Similarity Seeds Discomfort

Throughout reading The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Maragaret Atwood, I have not been able to shake an immense feeling of discomfort. This new, and belligerent feeling was not based upon the many uncomfortable sex scenes, or any sort of generic ideas that would make a teenager squirm in their chair, snickering to their friends. Instead - I have found the source of immense discomfort to be from each scene—or even sentence—holding a strong similarity to real life. On the surface, when I first began to read this novel I alienated myself from the ideas Atwood brought to the surface of my brain. A world structured around increasing birthrates—without money, even—was shocking to read about. Merely grasping the general trope of the story was a feat in itself. It seemed unidentifiable when compared to the life I have experienced; until after some clos(er) reading, that is. Looking back to the notion of discomfort which stems from the similarity to real life, there are scenes throughout the novel, but more importantly this selection of chapters, which resonate with this idea. Which especially resonate with me, as well. At first, ideas such as a world functioning around birthrates, and an ‘America’ without monetary value seemed impossible. In my experience, that was one of the defining points of the country I lived in. An America which was not driven by capitalism? Impossible. An America which encourages people to have more children through dehumanizing them, creating people such as handmaids? Impossible. Yet—as I had begun reading through chapters twenty-one, to twenty-six, I have only begun to see more and more similarities between Atwood’s novel, and our world. From my experience, the dehumanization of people seen within the novel, I can now see within the ‘villains’ of America: pro-life believers. Although not nearly as intense, after making the distinct yet obvious connection, the story slowly left an imprint on my view of real life. It made me deeply uncomfortable. During a scene where the reader experiences Gilead’s “birthing ritual” there is a striking similarity seen. On page 126, “We hold our breath as Aunt Elizabeth inspect it: a girl, poor thing.” Although as seen throughout the entire story, this reminded me of countries like China, where they banned having over one child, which is what made every family desire a boy. While today’s society seems more liberating than Gilead, there are moments when I feel like we are not that far off from a variation of Gilead. I’ve noticed that while reading through this book how much emotion seems to be narrowed down, and stifled. Through reading chapters 21–26, one quote especially resonated with me. “They get sick a lot, these Wives of the Commanders. It adds interest to their lives.” Seen on the bottom of page 154 this quote profoundly shows this notion. Living such a seemingly pointless, repetitive, and mundane life, the Wives within this story must feel quite numb. Something that I love to think about is the notion that emotions are only felt when they are accelerating, or decelerating. This novel, however, seems to completely stagnate the world, careful to not leave room for emotion to flow, and move people—much like a current while out at sea. Seemingly, the wind has disappeared in this setting.
My classmate, Lyev, had an insight especially about this specific scene. “She emphasizes art. Art is the opposite of boredom, right?” Nearly perfectly connecting to this notion of a numb world - Lyev made a brilliant connection between art, and the absence of feeling. Living a repetitive life, without any reason, numbs people, from my experience as a high school student. If I were to wake up and go to school everyday without a goal of some sort, I am sure that I would feel like a Wife from Gilead. Speaking to the mundanity of the Wives life, page 154 continuously aligns perfectly. “…knitting away at her [the wife] endless Angels scarves.” Angels are presumably babies. Seeing as they are endless, it only speaks more to the pointlessness of their way of life. Making scarves for babies, in a world which lacks a notable amount of them, can be interpreted to support Lyev’s point about art. In a world like Gilead, where creativity, autonomy, and overall freedom are completely thrown out of the window, art becomes not just a form of creative expression, but a need. A need for emotional survival; in order for Wives, Handmaids, or anyone within this treacherous novel to keep their sense of self. In this case, Wives knit not for babies’ needs, but their own. For, it is one of the few freedoms which they have. Lyev’s observation, tailored with this portion of the novel, made me think about how we, in our society, also turn to art, music, etc. to break free from our daily lives. From a teenagers’ perspective, this can be seen from the mountains of the playlist which, frankly, we all have, and listen to more than the sound of our own breathing. Especially social media, as well. Much like Offred’s small acts of rebellion seen which seem to keep her sane, art does the same for us. For me. Ultimately, The Handmaid’s Tale seems less & less of a cautionary tale about a distant, and impossible future, and much more like a twisted, and entirely possible version of our world, and reality. This is what makes the novel so unsettling to read: it is essentially a world which feels far away, yet disgustingly similar. It shows a ‘gray area’ of the world which we all know about, yet refuse to look towards.