled out to those who would defy it, would you really think that your first instinct is to fight it? I don't think so, or at least only a smaller portion of the population would consider it. and yes, flight would be a better option, but what if escaping that society is not an option? The Handmaid's Tale offers a worldview that we would immediately reject, but know that, horrifyingly, it could be so easily true. That for every sexist remark that is allowed, for every instance that women are not given the same opportunity just for being women, or for every time that a woman allows herself to think that she deserves the unwanted attention for the way she dresses or acts, it's easy to believe that each instance is an inch towards the gender and political climate of The Handmaid's Tale.
There is a broken, defeatist attitude in Offred, in her thinking that being a Handmaid is the only life possible for her in their world. That even in the most trying times during her service or when memories of her past life are strongest in her mind, she still thinks that she must endure to exist in the role. Her descriptions of her experience as Offred in the commander's household are detailed, the seemingly mundane everyday life punctuated by stark instances of the violence that permeates their society every time she steps out with fellow Handmaid Ofglen. Corpses hang on walls, salvagings (a term unfortunately taken from the Filipino vocabulary referring to killing) are conducted as a public spectacle, and indiscriminate killings can occur and are easily justified when the ones who die aren't politically relevant.
This isn't a feel-good book, and it doesn't apologize for how badly it will make you feel about Offred's situation or of the state of the world she lives in. Especially if you're a woman and enjoy the simple freedoms of expressing yourself. Or reading. Did I tell you that it's illegal for women to read? All the more to hate the world of The Handmaid's Tale. Even females who were staunch supporters of the new norm are suffering in their own ways, particularly for those who share Serena Joy's fate... unable to bear children (and blamed for it) and have to participate in the ceremony where they have to be in the same room while their husbands have sex with someone else.
As time passes, however, there is a change in Offred's narrative voice. While still submissive in her role, she allows herself moments to dwell on the past or to form opinions about the current state of the world. While those opinions are still kept to herself and she also doesn't show outward support for Ofglen's affiliation with a rebel group, there's an evolution in Offred's way of thinking... from her observations on the Commander and his wife, in permitting herself to think on the past, in hoping to eventually find her child, and in allowing herself to feel for Nick, a driver in the Commander's household who Serena Joy instructs Offred to have sex with in order to increase her chances of getting pregnant.
The Handmaid's Tale isn't a story of adventure, where the heroine makes a daring escape from her dreadful life or starts a revolution to change their society. It's a story of a woman who is given a label and learns to live within the limited parameters of that label. It's a story of a labeled woman who discovers through introspection what it means to be a woman in the new society she lives in. It's a story of how that woman relearns to value herself, even if she keeps those thoughts to herself.
In the end, The Handmaid's Tale ends Offred's story on an uncertain note... her fate undetermined, except to know that she was, at the very least, able to tell her story of her life in a society we all hope never to be a part of. All that's left is to hope that those who lived after her time would learn from the story of the Handmaid who allowed herself to live a little bit more fully even with the full knowledge that doing so could mean the end for her. The Handmaid's Tale stays with you after you read it and the lessons you glean from it can vary depending on the reader, whether it's to understand that sexism can occur in the most innocuous ways, or in realizing that there will always be a choice and a way to define yourself differently, even if only to yourself.
I now understand why many educators choose The Handmaid's Tale for their students to read. Because despite Offred's limited role, her story teaches readers to be more observant in social nuances, to be more wary and not as easily accepting of defined roles, and to challenge those roles if needed. It's not the circumstances of Offred's life that is the focus, but what those circumstances have led her to realize about herself and the life she should be living. The lessons the book offers aren't easy and never do get to a point of painting a pretty picture, but they're the kind of lessons that I would want my child to learn when the time is right... and in our current political climate, they're lessons a lot of people need to learn right now.
Happy reading!!Labels: Drama, Dystopian, Fiction, Margaret Atwood, Reading List, The Handmaid's Tale
