The Communist Connection in The Handmaid's Tail

In “The Handmaid’s Tale” brainwashing is a topic brought up multiple times and it affects the characters’ choices, the things they do, and the big events that happen. One example that came up is on page 174 where they explain how the big newspapers would censor certain things from the public also in previous pages it would talk about people being told to burn books and magazines. The reason why, is because the government doesn’t want them to learn and get new ideas which could harm the government. The government in Gilead would also do things like forcing people to burn their clothes and dress according to their role in this society.

This situation has been seen worldwide throughout history and everyone has experienced propaganda and what it can do to the way you think. My parents are a perfect example of growing up to think a certain way because they grew up in Communist Albania where they were taught to think the way the government wanted them. Going to school for them was very different because most of what they were learning was to make the communist ideologies seem like it was the best for everyone. They would have classes specifically about Marxism where they were being fed information about the ideology and how great it was, they were also taught that going to the military was a good thing and that it was the right thing to do even though it was mandatory to join. The people that believed in the propaganda the most were the older people, around my grandparent’s age, and still, some younger people now who support socialist parties in Albania. But some people hate communism with a passion because of what they went through as a child, growing up with nothing.

When you compare the two you see a lot of similarities because they both were manipulated by a government that wanted people to think like them also they both had to live the way the government thought was best. One thing that would happen in this book is rigged elections brought up on page 174 which shows how they wanted a way to trick the people into thinking everything was fair but it was not. You would see things like this in countries like Russia where they say they are democratic countries but when there are elections the people who come up against Putin mysteriously pass away. Also at this point of the story it seems like whoever is in control is a dictator and no one can do anything about it, just like in Albania when the dictator Enver Hoxha was in power until he passed away. One thing you could say is seen in both situations is people’s connections with the government because there are people in “The Handmaid’s Tale” who fully believe in the government like the aunts while you have people in the book who hate the government and do things which if they were caught doing they would have to face heavy consequences, just like people in Albania who hate communism and the other people who were crying like they lost their child when the dictator Enver Hoxha passed away. People in Albania have tried to escape by going to Greece or other nearby countries to leave the oppression and live a normal life where they could be free to do whatever, the people in Gilead think the same, and even in chapter 35 Offred and Luke try to escape and while they are they are thinking about their past lives and what it was like to be free.

While reading this book you can see that Margaret had many inspirations from the past by taking things done by dictators to see how to make the world seem as dystopian as possible. The author has done this many times by making different connections to the real world and it is all through the point of view of someone a lot of people can relate to (not me). Looking back to all that I have read made me think how much I take things for granted because of the conditions my parents grew up in and what they had to go through under communism things can still change like in the book because the world was normal not too long ago and things can change fast.