Aidan simas- The World In Which We Live

Aidan simas- The World In Which We Live

“There are three new bodies on the Wall. One is a priest, still wearing the black cassock. That’s been put on him, for the trial, even though they gave up wearing those years ago, when the sect wars first began; cassocks made them too conspicuous. The two others have purple placards hung around their necks: Gender treachery. Caught together, they must have been, but where? A barracks, a shower? It’s hard to say. The snowman with the red smile is gone.”

This section from the first page of chapter 8 (pg 43) gave me a lot to think about, on a personal level and about the book. The oppressive society in the handmaid’s tale is some sort of religious organization, heavily patriarchal, and very traditional in the way they want society to be. The brutality they put on display as examples of what happens to those who disobey the strict rules they have set is nothing short of what’s expected of a society like Gilead. As someone who values the humanity I see in those around me it seems like the most terrible thing to dehumanize everyone in a society in the name of order. In the way of oppressive societies this is a largely successful one. The goal of reproduction seems to have a clear path and the fact that they’ve become the dominant force seems like they got a lot done in less than 3 years. As a society it’s far from perfect however much “freedom from” they offer. They still need to convince others with brutality to follow them. This is the flaw of regimes. As soon as the people who follow are not fearful they refuse to be governed and end up crumbling. The sins of our current society don’t ever compare to how bad things could be. But how bad they really are is nothing to scoff at either. Gilead was a reaction to something, a harsh one but still valid. If we are to believe that our society is rampant with crime and run by satan worshiping pedophiles, Gilead would only be the natural reaction of those who wanted change.

As someone in this world who is a staunch believer in freedom to rather than freedom from and someone who enjoys every aspect of humanity observing Gilead as some sort of polar opposite to my own views is sort of eye opening. I relate certain aspects to my life though. Hiding things about myself is part of my life as is making mutually beneficial “alliances” with other people. My relationship needs to be hidden from certain people as it’s not a heterosexual relationship. I need to be sure to do favors for people and make others feel good around me so they might help me when I need favors in turn. I’d like to think there are no similarities between my life and the life of Offred but that would be wrong entirely. In fact there is little we don’t have in common. Specifically the wall.

The wall represents an example of those who violated the rules of society. I have this in the form of social media and in the form of the News channel. These mediums both display examples of those who violated the rules of my society and were ridiculed, imprisoned, or worse. The wall has bodies and hooks where social media has people who are “canceled” and those who have been killed or otherwise for their transgressions as well as a healthy dose of propaganda on the side. Another similarity to the Handmaid’s tale in my own life is how much the state spies on us. The government has access to any bit of information they need all they need to do is know it exists. This is less easy even for Gilead who is more controlling over its population. The only thing stopping the government from turning itself into a totalitarian regime is itself and the system of checks and balances. Not to mention international tensions being on the rise, the future uncertain. I don’t know if or when I will be able to be myself in my own society but I know I will defend my right to my individuality and my humanity to my dying breath. How Gilead gives me perspective on the world in which we live is this: We aren’t that far from being unrecognizable from what we are currently. That is all I have to say.