Ousey Lit Log #1: Her fault

In Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks, the character, Lord Rufus Crabmiser, says a line that heavily reminds me of the current position of women of Gilead: “ The only thing a crab is good for is holding back other crabs. A crab doesn't want to see another crab make it.” Margaret Atwood’s depiction of Gilead is only possible with the acceptance and collaboration of other women to oppress each other. This is most prominent in a chapter of the book, in which Offred is forced to participate in the ritualistic shaming of Jasmine, another handmaiden in training. It's one of the most outright depictions of the ways that the women in Gilead are trained to blame each other

” Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. She did. She did. She did. … Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson”(72)
The handmaids, including Offred, all shamed Janine for events that she was clearly a victim of; it was obviously not Janine’s fault for being raped, but in the new culture of Gilead, she is at fault. The Aunts who are indoctrinators for the Handmaids are paramount to constructing his style of culture within Gilead. Their main goals are to create an environment in which handmaids have no trust between each other and do not have the solidarity to stage any disruptive activity, as well as to normalize the degradation of their bodies into vessels for men to impregnate. This undoubtedly uncomfortable scene is so spot on when it comes to the discourse that surrounds women whenever they come out as victims of rape. Atwood is practically bashing you over the head with the comparisons of Janine and female victims in real life.

Janine, finally broken from the constant derision of her most traumatic experience, broke down and admitted that it was her fault. Even the clear victim in this case eventually became brainwashed into thinking that it was her own fault. In a lot of ways, it's deeply realistic as many people are brainwashed to admit that the traumatic experience that they where subjected to was their fault. 

“That was last week. This week, Janine doesn’t wait for us to jeer at her. It was my fault, she says. It was my own fault. I led them on. I deserved the pain. Very good, Janine, says Aunt Lydia. You are an example.” Atwood’s depiction of Gilead is so radical that it has set up a system of industrialized victim-blaming, in which the handmaids give in to the reactionary demons inside their own heads. Demons that have their roots in the ugliest parts of American culture and its destructive ideas on women’s rights. They were taught that Janine’s pain and, subsequently, all of the pain that she would feel at the hands of men was justified.

Throughout the flashback, it’s very apparent how women are pitted against each other; however, what stands out even more than that is the way Atwood portrays them. Up until this point, Offred had been discussing the red centers in very neutral terms, as she rarely questioned the authority of the Aunts or the guards outside. Offred primarily blames herself for partaking in the group shaming. This feeling of learned helplessness permeates the pages of The Handmaid’s Tale as all of the women are forced to live in conditions that were made against their freedom. Now the only “freedom to” is the freedom to survive, and survival is just a synonym for submission.

In just this short section, there’s a booming microcosm of what America has eroded into. a fascist state in which sister is turned against sister, Aunt against niece. a state that shames women for being promiscuous when they get raped, yet simultaneously forces women to give birth as slaves, a contradiction that reinforces female bodily autonomy. By far the darkest part of Gilead is that it isn’t a detached science fiction Empire, or a piece of ancient history, but it is America. Atwood’s depiction of America takes place in the 1980s. coming out of a decade of police brutality, crackdowns of anti-war protests, and COINTELPRO. She barely even had to exaggerate when it came to the top-down complete domination of the government that we see throughout the book, something that also reflects in the culture. The Handmaid’s chant of “her fault” Is echoed throughout American Halls of power.