An Almost In-Depth Comparison of Gilead to Mormonism

You sit at home; relaxing and watching the television, or something of the such, but then you hear a knock on the door. You stand up and walk to the door and peer through the peephole and see two men. They are well dressed in a white short-sleeved button up with a small black name tag with golden lettering, in their hands are a black leather-bound book which also has golden letters debossed into it. You sigh and open the door slightly ajar and one of the men steps forward; with a grin on his face he says, “Would you like to hear about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ?” This is a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a fringe sect of Christianity bordering on a cult, it has around 17 million members world-wide, with 6 million members in the US alone. To a majority of people Mormons are just the butt of jokes, be it in performances like the Book of Mormon, or in the many episodes of TV shows that poke fun at them. And much of the Mormon ‘religion’ can be quite humorous from the outside but beneath the strange exterior and the kind-hearted missionaries is a much darker reality. A reality that those who have lived, and are living through know very well. One of the most important things to Mormons is family, to Momons having a family is a status symbol. In Mormon culture the mere act of having a child is pious and ‘saintly,’ to have a family is righteous, the children themselves and how they are treated come second. This view of family further bleeds into the view of women themselves in Mormonism. WIthin the church a lot of people view women as just potential wives/mothers and nothing more, this has also led to women view themselves in this light.

Within The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the society of Gilead views on family and women in a way very akin to Mormonism. Within the dystopian society of Gilead many women are viewed as nothing more than just a vessel to have children; objects to be used. This is particularly true for the handmaids as their primary usage in Gilead is to be surrogate mothers. Throughout the book a particular quote from the Bible is repeated and is used as almost a motto for the handmaids, “Give me children, or else I die.” To the handmaids this passage is far more true than one would expect. If a handmaid can’t have children they are sent to the elusive colonies; on page 61 Offred states, “He could fake the tests, report me for cancer, for infertility, have me shipped off to the Colonies.” Both the reader and Offred know very little about these Colonies but for all intents and purposes and in the eyes of the handmaid’s it is like dying and you are sent there if you cannot have children. While this is a more extreme viewpoint then most Mormons there are Fundamentalist Mormons where this perspective on the role of women is more close to their own.

As stated before, bearing a child is somewhat of a status symbol in Mormon culture. If you have children or if you or your spouse is pregnant you are treated with more respect and dignity. If you do not or are not planning on having children, especially if you are a younger person (18-25), church members will tend to think lower of you and will most definitely talk behind your back. In Gilead it is much the same, though as per usual in a much more extreme manner. Women who are pregnant tend to be looked upon in a better light or even with jealousy by other handmaids. On page 26 it says, “One of them is vastly pregnant; […]. There is a shifting in the room, a murmur, an escape of breath; despite ourselves we turn our heads, blatantly, to see better; […]. She’s a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire, we covet her. She’s a flag on a hilltop,” Because she was pregnant she was deemed as better and a symbol of what could be done. Having children in this world is the most important thing she can do, it is the primary function of women in the eyes of Gilead.

From the outside the Mormon religion and church is a kind of mysterious yet funny group of people. They seem innocent and kind enough, but dig a little deeper and there is a more grim truth. If you look online you’ll see many stories of how and why people have left the church. The fundamental beliefs of Mormonism are based around sexist and misogynistic ideas. It is okay to laugh at the funny aspects of Mormonism but it is also important to remember that there are people suffering within it. The Handmaid’s Tale is a cautionary tale of what absolute religious power could bring and I am confident if the LDS Church was in that position it would be not too dissimilar to Gilead.