A Warning for the Future

In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, I was intrigued by the stark difference between the past and present societal laws and gender roles as Offred reflects on her memories while shopping on page 24. She recalls, “Women were not protected then” (24). I found myself agreeing with this statement. Offred’s past is similar to our present. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there can be so much more the government can do to protect its citizens. In a class discussion on gender roles, Ada wrote, “I was sixteen, and I was trapped between him and the wall.” Even as children, women are subjected to sexual harassment, and they are forced to endure it because society has normalized such behavior silently. In today’s world, society suffers from the bystander effect because it doesn’t harm others if they don’t stand up.

Instead, the responsibility is pushed onto the victim. As Offred mentioned, “I remember the rules, rules that were never spelled out but that every woman knew” (24). Then she goes on to list rules that women must follow to keep themselves safe, some of which sound like basic rights, such as “Don’t go into a laundromat, by yourself, at night” (24). This moment made me pause and think about the podcasts of men talking about rape and blaming it on the victim for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, it really shouldn’t be that way; people shouldn’t have to worry about the time of day or location, unless it’s about to rain.

The rule, “keep the locks on and keep going” (24), resonated with me. I remember one day, late on the MFL, this guy in a shaggy black shirt came in on 15th street. He was high and had a knife. Throughout the entire ride, he banged on the back of the chair with the knife. Most of the time, these behaviors are out of our control, and we just have to stay away and keep moving in the opposite direction. Similarly, Aunt Lydia mentioned that in the past, people had the “freedom to” (24). In America, people are given the freedom of expression, which is great. However, there have to be limits on freedom of expression set by the government and acknowledged by the people, which don’t exist. This leads to the normalization of certain negative behaviors and arguments that certain acts of harassment are actually a form of freedom of expression. In today’s society, people are given the freedom to harm others and not be penalized for it.

On the other hand, Gilead has “freedom from” (24), which I feel ambivalent about. On the one hand, there are government regulations that prevent and punish sexual harassment. In the text, Offred states, “Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us” (24). This system protects women from situations that we see today. They can go outside without the fear that a man will shout at them or harass them. However, this new system works by controlling and oppressing people through fear. This can be seen with the dead bodies hanging from the wall. Offred describes the bodies, “The two others have purple placards hung around their necks: Gender Treachery” (43). By hanging the bodies in public, the government is warning the citizens that they would end up dead if they tried gender treachery or even interacting with the opposite gender. To further discourage the interaction of men and women, the government assigns them gender roles. The women reproduce, cook, buy groceries, and if you were the commander’s wife, you would manage all the female servants. The men worked as guardians, angels, and the commander, who is a man, is in charge of them.

Instead of allowing their citizens to choose their partners, civil roles are assigned to males and females, such as the handmaid and the commander. The role of the handmaid is to have the commander’s and his wife’s baby, nothing more. However, even in a society oppressed of romance and love, there are still “flowering of secret lusts” (136) that happen in the shadows. In a society that is void of love, people start to crave it, as shown by these two examples. The first is when Offred realizes, “It’s lack of love we die from. There’s nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere” (103). I find this statement true; everyone needs a sense of love and belonging. It’s a major part of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In Offred’s case, love and intimacy are taken away from the process of reproduction. There is no emotional bond between her and the commander, and everything is taken as a job. To everyone around her, she is just a “national resource” (65). We can better see this in the second example, after the Commander receives a kiss from Offred. He says, “As if you meant it” (140). He also craved intimacy and love, which he couldn’t achieve in a society that prevents people from forming relationships. He tries in secret with Offred; however, she isn’t allowed to show intimacy, as it’s illegal.

The final line, when Aunt Lydia says, “Don’t underrate it” (24), puzzled me. How can someone support a society that strips away all human needs and rights in exchange for freedom from sexual harassment? In certain ways, Gilead is better than the past. Women are protected in public. However, they are protected as objects for reproduction, not as people. There is a trade-off between safety and freedom that is shown in this section of the text, which, Atwood warns us that if not balanced properly, can lead to societies like Gilead or a worse version of our society.