Clarity

My artwork is showing the scene from pages 141-143. Bromden wakes up not seeing any of his hallucinations for the first time in a long while. As he looks around, he states, “A window was up, and the air in the dorm was clear and had a taste to it made me feel kind of giddy and drunk, gave me this sudden yen to get up out of bed and do something.” Bromden had never been able to get a good look at the outside. He looks out the window and “saw for the first time how the hospital was out in the country.” Bromden takes in as many details of the outside as he can, most of which I portrayed in my artwork(141).

The first thing Bromden noticed was the moon low in the sky over the pastureland. He talks about the moon, saying that “the face of it was scarred and cuffed where it had just torn up out of the snarl of scrub oak and madrone trees on the horizon.”(141) Because of that, I made sure to include lots of trees in the horizon that were tall enough to cover parts of the moon.

Bromden then notes that the stars in the sky were pale next to the moon, but ”they got brighter and braver the farther they got out of the circle of light ruled by the giant moon.”(142) In my artwork, I made the stars closest to the moon barely noticeable and get brighter when they were away from it.

Later on, Bromden notices the geese flying in the sky. He mentions a lead goose, which for a moment “was right in the center of that circle, bigger than the others, a black cross opening and closing”(143). Keeping that in mind, I drew a goose in the shape of a black cross in the middle of the moon, making the other geese behind it a lighter color, making sure the attention was on the goose in the middle.

With all these details, the most important one that I included is the window screen mesh. The mesh serves the purpose of reminding the viewer that Bromden is still stuck inside the hospital, unable to get any closer to the trees or look up at the sky.

This scene is significant to the story as it’s the only moment in the book so far where Bromden’s head clears up, and his vision is not affected by fog. For once in a long time, he’s not being tormented by his hallucinations. Bromden looks out into the world he hasn’t been out into in years. The scene sparks happy memories into his brain, reminding him of calmer times with his family, looking up at the sky. This moment of clarity can result in grounding Bromden in reality once more, or it can act as a small taste of freedom, pushing him to want to escape the terrors of the hospital and go out into the world once again.

Clarity artwork
Clarity artwork

The Man, capital M.

The greatest mandatory structure for someone my age is school. It is a compulsory activity, meaning “required by or as if by law” according to Merriam-Webster. Meaning, I don’t have a choice. Technically I could stay home, not go, but then there would be consequences. And if I go I technically don’t have to do my work. But if I didn’t there would be consequences too. So, by extension, this assignment is a mandatory structure of my life. If I didn’t do it, and then didn’t do the next one, or the one after that, two things would occur: 1) I would acquire a bad grade, and 2) I would not be challenging my mind and learning new material to broaden my perspectives on life. Personally, the latter is more important to me. But the former is what really matters to society. If I don’t get good grades, my chances of getting into a good college drop, and while not mandatory, college is yet another structure set up to unlock for those lucky enough, abundant resources and prescribed slots in the economy. My education also allows me to have the tools that let me understand this very system which I can then critique. And the more I understand it, the more thoroughly opposed I am to being “mold[ed]… into a slot” (46). My best option is to become educated and learn the best ways to evade the mandatory structures as well as I can. So yes, I do the assignment, even though I do not want to.

My distaste grows for the system as I learn about the complete normalcy of corporate America, the gross disease of constant consumerism, and the mainstream thought that plagues our ability to change. In a world of insane people, everyone can call themselves sane. And those self diagnosed sane people write the rules of society, and “society is what decides who’s sane and who isn’t” (44). In the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest there is a rigidity that is impossible to break from. But McMurphy uses laughter as a jolt to wake those deep in the trenches of their constricted normalcy. His laughter is like my somewhat educated grab for something different than business as usual. It is hope. When he first arrives at the ward, he laughs and “it’s free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it’s lapping against the walls all over the ward…I [Bromden] realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years” (10). It is easy to get stuck in a rhythm, and hard to break from it. The nurses and staff at the ward have implemented strict schedules and rules about when the patients can eat, watch television, and play games. This kind of structure is exactly what McMurphy is trying to get the patients to believe they can do without. He is trying to revive them with laughter. During a group meeting, McMurphy loudly whispers a joke to Cheswick and then “leaned back in his chair and laughed so hard that nobody else could say anything for nearly a minute” (145). What he is achieving is disruption, which, for anyone who’s learned about direct action, is a main goal of protests. “If we don’t get it? Shut it down!” goes a popular chant heard at climate strikes and protests. When people walk en masse down a street, or stand with their arms chain-linked through each others’ in front of a building entrance, or a frequently traveled road, they are disrupting business as usual. They are stopping the incessant flow of mindless traffic, and insisting that people take a second to hear a specific message. McMurphy is protesting, and he “was getting a lot of kick out of all the ruckus he was raising” (145).

But, as the sad moral of this story goes, he too gets beat by the system. The Man, capital M. By page 159, he “don’t crack a smile.”

Lit log #3 One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Aidan Simas
Lit Log 3
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The perception someone has of the world around them can drastically influence their life in a lot of different ways. The narrator of “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, Chief Bromden has a unique perception of the world around him. Every perception is flawed and imperfect but Bromden experiences heavy delusions which are mechanically oriented in nature but still representative of the situations he is in. He describes in detail all of these machines that cause fog to fill the whole area or to slow down time. But being clinically insane we can not take these words at face value. To find the true meaning we must infer to the best of our ability. However there is the one moment where all these mechanical delusions fade while Bromden wakes up late one night. He goes to the window to see the moon and remembers his childhood. Specifically how he said he “watched that big Oregon prairie moon above me put all the stars around it to shame.” As he watched the “Canada honkers” fly overhead. This temporary escape from the delusions that plague Bromden is extremely rare and much needed. Not only for him but for me and everyone else as well.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. The ability to so vividly remember the “good times” in our lives can be both a driver of impulsive and unnecessary purchases, and it can help us get away from the daily routine that fills so much of our vision and time. A return to simpler times or a moment in which we felt at peace. These memories allow us to think deeply about our own situations if only for a brief moment. In Chief Bromden’s case he is stuck inside the mental institution and reflects on how it was to be free out in the wilds of America with his family. He longs for a better life just like everyone else in this world. Nostalgia offers a rosy eye’d perspective on the past, and a clearer picture of the present. I know that for me when I remember the past like that I see how much better things are now. I never had any security or certainty in my life until I was nine years old. My father was a sociopath that used my mother for his own personal gain. My parents were divorced by the time I was two and all throughout my childhood my father was trying to take me away from my mother and avoided paying child support whenever he could. I grew up in a single parent household, I moved from place to place and never really understood why. I had One friend throughout my whole childhood and I lost connection with him after I moved to Philly and his mom died of cancer. My father kept me away from anyone who genuinely cared about me as much as he could. And my mom had constant awful roommates who acted awful towards her just so she could pay the bills and put food on the table. But looking back I try to remember the small moments in between. The times I actually had fun. There were more than a few. But overall my childhood was a harsh one, so when I look back all I can think of is how much better off I am now.

My perception of things around me has been in the past quite unreasonable. I remember thinking everyone hated me and that the whole world was against me. And looking back on it, how could I not? I was bullied for my autism in elementary school, the federal government was constantly at my mother’s door making sure she could provide for me or else they would give me to my dad, and people I cared about kept dying without me getting a chance to say goodbye. As a child my life could not have been any more chaotic and uncertain. If I had continued on like this they would have most likely locked me up in a mental ward too! But things change, and my life changed for the better. I learned to be able to trust people and after middle school I finally felt like I fit in. I have through all that I have been through, gotten better and started taking my own life into my own hands. And now things are great, I have never been better, genuinely. I have my whole life ahead of me and I have everything I’ve ever wanted (that being people who actually give a damn about me). There is so much love and happiness in my heart, and my perception of everything around me is so much more clear. Where Chief Bromden sees his fog I saw an air of uncertainty and hate, but it has dissipated. And now by looking back on the past both me and him can see the present ever so clearly.

Gambling

My artwork was about the gambling McMurphy had done and what it meant for the people there. In the artwork, there are a few different items that I felt had some sort of representation or a direct meaning in what would happen in their own life.

The first thing that I tried to do was make sure it looked like you were the one sitting at the table as if you were a person in the ward who was falling to McMurphy’s pressure and losing your money. We see this in the quote “My name’s McMurphy and I’m a gambling fool…I lace my money down “. This shows just how much his identity revolved around gambling and conning people out of their own money.

One of the other key parts of the book that I tried to fit in was the items on the table and how much they meant to all of the people inside the ward. The cigarettes themselves were based on how McMurphy after getting all of their own money would go into them gambling their cigarettes then after winning them all he would get their “IOUs’ ‘. There is also the whole pack on the table to the right then fewer and fewer cigarettes as you go farther to the left showing just how much the group at the table was being taken advantage of from having full packs to nothing at the end. The cards themselves are in pairs just as a traditional hand of blackjack would be if you did not gain another card. There are also no purposeful face cards to show how much he “cheated them out of their money. They were all friendly with him as they paid their bets” The coinage on the table is very spare and is also a way to portray just how much he is taking advantage of his scenario and how that is leading him into contention with the big nurse.

The lighting that I used was supposed to show that McMurphy was helping people out of the fog. You can see that on the dice and how there is one portion of the dice that is shining through and the rest is just as damp as the surrounding areas. This also shows how much of an issue that can become. This is why the right source is showing on the dice a symbol used for gambling and luck opposed to something more normal like a bulb or an ordinary object.

In conclusion, the reason that I made my art was to show just how diverse of a cast McMurphy’s act of gambling can be on the people of the ward. It shows that even if he is doing something that some people can see as a more positive thing like bringing people out of the “fog” it still leaves huge unanswered questions and issues with the morality of what he is doing and how he will accomplish it. The means may not be the way to the end with McMurphy and Chief.

My Grandfather, the Psychiatrist, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

For my Capstone, I’m working with my grandfather, or Zayda as I call him, to transcribe his memoir, which he began writing when I was born. There are over 100 handwritten pages, none of which have been read by anyone but us. This project has not only strengthen my relationship with him, but taught me things I never would have known about my family.

When we started reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the connections between my grandfather’s stories and the book were immediate. He began his residency in the early 70s, about a decade after the novel came out. He recalls the intensity of the locked unit with adult patients and the “biological revolution in psychiatry,” as he put it. Sometimes the things he tells me are surprising, like that he entered psychiatry when these breakthroughs about depression being caused by your brain. Just in his lifetime, he has seen a complete transformation in how mental illness is diagnosed and how those who suffer from it are treated.

Very early in the book, we see that the Big Nurse (and aides and doctor) have considerably more power than the patients. The Big Nurse controls everything on the floor, including the medications and who goes to the Disturbed ward. Her obsession with routine has created a hostile environment. I often find myself comparing my grandfather to the Big Nurse (even though he didn’t have that kind of jurisdiction during the time I mentioned) when she seems particularly cruel. “The length of the time he spends in this hospital is entirely up to us,” (137). There appears to be little resentment or hesitation from the ward’s professionals, which seems absurd today. They had complete control over these people, and from what we can see, they weren’t cared for in the way they should have been. Knowing my grandfather was one of the individuals in the ward who had authority, I often get fearful, perhaps irrationally, that he may have participated in the unfair treatment of patients.

My grandfather and I have spent hours talking about the transformation my grandfather witnessed in psychiatry. Things that seem so obvious now were groundbreaking at the time. “The idea that serious mental illnesses were disorders of the brain, with genetic and neurochemical determinants, was emerging,” he says about his residency. Empathy and understanding, which had been lacking, as we can see in the book, were appearing regarding those who have severe mental illness. The knowledge of mental illness has changed considerably in the past 50 years, so what we know as usual treatment is entirely different than what Kesey and my grandfather did. “They’ve learned a lot since then,” (111) Bromden says, comparing his current placement to the “old hospital.” Somehow, he is making the ward we know well sound like a privilege. The two moments I’m discussing are almost ten years apart, so there has been progress, but it still seems insufficient. We know that at the time of the book, they are still performing lobotomies and using harmful (and not scientifically proven) ways to “fix” the patients. While reading, it often makes me think that no matter how progressive we feel at a certain point, in the future, we will look back and be shocked at how far behind we were.

For the second year of his residency, he was placed into an adolescent unit, which he says was philosophically different. [It] was organized as a therapeutic community, each day began with a morning meeting in which the previous 24 hours events in the life of the community and its members— the 24 patients and the staff could be discussed, confronted, explored, validated, and processed.” I remember hearing him say this and me typing it and thinking, “Huh, that doesn’t sound so bad,” then I read the group therapy from Bromden’s eyes, and my perspective changed. Group therapy is when they are drugged the most, as a way to subdue their personalities and allow Nurse Ratched to be in complete control. I know the book has some magical realism, yet I cannot stop asking, “What was it like for the patients where Zayda worked?”. I can only hear what it was like from his perspective, but the novel has forced me to consider what it felt like to be the patients he was working with, many of whom weren’t there by choice, and there were often patients who attempted to run away (just like McMurphy). I think this shift in perspective is invaluable since it allows me to empathize more with the people in the book and his memoir.

Chapter Seven Close Reading

My Prompt : Track your own intellectual and emotional experience through a close reading of a particular section. You are encouraged to tackle sections that you have found confusing, uncomfortable, or intriguing. You can write this in first person, citing specific examples from this selection as well as other parts of the novel that connect these ideas. Your selected text can be as short as one sentence or paragraph, and should not be from one of the sections we’ve used as an all-class close reading.

In page 39 Offred says, “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance”. This sentence from chapter seven of the “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood dives into Offred’s complex relationship with memory, storytelling, and hope. Offred expresses a desire to believe that she is in control of her narrative, wishing that she could treat her experiences as a story she is telling, with the power to choose the ending and return to her previous life. However, she acknowledges that her situation is not fictional, but a real story that she is telling to an unknown audience. This internal conflict reflects her struggle to find agency and meaning in her circumstances.

Offred’s yearning to believe in the power of storytelling as a source of hope and comfort is evident in this passage. Despite recognizing the futility of her actions, she finds comfort in the act of recounting her experiences and imagining an audience that can hear her. This highlights the human need for connection and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

Offred’s reflection on the power of storytelling and her yearning for agency amidst her oppressive reality encapsulates the universal human desire for autonomy and meaning. Her internal conflict serves as a compelling exploration of the human spirit’s resilience in the face of adversity, resonating with readers on a profound level.

This passage also sheds light on the therapeutic nature of storytelling, as Offred seeks solace in recounting her experiences and envisioning an audience that can bear witness to her narrative. This underscores the innate human need for connection and the preservation of one’s humanity in dehumanizing circumstances.

Furthermore, Offred’s struggle to reconcile her longing for control over her own story with the harsh realities of her existence adds depth to her character, making her a relatable and multi-dimensional protagonist. This internal conflict not only enriches the narrative but also prompts readers to contemplate the complexities of hope and resilience in the face of oppression. Serves as a compelling exploration of the human spirit’s resilience in the face of oppression. This internal conflict not only enriches the narrative but also prompts readers to contemplate the complexities of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. It reflects the universal human desire for autonomy and meaning, as individuals seek to assert their agency and find significance in their experiences, even in the most dire circumstances.

Offred’s complex relationship with memory, storytelling, and hope reflects the profound impact of these themes on the human experience. Her desire to shape her narrative and find solace in the act of storytelling underscores the enduring human quest for meaning and agency, even in the most challenging circumstances. Offred’s internal conflict reflects the profound impact of hope and resilience on the human experience. Her yearning for agency amidst her oppressive reality underscores the enduring human quest for meaning and the capacity to find solace and purpose in the act of storytelling. This complexity adds depth to her character, making her a relatable and multi-dimensional protagonist whose struggles resonate with readers on a profound level.

This passage resonates with me as it captures the tension between the desire for agency and the recognition of the limitations imposed by reality. It also underscores the significance of storytelling as a means of preserving one’s humanity in dehumanizing conditions. This internal struggle adds depth to Offred’s character and underscores the universal themes of hope and resilience in the face of oppression, making it a compelling and thought-provoking aspect of the novel. It’s important to recognize that the tension between the desire for agency and the recognition of external limitations is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. This struggle is not confined to the fictional world of the novel but resonates deeply with real-life challenges and dilemmas faced by individuals in various contexts. The power of storytelling as a means of preserving one’s humanity is a theme that transcends cultural and historical boundaries, speaking to the enduring human need for connection, empathy, and understanding. In essence, the passage serves as a poignant reminder of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity. It prompts readers to reflect on the ways in which individuals navigate and negotiate their agency within the constraints of their circumstances. By delving into these themes, the novel offers a compelling exploration of the human condition, inviting readers to contemplate the complexities of hope, resilience, and the enduring power of storytelling in the preservation of one’s identity and dignity.

The Commander’s Power

“His hand pauses. “I thought you might enjoy it for a change.” He knows that isn’t enough. “I guess it was a sort of experiment.” That isn’t enough either. “You said you wanted to know.” (254)

“Whatever there is to know,” I say; but that’s too flippant. “What’s going on.” (188)

This section of the reading frustrated me because the Commander used this outing as an opportunity to take advantage of Offred, even twisting her words to justify why he did what he did.

At the end of chapter 29, the Commander and Offred are talking about what happened to the last Handmaid that was in the house and the Commander tells her that Serena Joy had found out about their meetings at night, and that she had killed herself because of it. Offred sees how their meetings can be very dangerous for her, and she wonders if it would be best if she stopped coming to meet him. He believes she has been enjoying them and doesn’t see why they should stop. “You want my life to be bearable to me.” she says but means it as a question, to which he says, “Yes, I do. I would prefer it.” (187) This section of the book gives Offred and the reader the thought that the Commander wants to meet with her at night for her own benefit, that he hopes that their meetings are bringing some kind of value to her life. It makes the reader believe that he is on her side, when it is the complete opposite. After this interaction is where the quote from page 188 takes place, “Whatever there is to know,” I say; but that’s too flippant. “What’s going on.” The Commander later uses these words against Offred while taking advantage of her.

Even though at the start of their “relationship”, the Commander makes his intentions quiet clear when telling her he would like for her to kiss him “As if you meant it.”(140) This quote shows us what the Commander has wanted from Offred this whole time, but still I couldn’t help but feel hope for her when he told her he hoped for her life to be bearable for her. After the Commander has paraded Offred around Jezebel’s, he takes her upstairs to one of the old hotel rooms and takes advantage of her. He uses her want to know what was going on in the world to justify him taking her to Jezebel’s just to get what he wants. “His hand pauses. “I thought you might enjoy it for a change.” He knows that isn’t enough. “I guess it was a sort of experiment.” That isn’t enough either. “You said you wanted to know.” (254) He only says this to her after he sees that she is visibly upset with where she is, and notices that she isn’t as enthusiastic about having sex with him as he is. This part of the story made me feel disgusted towards the Commander, as it felt that he had done so well up until this point at masking his true intentions. To see his true intentions come to the surface again for the first time since their first meeting was frustrating and quite surprising. This whole situation also feeds into the theme of the abuse of women throughout the book, not just on the Commander’s part, but also on Serena Joy’s part, as she unknowingly sent Offred to go see Nick the same night she was forced to have sex with the Commander outside of a ceremony. While Serena was unaware of what had just happened between Offred and the Commander, she was still willing on her own part to exploit Offred for her own gain. Both the Commander and Serena Joy have put Offred’s life at risk for something that would only benefit themselves, and would most likely not get them into any trouble on their side.

It is also important to consider the fact that Offred could not stand up against Serena Joy of the Commander if she truly wanted to. He holds no power in a society built off of power and gender roles, if she were to speak up she would be risking her life. The Commander once asked her during one of their meetings what her true thoughts were on Gilead as a society, to which she responds with “There’s hardly any point in my thinking, is there? I say. What I think doesn’t matter.”(211) She has no room to speak up for her opinions and beliefs in Gilead, so she has no room to stand up for herself against Serena Joy and the Commander.

Mirror

“Maybe it’s just something to keep the wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose. But I envy the Commander’s wife her knitting. It’s good to have small goals that can easily be attained.” (Chp 3 pg 13)

March 2020 I was forced into isolation and changed forever at the hands of Covid. I didn’t know then how drastically my life would change or the events that followed after that. Looking back at that time, I was young fresh out of middle school and put into high school virtually with no sense of who I would become. As I battled quarantine and the ability to keep myself occupied, I envy those older than me who continued to work and provide. I had no clue as to why I felt this way then but I knew this feeling would linger. As I got older and quarantine ended, I occupied myself with sports. For the majority of my high school years, I felt the desire to find my purpose in this world. As we read The Handmaid’s Tale, I realize in some ways I connected to moments Offered would have. This moment specifically, where she talks of the Wives knitting for children. I felt this connection since I’ve always battled what I wanted to do with my life. To this day I am aware I want to be an engineer, but I overwhelm myself with the thought of that being my purpose.

“What we are supposed to feel towards these bodies is hatred and scorn. This isn’t what I feel” (Chp 6 pg 33)

Reading this quote, I thought of the time where George Floyd was unfortunately killed at the hands of the police. During this time, there was an outrage from millions of people around the world. I agreed with this outrage however the hate towards all policemen, I couldn’t find it within myself to feel this way towards them. I’ve always had good encounters with the police, and I don’t say this to dismiss their actions. From my perspective, I always see good in people who may have not been so good. I believe my reasoning for this is because of how I was raised, and my take on certain issues. This situation specifically, the police are human and as humans we make countless mistakes and those follow with consequences. However, to hate someone because of what they did is something I couldn’t bring myself to do at the time. This section of the book, Offered see the bodies of those who have gone against Gilead’s social norms. Though what they have done could have not been morally wrong, those in power made the discretion that it was and that cost their life. I believe as a reader that Offered had some sense of this understanding and that caused her to not feel hate towards them. So in my situation where social media users were in power and had an influence on how those felt at the time, I too felt like offered and didn’t have any ill feelings.

“If I thought this would never happen again I would die.” (Chp 18 pg 103)

You wake up before the sun comes up, brush your teeth and get ready for school for about 180 days out of the year. I believe most of us do this for somebody or even ourselves. In this moment of “The handmaid’s tale”, Offered talks about her love for luke and how it motivates her to keep going in gilead society. In some way we are all Offered in this moment. I related to this quote a lot, this being because I am the oldest to four little sisters. When it comes to any activity or simple things I do in my life, I remind myself that not only am I doing it for me but I have four little girls looking up to me. When I cannot motivate myself no longer I think of my sisters and the type of example I would be leading but just giving up. Offered does this alot when mentioning Moira, Luke or her daughter. She uses them as hope any moment where she feels upset. As for myself, I caught myself at times not wanting to go on with something due to my lack of motivation, so in some ways my family is my hope.

It's Lit

My artwork depicts the conflict between Offred and Serena joy, but in a broader sense handmaids and wives in general. In the society of Gilead, handmaids are hated and looked down upon, treated like cattle instead of actual people. Besides the “unwomen” they probably have the worst position in society. However, the point of my art argues that in the greater scheme of things, the wives are not much better. While the wives are definitely more privileged, they aren’t free from the oppressive system. For example, the text states, “Serena Joy grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who’s being fucked — He is preoccupied, like a man humming to himself in the showing without knowing he’s humming”. The wives are forced to help this awful process without complaint. It’s easy to go throughout the novel hating Serena Joy, for most of the book I did as well. But as I read further and got to know the commander I realized all the wives are victims as well. Imagine being a woman forced to stay in the house, knitting and praying all day. Married to a man that regularly rapes his servants in front of you. On top of that you are infertile and the only option to have a child is to steal it away from the servants your husband takes advantage of. This is the norm in gilead. According to society and the god you worship, this is how life is supposed to be, and to complain about it would mean punishment, despite your wife status. In the society of Gilead, only men like the commander can truly claim any status.

Art analysis: Everything about the handmaids and wives are conflicting, even the red and blue they wear clash. The black line through the middle represents their separation. However, towards the line, the clashing blue and red begin to blend together. Showing that despite what we see on the surface the wives and handmaids are in similar situations. The line toward the top separates the commander from both the wives and handmaids. Though the handmaids and wives are opposing, they are on the same level, the commander however is quite literally above them. There is no perspective to look through that puts the commanders on the same level as the handmaids and wives. I chose black to represent the commander because it’s a very dominating color. Unlike the blue and red, the commander’s black does not blend or fade. I wanted this show to show that he is without a doubt on top of the system. If you notice where the opposing line between the handmaids and wives start, it starts from the Commander’s cane. I did this to show the fact that the conflict between them started and kept going because of the commander. Overall my major goal was to show that the conflict between the handmaids and wives is just surface level, and that the real conflict is between all the women of Gilead and the commanders, who represent the system itself.

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The Handmaid's Tale Playlist

Song 1 - Past Life by Tame Impala https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kZ2W5f-H3k

This song speaks about seeing a former lover from a “past life”. It correlates with the memories that Offred frequently has of Luke during the night chapters. The song talks about all the things of a former partner, including the “smells” of them and that coming back to them. Most of the beginning in the story shows Offred’s heartache while reminiscing about her former partner. The memories provide her with an escape from the harsh reality of her society, however she is concerned that she is losing these memories of him, saying in chapter 40 that she should’ve paid attention “to the details, moles, and scars, the singular creases; I didn’t and he’s fading. Day by day, night by night, he recedes, and I become more faithless”. Her story about Luke and the cat in Chapter 30 describes him as the man who she really loved, which is why she misses him so much.

Song 2 - Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY

In the song, although he is just any ordinary person, the singer feels as though he is being watched. The Handmaid’s Tale takes this song to a whole new level as Offred is never alone, therefore always being watched. She has to walk with another handmaid, and since the laws of Gilead are so strict, obviously there’s going to be a lot of people reinforcing those laws and making sure the place is in order. The song says they are “just an average man with an average life” and that “all I want is to be left alone in my home” however privacy in Gilead, again, is very limited. Not only is the government big on surveillance, but they encourage their citizens to keep a close eye on the others too. On page 29, Offred talks about the handmaids always having to walk together with each other: “She is my spy, and I am hers. If either of us slips through the net because of something that happens on one of our daily walks, the other will be accountable”. This implies that you can not rebel or break the rules at any time, because someone else will also take the blame if you do something wrong and get away with it.

Song 3 - Violent Crimes by Kanye West https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSY7u8Jg9c0

This song is about Kanye West speaking his opinion on women and how he wants God to forgive him for seeing women in a different way than he does now, ‘cause now he sees “women as something to nurture, not something to conquer”, which is contradictory to the book, as the leaders definitely see women as something to “conquer”. The “violent crimes” talked about in the song are the treatment of women around the world, and how men can be “savages”, “players”, and “monsters”. This relates to the citizens of Gilead treating the women very harshly and batting an eye to a more equal alternative. Offred reflects on the rights, or lack thereof, that she is given, and says that she’s not even allowed hand lotion or face cream, because they are considered vanities. She also claims that women in Gilead are “containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important”.

Song 4 - The Scientist by Coldplay https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB-RcX5DS5A

The lyrics in this song are pretty self-explanatory, the song’s chorus is “Nobody said it was easy, It’s such a shame for us to part, Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be this hard, Oh, take me back to the start”. This relates very much to Offred having memories about Luke in the night chapters. One quote that stands out to me was when Offred said that Luke “wasn’t a doctor. Isn’t.” This is Offred trying to convince herself that Luke is still alive, because not even she fully believes it. It is stated many times in the book that the chance of Luke being alive is pretty slim.

Song 5 - Stairway to Heaven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkF3oxziUI4

This song represents the very end of the book when Offred goes to the mysterious van. One of the possibilities that awaits Offred is death. This song talks about a woman “buying” a stairway to heaven. This relates to Offred somewhat accepting her fate at the end of the book, saying she is steeping “into the darkness, within; or else the light”. Offred says these words uncertain of her future, and the book ends without us knowing what ends up happening to Offred. But as death is one of the possibilities, this song is fitting for the final chapter.

The Oppression of Women in The Handmaid’s Tale and in Modern-Day Society

My prompt:

Compare a specific section of reading to a larger historical, political, religious, or societal context. What connections can you make between what is happening in the text and what has occurred in history, politics, religion, the media, the arts world, etc.?

In chapter sixteen of The Handmaid’s Tale, describing the impersonal sex ritual between Offred, Serena Joy, and the Commander, Margaret Atwood shows how Gilead’s society completely oppresses women. Even though Serena Joy is the Commander’s Wife and should have power, she is also oppressed by the strict patriarchal rules of Gilead that say women are only valuable for birthing babies.

This sex ritual shows how both Serena Joy and Offred are treated like objects, not real people. Offred has to lie on her back naked from the waist down, with her head resting on Serena’s pubic bone. This shows how Offred is reduced to just her reproductive body parts. The men of Gilead just see the Handmaid’s as nothing more than baby makers. Offred says the Commander has sex with her “in a brisk, impersonal fashion” (page. 93-94) described this, which proves the Commander does not care about her feelings or needs at all. Offred is just something for the Commander to use for sex.

Even though Serena Joy is the Commander’s wife, she is also oppressed by Gilead’s rules. Serena has to be fully clothed during the sex ritual while Offred is half naked. This shows how wives in Gilead are supposed to be modest and pure, not sexual beings. Serena also has to hold Offred’s hand, which Offred says digs Serena’s rings into her fingers. This painful detail shows how Serena dislikes being part of this cruel ritual, even though she acts like it’s her religious duty. Atwood uses small details like the rings digging into Offred’s fingers to reveal Serena’s true feelings behind her religious act.

The quick, emotionless sex shows that the ritual is only about making babies, not intimacy or love between man and woman. Right after he finishes, the Commander “zips himself up and leaves the room promptly” (page. 94). The nonemotional language makes it clear that this is just a baby making chore for the Commander. The women’s needs and desires don’t matter at all. This applies even to Serena Joy, since the wife has to be present for the ritual but gets no intimacy or affection from the Commander.

The ritual also shows how women in Gilead have no power over their own bodies or fertility. When Offred just lies there after the sex, which is supposed to help her get pregnant, Serena orders her to “Get up and get out” (page. 94). Offred explains she is supposed to rest for ten minutes to improve her chances of conceiving but Serena doesn’t care and kicks her out anyway, showing her cruelty and lack of empathy. This scene shows that Gilead values unborn children more than the women that carry them. Women’s bodies are treated as political instruments, and the state consumes complete control of them through their political domination. The state’s entire structure, with its religious trappings and rigid political hierarchy, is built around the single goal of Gilead control of women’s reproduction. Women in general support Gilead’s existence by willingly participating in it, serving as agents of the totalitarian state. However, they are stripped of their individuality and defined solely by their gender roles as Wives, Handmaids, or Aunt Martha’s. The enforced dress codes on women serve as a marker of each role, something men in Gilead do not have to have announced. Women are forbidden to read or write, also smoking is luxary for women of Gilead, and they are not allowed to work, travel alone, or access birth control without a signed form from their partner. Pressurizing economic and personal rights, off of women evokes a lack of platforms to communicate the government’s wrongdoings, where complacency and conformity are the norm in society’s like Gilead and many other totalitarian regimes.

By examining the painful details of the impersonal sex ritual, Atwood reveals how in Gilead’s society women are oppressed and stripped of their dignity and rights. Both the Wives and the Handmaid’s are objects whose only purpose is to produce children. Atwood based Gilead’s rules on real attitudes and actions that have oppressed women throughout history. Her dystopian world of Gilead shows were sexism and control over women’s bodies could lead to if taken to the extreme. This section heavily and vividly illustrates the whole theme of the novel and the dangers of a society where women have no rights or freedoms. Even though this novel was written in 1980’s around the time of the whole Christian Born Again political movement, Atwood’s warnings about what could happen if women’s rights are taken away continues to resonate today with issues such as Roe v. Wade of, plans to ban abortion and simple health care rights to reproductive care access of women. Also in Afhganistan girls are banned from reading or studying this also reminded me on how oppressive a real country can be oppressive towards women, and how Gilead banned their reading towards women in the novel. To finish this off through all this we can how women are oppressed in society today and how they were oppressed in Gilead.

Citations:

https://novel2screen.net/2018/06/26/the-handmaids-tale-womens-power-ceremony/

The Handmaid’s Tale: Themes | SparkNotes

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/07/global-backlash-against-womens-rights

Birthing process

In chapter twenty one, the narrator talks about the birthing process. The birthing process seemed so ceremonial and cultish in many aspects. The way that the narrator described the handmaid chanting in a circle creeped me out. There were three main moments that had me so frustrated. Number one being the wife acting like she gave birth to a baby when in reality it was Janine. Number two being the commander’s wife taking credit for the birthing process. The final one would be the fact that the wives get to name the baby’s instead of the handmaids.

After Jannie gave birth to the baby, I started to get emotional. I got frustrated at the fact that “The two wives in blue help the third wife, the wife of the household, down from. The birthing stool and over to the bed they lay her down and tuck her in”(126). I hated the fact that the wife that literally did nothing in this process was acting as if she had the child. Jannie had the child she should be the one receiving the most help and care.

When the wife is all tucked into her bed. She receives the child from one of the aunts. What I thought was so irritating about this was the objectification of the baby. The narrator starts to say that “The commander’s wife looks down at the baby as if it’s a bouquet of flowers: something she’s won as a tribute”(126). I interpreted the commander’s wife looking at the child as an award for her hard work. Although we never got to learn the relationship between Jannie and the commander’s wife, I believe that it’s safe to assume that there was distance kept. I think if i were in that situation I would have been crying. I wouldn’t be filled with jealousy just because of the baby I had been carrying. It’s the long nights that I was suffering. I would be thinking I did it, not the commander’s wife. That is a frustration I have with the commander’s wife. On top of all of that it’s the wife that gets to name the baby. I feel like the least they could let the handmaid do is name the child they just gave birth to. I feel so sad for the handmaids.

Mother and daughter

The narrator in the handmaid’s tale is constantly jumping from thought to thought in her mind. Chapter 11 starts off by narrating how the bathroom is a luxury and the only place she ever has privacy. The following paragraph she starts to narrate about her daughter. The narrator thinks about her daughter by saying “She fades, I can’t keep her here with me, she’s gone now. Maybe I do think of others as a ghost, the ghost of a dead girl, a little girl who died when she was five”(64). On the surface level the readers can see the narrator has a constant thought about her being “dead”.

The narrator thinking about her child being dead is more comforting thought as cruel as it sounds. In the new society that has been created, although women are not constantly being threatened there is still a big issue with their society. Society, although it claims to keep women safe, has full control over what happens to women if they don’t comply and that’s what keeps women in line.

Throughout this chapter I think the narrator would prefer her daughter to be dead because of how young she was when they separated. The relationship between her daughter and her, the child still heavily relies on the mom in my opinion. In her mind a small child couldn’t possibly survive the world without a guide from at least one parent. In the narrator’s mind I strongly believe she fears for her child’s life more than her own.

If I were to live in this society and if I had a child to keep myself sane I would honestly gaslight myself into thinking my child died. I don’t agree with the system and to put a child through that. To keep myself sane I would pray that my child was dead. I wouldn’t want my child to live in a society where she wouldn’t have control over her own autonomy. Even in modern day; I wouldn’t have a child. There are so many risks that if I put a child out in the world with so many issues, I just wouldn’t want to bring it upon them.

Growing up I feel like my mother would move the world if she really had too for my sister and me. I grew up with women surrounding me and we were taught that we should be loyal to our families. I feel like I have a different take on why the narrators would rather believe her daughter to be dead than alive. It would be so much easier to believe her daughter was dead than to want her to be alive. I believe a mother would do anything for their child to be safe and sound. My example of believing that is by the strong independent woman that raised me growing up. This includes my mom, aunt and grandma. My grandmother most of all being an example of a woman of family and having a deep love of owning her own restaurant at the moment. She can be so busy but will always try her best to make time for the family. She has sacrificed to get us to stand on this ground today.

Multiple Sides

It was late at night, maybe nine or ten o’clock, and I was sitting at my desk. I was a good student, doing my reading when chapter 16 came along. I remembered Ms. Giknis telling us that there were disturbing moments in the book, but I figured she just had to say that because there were small moments that could make people minorly uncomfortable. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The chapter starts off with an announcement of a ceremony “The Ceremony goes as usual.” and I didn’t think anything of it. I began to read further and it started to describe the scene of where everything was about to go down. I was confused, not really sure what to expect. Offred and Serena Joy were getting in position for something. I closed my eyes. I realized where I had gotten in the book, and though I like to consider myself mentally tough, reading about nonconsensual sex was a first, and hopefully the last. As they began to describe further details, I began feeling anxious. For some reason, it felt like the book had come to life and I was reading a description of someone I knew, someone real. I took a sip of water, and stared blankly at the book. I had always known rape was a real thing, it just had never hit me what it’s really like. I’ve always tried to not worry about that kind of stuff, having a gut feeling that it might change me reading some of this stuff, and it did. I continued reading again, prepared for what I was about to read, when things took another turn. Offred became vastly uncomfortable, as her description of the situation was anything but normal. “Serena Joy grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who’s being fucked — He is preoccupied, like a man humming to himself in the showing without knowing he’s humming” It brought out a different emotion in me, a sense of awkwardness that just made me more uncomfortable. It made me think about the way people treat women as a whole because the way I looked at it, I think the Commander would expect Offred to be uncomfortable because she’s been forced to have sex with him, but I don’t think he’d expect her to feel awkward. During the ceremony, Offred begins to question herself and the situation. “If he were better looking would I enjoy this more?” My discomfort was slowly dissipating, but I definitely still felt like I went through something, even though all I did was read a few pages. As it finishes, the discomfort spikes, but then it goes back to this grey area. He did what he did, and then just cleaned up and walked out. Serena treated Offred like a dog. “Get up and get out.” This didn’t follow procedure, as Offred is supposed to have time after it, but clearly the ceremony affected her. I realized there’s multiple perspectives to the ceremony. Offred, the one who is being forced into a situation all because of her ability to get pregnant, and Serena Joy, who didn’t ask for her position either. She basically has to help her husband cheat on her, creating a baby that isn’t hers but if Offred conceives one, she has to treat the baby like it is hers. The situation they are in is hurting multiple parties, which made it even harder to read the end of the chapter. I learned that even though any situation I’m in will never be like this, that there are multiple parties involved in things that may not seem they hurt many. I also learned that, though reading this chapter was difficult, I need to read things like it a lot more. It gave me a lot of insight as to what the reality is of terrible scenarios and I know people say “The truth can hurt”, but I think it will only make me more knowledgable.

Note Hierarchy

The Handmaid’s Tale has a new form of hierarchy. A new system. In this hierarchy there are men and women separated. And in these smaller categories, there is also hierarchy. Wives, Aunts, Marthas, Handmaids, Econwives, and Unwomen. This ranking system is most based on the ability to produce babies and moral values including before the new system was implemented. The way the system goes, it seems very much based on religious values and it’s being pushed on the whole community. We don’t know how far the system spans in the world but it seems like something not too limited. This notion of religious beliefs and such a vastly different government being forced upon citizens just doesn’t sit right. Another thing that was noted was that for each class of woman, there were different dress colors. Blue for wives (like representing the virgin mary and innocence), Aunts would wear light brown dresses, Martha’s wear green, Handmaids wear red, econwives wear green and blue striped dresses. This is similar to uniforms for school, and as a student I would hate a uniform. Uniforms are to make everyone less individual and uniform. Personally I don’t agree with this because I think self expression through clothing is really important and something I value a lot. I also like to see other people use it as an expression as well. When you think about their strategies to keep order in their system in order, you think of the wall. Or that’s what I thought of. It’s a tactic they use to scare people into submission. That seems to be a theme. Scaring people into submission to their roles. It’s very toxic and I kind of wonder how sustainable it is. How long it will last. The obsession with the wall is representative of values that the higher ups deem wrong. And the consequences that come with not following the ideas of the more powerful. It’s a very strict society where emotions are devalued and therefore people also become dehumanized as emotions are a huge part of humanity. The hierarchy seems to also value “purity” in the eyes of god. For example Serena Joy became a wife because she proved in her old life before the new regime, that she was pure and hadn’t sinned. This bringing in of religion is not new to the world. Like when christianity was being pushed upon people in the past, a similar thing is happening in this book. Also, in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are soul scrolls and lots of mention of prayer. The mention of these are interesting to me because it’s very private, while usually people are scared because they feel constantly watched and spied on. The uncomfort level for women has increased. The Hierarchy of Giead also reveals that the structure of it itself puts women against each other and creates a very quiet, but very judgemental society. Increase in gossip as well because of the lack of communication lines. This environment is women versus women is the most toxic way. Meaning that women are being re taught to hate on other women and criticize them and in turn themselves. They are put down a lot. Our protagonist even seems to have some internalized misogyny instilled in her. Perhaps she was a little like this before gilead, but I think it has definitely increased the more time she spends in gilead. But because she is so much less powerful than many other ranks, she is more easily manipulated. She is put in a position where she feels unsafe to others, and where she is “less than”. Like when the commander takes her to Jezabels, she literally can’t say no. She was put into a position where she could not say no to protect her own life. I don’t think there should be any way she should have been put into a situation she can’t say no in.

World's Collide

In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, there are numerous historical connections and parallels to the past. There is a saying, “History repeats itself” and Atwood believes that is what will happen in a post-apocalyptic world. In the book, there are references to the bible, like on page sixty-one. “Give me children, or else I die.” This is part of the verse Genesis 30:1. “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.” The idea of what the commander is doing, keeping women held hostage and forcing them to have sex with him to reproduce, comes indirectly from the bible. Throughout history, women have been forced to abide by a number of rules: Not having marital property rights, not being allowed to vote, and not being able to earn an equal wage. Those were a few more notable ones among the long list of rules women had to follow. Women historically were forced into nurturing roles, like teaching and child care, most of all, solely committed to being a wife and mother. This connects to the main theme of The Handmaid’s Tale, as in a parallel to a world reset, the first actions of life in this new world are similar compared to when this world was first established. Women historically have never had a voice. This is shown in THT through their living situation and the stories that Offred tells. They’re always being watched in Gilead, the same way they were in real life. If women were to step out of line, they would be punished. THT also has a lot of polar opposites to the bible. Proverbs 31:30-31 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. This reference to the bible is one of many instances where women are praised, whereas, in Gilead, women are punished for having the ability to reproduce. In the bible, it does say women should reproduce, but based on the scripture Proverbs 31:20-31, it should be done in a nurturing and loving way. The tale also carries a sense of indoctrination. The book paints a picture of religious extremism, like the ceremony, quoting of the bible, and the imbalance of rights based on gender and fertility. Gilead uses a lot of terminology straight out of the bible. The rituals, as in the living arrangements for handmaids and the ceremony strip the individuality away from the handmaids. They all become the same, as they serve the same purpose. Offred believes she became more than that to the Commander, but then she finds out that he has done what he’s done for her for other girls. The pattern of ‘every handmaid is the same’ repeats itself. It seems to be the driver for the controlling aspect of the handmaids. By forcing them into these religious practices, it forces them to all be in line and abide by rules, but it also makes the people in charge abide by rules. They have to follow traditions even though they are the ones who came up with it, which is why it is recurring. THT also has a lot of similarities to the Holocaust. The women held captive for these practices fit a specific theme, they can all get pregnant, which is exactly what the holocaust did, the only difference was they killed the Jewish people, whereas in Gilead they are giving birth to new lives. The Handmaid’s Tale makes a lot of connections to history, particularly religious practices. They let the bible decide how they treated the women, but in many instances chose to come up with their own rules.

The Handmaid's Tale Through Songs

Playlist: hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have- but I have it by Lana Del Rey Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve by Taylor Swift Asking For It by Hole O Children by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Femme Fatale by The Velvet Underground, Nico

hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have- but I have it by Lana Del Rey I connected this song to The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood because the song talks about the desperation a woman has for hope in her life, even knowing that it’s not a logical thing to have in her life. “Smiling for miles in pink dresses and high heels on white yachts,” from Lana Del Ray’s song reminded me of when the Japanese tourists visited Gilead, and the way she felt about how they were dressed. Offred talks about how she remembered what it was like to not have to worry about how she was dressed, and envied the female tourists for their freedom to dress however they wished. We also see a part of her that was consumed by the ideals of Gilead, and how she judged those women for the recklessness in their apparel. As she and Ofglen see the tourist they are “Fascinated, but also repelled.” (28) Gilead’s ideals come into play as she now sees them as “Underdressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds about things like this.” (28)

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve by Taylor Swift I connected this song to The Handmaid’s Tale because this song is about a past relationship that is highly regretted, calling him a “ghost” from her past. Offred often refers to her daughter as a ghost as a way to cope with the fact that she is no longer with her. She describes the way she thinks about her daughter as “this contradictory way of believing seems to me, right now, the only way I can believe anything. (106)” This quote reminds me of the lyrics “All I used to do was pray, Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. If you’d never looked my way, I would’ve stayed on my knees, and I damn sure never would’ve danced with the devil.” This scene and these lyrics are comparable because it shows Offred’s way of believing her daughter was either safe or dead, and how she wishes she could’ve protected her.

Asking For It by Hole I connected this song to The Handmaid’s Tale because this song is about society’s norm of always placing the blame on women whenever they are the victim of something. There is quite a clear side by side similarity between this song and the book, the song’s chorus being “Was she asking for it? Was she asking nice? If she was asking for it, did she ask you twice?”, and in chapter 13 when Janine is testifying in the Red Center about how she was gang raped at fourteen and the Aunts made all the girls chant at her “Her fault. Her fault. Her fault.”(72) These lyrics and this scene in the book are comparable because they show how society is very quick to judge a woman for what she could have done to “deserve” her assault, and the deep rooted misogyny in these beliefs.

O Children by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds I connected this song to The Handmaid’s Tale because it reminded me of Offred’s description of the beginning of Gilead, and how she tried to leave the country with her family. The lyrics, “They are knocking now upon your door. They measure the room, they know the score.”, reminds me of the security checkpoints Gilead had in place at the borders of the country. The lyrics “We’re all weeping now, weeping because, there ain’t nothing we can do to protect you,” reminds of the scene in chapter 12 where Offred is having flashbacks of her daughter, and later describes how she sees her. “She fades. I can’t keep her here with me, she’s gone now. Maybe I do think of her as a ghost, the ghost of a dead girl, a little girl who died when she was five.”(64) These lyrics and this scene are comparable because it shows how Offred likes to think of her daughter as dead to help her cope with the fact that she doesn’t know where she is and she is unable to protect her.

Femme Fatale by The Velvet Underground, Nico I connected this song to The Handmaid’s Tale because this song is about the stereotype society has created for a “seductive woman” that will use her sexuality to “torment” men. The lyrics “It’s not hard to realize, just look into her false colored eyes. She builds you up to just put you down, what a clown.” reminded me of the scene in chapter 10 where Offed is recalling the way Aunt Lydia talked about the way women dressed during the summer. She describes them as “spectacles.” She says, “Oiling themselves like roast meat on a spit, and bare backs and shoulders, on the street, in public, and legs, not even stockings on them, no wonder these things used to happen.” These lyrics and this scene are comparable because it shows how society viewed women as objects, and everything they did was in effort to get attention or to gain sexual attraction from others.

Gileadean Colors

In Gilead colors play a huge role in society. We see this in our own society too, and in every society throughout time. Blue for boys and pink for girls, red for stop and green for go, the association of red with communism, white with purity and innocence, mourners wearing black. However sometimes colors represent very different things in different cultures or parts of the world, for example, most Western cultures associate black with death and white with life, but in some Asian cultures white is actually associated with death and mourning. No matter what they represent though, colors are undeniably a universally easy way of identifying things one way or another, and have been used so all throughout history. As Atwood says in the introduction to The Handmaid’s Tale, “Many totalitarianisms have used clothing, both forbidden and enforced, to identify and control people- think of yellow stars and Roman purple- and many have ruled behind a religious front, it makes the creation of heretics that much easier.” Here she is referring to the yellow stars that Jewish people were made to wear by the Nazis during the Holocaust in some European countries, both inside and outside of ghettos and concentration camps so as to be easily identified, and the color purple signifying high status in ancient Rome since it was so hard and expensive to make the purple dye.

The colors each person can wear is entirely dependent on their station in Gileadean society, and makes each person easily identifiable. The assigned colors are just another contributing factor to the absolute control and lack of individuality in Gilead. We get a sense of this very early on in the book as Offred explains every detail of her suffocating red outfit that she must wear, and how even the umbrellas have specific colors, “black, for the commander, blue, for the commander’s wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red.” This control of everything by the government is part of the erasure of individuality in Gilead, which is the goal of the government because it makes the people easier to control.

These colors don’t only have significance in Gilead though. In the introduction of The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood explains her inspiration behind some of the themes of the book, including the assigned colors. “The modesty costumes worn by the women of Gilead are derived from Western religious iconography- the wives wear the blue of purity, from the virgin Mary, the Handmaids wear red, from the blood of parturition, but also from Mary magdalene.” The color coding of people in Gilead is just another reinforcement of the totalitarianism of the regime for the people of Gilead. It reminds them every moment of their day that they are not defined by who they are as people, but rather as what their station is. It is also a psychological manipulation tool. It has been proven that certain colors make you feel a certain way, and also it ensures that everyone is associated with their color and station, and not with who they actually are.

There is also the practical element of color coding all the people in Gilead. As Atwood says in the introduction, “red is easier to see if you happen to be fleeing.” This is mentioned several times throughout the book, with Offred thinking about how she sticks out like a sore thumb in her bright red, which would make it much more difficult for her to run away and not be seen. The color of the outfit is not the only element of control though, the heaviness and lack of form is obviously meant to hide the Handmaids bodies to prevent any temptation. And the big white headpieces with blinders are a clever way to isolate the Handmaids even more, preventing their faces from being seen and them from seeing other Handmaids faces, and also preventing them from making eye contact, which is a very big part of human connection. It is reminiscent of some forms of religion that use similar things to oppress women, labeling them as temptations and therefore making them hide their bodies and dress very modestly. There are of course women who are not forced to do this and actually find liberation and power in dressing modestly, but when something is forced upon you it is usually not empowering.

Life As A Handmaid

The first thing I want to talk about is how in The Handmaid’s Tale they aren’t allowed to look at magazines because they are outlawed. The whole idea of them being outlawed is because it will think of individuality and in Gilead which is a sin because the women are only supposed to think about bearing children. It also tells how women should dress, in the book it describes the colors of what the girls wear, and they all have no individuality for them to stand out from the rest. Sexuility has a lot to do with it too because in some magazines it shows nudity and skin and the point of being a “woman” is being modest for men so you can find a good husband because that’s what men like. One quote I found interesting was,“Staring at the magazine, as he dangled it before me like fish bait, I wanted it. I wanted it with a force that made the ends of my fingers ache. At the same time I saw this longing of mine as trivial and absurd, because I’d taken such magazines lightly enough once. I’d read them in dentists’ offices, and sometimes on planes; I’d bought them to take to hotel rooms, a device to fill in empty time while I was waiting for Luke. After I’d leafed through them I would throw them away, for they were infinitely discardable, and a day or two later I wouldn’t be able to remember what had been in them. Though I remembered now.” It reminded me of how women would have been inspiring the world with their creativity and showing their difference in the world.

Shopping was a big part of Gilead. The handmaid’s would grocery shop mostly everyday for their households, and it was a part of their “culture” since they did it a lot. This relates to the shopping bags because it shows what is acceptable for what women should do, and how a woman should accomplish her everyday duties. How women are viewed in the society like all women are good for is to bring home food and shop in piers to “safety” What roles a woman should play in being a handmaid.

The difference between modesty and immodesty is one tells more about what kind of girl you are. Modesty plays a big factor in in this book because the men believe that the women get raped or SA because of the clothes they wear. It also has to do with the bible, in the bible the women shouldn’t be showing no skin because it gives a man right to stare at her sexually and you would be a whore if you didn’t cover up. “Two-thirty comes during Testifying. It’s Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion.But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. Her fault, her fault, her fault. We chant in unison. Who led them on? She did. She did. She did. Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen? Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson.” Men try to explain this by covering up and we as women wouldn’t be seen as sexual beings.

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Lit Log #2

As someone who struggles with both mental health and memory loss, Offred has been very relatable to me as a character. In Margret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, The main character Offred is suffering as a handmaid in this new dystopian society following the collapse of the government in America. She’s forced to be a womb and a maid. Forced to lose her past life and ultimately lose herself. It becomes very easy for her to lose herself more and more as the story progresses. The more she remembers, the more trauma is revealed in the past and she then stops herself in the midst of the memories to remind herself why she forgot those memories. My past as a human being has not been as bad as Offred’s but it wasn’t all too normal either. Being in the situations I was at the age I was caused me to lose myself and put on a persona of compliance. This caused me to lose myself in the end which also contributed to my loss in memory. I don’t want to recall when in the past I’ve been hurt so I cut those memories out to make the suffering less of a pain.

On page 30 of the book, the reader is hit with a strong poetic line that uncovers a lot about Ofrred’s character and her thinking pattern. This could lead the reader to wonder about how reliable the past Offred explains is true later in the story. “When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.” Atwood seems to have portrayed Offred as this person who has a mindset of reconstructing* memories in order to fit her image of who this person she should be. It sounds like a survival instinct to blend in, in almost every way, so that you won’t die. Blending in so much that you become who you’re pretending to be. For as long as I can remember, I knew I wasn’t the gender I was assigned at birth, and it bothered me, but the household I grew up in had very negative opinions on transgender people. This led me to hide myself for a very long time, trying to fit in so much so I wouldn’t be suspected of someone who wants to be a different gender and to hide the thought that I would slip up about it. This caused me to lose who I actually was under all the pretending. The additional abuse and built-up negative memories I would have also slipped away. Why think about the bad things if they won’t get fixed? Was a thought I had frequently. I had it so much that I started forgetting my problems completely. There was never any use in thinking about things that couldn’t be helped, which led to the loss of most of my childhood memories.

The society that Offred resides in has a steady plan of internalizing misogyny in women into making them hate themselves, their bodies, and their beauty for “protection”. On page 72 were show an example of how internalized misogyny is practiced in Gilead and how it influences the handmaids into feeling about themselves. This caused them to blame themselves for countless acts of harassment and assault. “But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. 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.” This section of the story shows the reader how the confessions go in Gilead. Janine is talking about a time she got raped and Aunt Helena responds by creating a growing chant within the crowd of women saying it was her fault and she led him on. In the society we live in today it is hard to be a woman. Being blockaded with standards to meet and men to please because our safety literally bets on how happy a man is. And, in this world, we are blamed for what happens to us in assault and harassment. If anything happens related to that the female is seen as getting what was coming to her because she was revealing. When I first came out as trans in school I was being sexually harassed multiple times by someone I thought of as a friend. When I went to tell a close friend of mine about it they responded with “Well this is what happens when you want to be a girl, you asked for it”. I immediately began hating who I was. I wasn’t allowed to feel comfortable in my skin. If I got hurt it was my fault. This is why I relate to Offred as a character and enjoy Atwood’s writing on this character in the story “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

The mysterious relationship between Offred & The Commander

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This piece of art I have created represents the scene where Offred and the Commander are playing Scrabble in the commander’s office. I thought drawing this scene would be significant due to the meaning behind the act that is occurring between Offred and the Commander. In Gilead, reading and writing are forbidden territory for a woman. Offred is able to play Scrabble due to the Commander inviting Offred to play Scrabble with him. This of course is against the rules. Which is why this is the main scene where questions start rising because we as readers, aren’t sure why the commander is bending the rules, especially bending the rules for a handmaid. While reading chapter 23 and going into depth while reading, I tried picturing the scene between Offred and the commander playing Scrabble. Each time I pictured it, the artwork that I had created showed what I imagined. I pictured the commander’s office as an elegant room with a fireplace and antique candles. Due to the era of the book and the status the Commander holds. As well as Offred and the Commander playing Scrabble. A quote that resonated with the scene, where Offred and the Commander are alone is; “So why does he want to see me, at night, alone? If I´m caught, it´s to Serena´s tender mercies I´ll be delivered. He isn´t supposed to meddle in such household discipline, that´s women´s business. After that, reclassification. I could become an un-women. But to refuse to see him, could be worse. There´s no doubt about who holds the real power ̈. This quote was found on page 136 and it expresses and shows how Offred had no choice but to accept the Commander’s invitation to play Scrabble. In Gilead, there is no way out. You either follow the rules or you don´t which can end up badly for one. Offred understands who has power and what territory belongs to one. Offred understands that Serena is in control of what goes on and should be going on within her home. But the power the Commander holds is anything that is not part of the house or the needs of the house. That is why Offred is afraid to get caught. She does not want to be sent to the colonies because she knows she´ll suffer if she is sent and forced there. The relationship between Offred and the Commander is quite interesting. The type of relationship they have is not only physical tension but the need to learn as clearly shown with Offred and the commander playing Scrabble. Offred knows that even though Serena holds power in the house she knows that she cannot deny the commander. As a reader, I start questioning; who has the power? Is it mutual or does the man continue to hold power due to how Gilead is shaped? If Offred was ever to be caught by Serena, could the commander have a say in whether Offred is either sent to the colonies or remains owned by the commander? This would stir up situations depending on who´s word counts and who´s doesn´t.

Lit Log #1

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My visual representation portrays the mass amount of symbolism in my school in the form of one big symbol. The water below and the cross-like hanging position represent the place Gilead is in while Offred is telling the story. In the show, it shows they’re in the same place where Obama made his speech. The eye above represents the influence the Eyes have on Gilead as a whole, they cause them war as well as paranoia within Gilead that their own peers may be spies from the eyes. Some say the eyes work with Gilead. The cross-like hanging position also represents the Religious influence on the world of Gilead. As we go within the story we are shown multiple times how religion is the cause of this country. The Handmaid wrapped in all the chains signifies the amount of control men have over them and even though this society was built to “Protect “ women, it does not give them basic human rights. Similar to just keeping someone in a box, as Offred said on page 165 “ A rat in a maze is free as long as it stays in the maze.” This was a reference to how she wasn’t able to travel outside of the walls and that she could go anywhere as long as she stayed within the border. She is also taught forced misogyny which we find out at the confession ceremonies in chapter 13 page 72. They are told to express the times they have been assaulted and then blame it on them. “ But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. 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. “ Atwood expresses the mass self-misogyny in the society we live in today and how that is the reason most women are brainwashed to love this life of just doing the cooking, cleaning, and bearing just like in this book, they use religion to justify their protection. They’re only used for breeding and caretaking and that’s exactly how the world is. The signs behind the handmaid represent the things Gilead actually stands for. Connecting to the freedom to and freedom from, the freedom they have in Gilead is from the hostility and abuse of men but that takes away their freedom to dress the way they want, act the way they want, and do the things they want. Even in this society of Gilead, we can see that the men have not been fully restricted for their abuse, mainly sexual abuse. There are still loopholes men go into such as the doctors who decide to touch women and use their infertility as an excuse to have sex with them. As well as the commander and his emotional connections with the handmaids and stealing and giving them things just for his pleasure and amusement since he’s lonely. The women don’t really have the freedom to or from anything at all.

Intellectual and Emotional Experience through a Close Reading of Page 162 of "The Handmaid's Tale

Reading “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood has been an awakening journey. Page 162, in particular, left an indelible mark on my thoughts, perception, and emotional understanding of what it means to be a woman in a society that seeks to stifle our very essence. It begins with Offred’s contemplation, “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” Immediately, I was struck by the depth of this revelation. As a high school student in a world that is constantly evolving, I have often felt the pressure to conform to societal norms and standards. There’s a general mold that women are often expected to fit into, a model that dictates our behavior, aspirations, and dreams. Moreover, while today’s society seems more liberating than Gilead, there are moments when I feel like I am being ushered into those ‘blank white spaces,’ pushed to the periphery, as if my story is less significant than the mainstream tales. Like Offred, I have felt that living in the gaps provides freedom, a space unbound by rules and expectations. However, unlike Offred, I haven’t been forced into those gaps; I’ve willingly sought them out in search of individuality. The emotional gravity of Offred’s words made me reflect upon the countless stories of women throughout history, relegated to the shadows, their tales unwritten or undervalued. It also made me think of my own experiences. There have been times in classes where I’ve felt my opinions, especially as a young woman, were overshadowed by louder, often male, voices. And while Gilead is an exaggerated dystopia, the underlying themes of suppression, subjugation, and silence are realities many women face to varying degrees. Margaret Atwood’s prose is hauntingly beautiful. The subtlety with which she addresses harrowing themes is unnerving. As Offred recalls her mother’s generation’s efforts to burn pornographic magazines, she reflects on the paradox of freedom: “Freedom, like everything else, is relative.” It made me wonder: Do we truly understand the nature of freedom? Are we ever truly free, or is freedom just a spectrum where we find ourselves at varying degrees? I’ve grown up believing I live in a free society, but Offred’s musings made me question my beliefs. Maybe freedom is the ability to question, to challenge, and to dream. Or maybe it’s the space between chains, the moments of respite before the next shackling. Connecting this page to earlier parts of the novel, Offred’s reminisces about the time before Gilead took over. The women of the past fought for rights, and their battles seem distant to her earlier life of assumed freedom. As a teenager in today’s world, it’s easy to forget the struggles of women who came before us. The right to vote, the right to work, the right to an education – rights that I take for granted were once a distant dream for many women. The novel serves as a stark reminder that freedoms can be fleeting and must be safeguarded. Offred’s yearning for a simpler past resonated with me, especially in these trying times. It’s easy to become nostalgic, longing for days when our biggest worries were trivial. For Offred, her trivial days were when she had the liberty to love, dream, and live. For me, it’s the pre-pandemic world, where school hallways echoed with laughter and weekends were for outings. But both of us, separated by fictional timelines and very real circumstances, yearn for a sense of normalcy, a return to days of unburdened freedom. What made this section even more intriguing was the fusion of Offred’s resignation with moments of rebellion. This duality is reminiscent of every teenager’s journey, including mine. We oscillate between conformity and rebellion, seeking to find our identity amidst societal expectations. Page 162 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was a poignant reminder of the fragility of freedom and the importance of remembering our history. It made me cherish the liberties I have while also prompting me to challenge and question the status quo. Offred’s reflections, though set in a dystopian world, mirror the trials and tribulations of women across ages, including a high school student like me.