Dystopia = Reality?

        While I was watching The Cove for an Environmental Science Study, a documentary focusing on the active protests of Rick O'Barry against Japanese dolphin hunting and entertainment events, I began to wonder: is this how Mayday Rebels of the Handmaid's Tale view the Republic of Gilead?

Anyone who has seen the documentary or at least heard the bulk of it in my Environmental Science class may be wondering: What do these COMPLETELY separate two subjects have to do with each other?

       Well, trying my best to maintain objectivity during both the documentary and the novel, I began to notice that the activity of O'Barry in Japan seemed to carry the same point as the Mayday Rebels: once, each group or individual was hailed for their involvement in the work (dolphin entertainment in O'Barry's case, and Handmaid protection for the Rebels).

     I do not plan on digging through the contrasts between the Japanese dolphin industry and Handmaid production, but I will note that after weighing each subject, I began to realize that real-life activists like O'Barry demonstrate the actual dystopian ("imperfect world" in literal definitions) aspects of modern-day global societies. Like Moira from The Handmaid's Tale and Winston from 1984, these people long for change and strike at any chance they can grab, but they may not appear successful to the rest of the world. This realization links our understanding of dystopian literature with modern-day activism.

I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THE DOCUMENTARY The Cove
Image courtesy of The Exploring Dystopia Forum

Broken Facades

"Without his uniform he looks smaller, older, like something dried. The trouble is that I can't be, with him, any different from the way I usually am with him. Usually I'm inert."

    In this moment, just before she has sex with the Commander, Offred sees the second facade deconstruction of her night at Jezebels. Moira's appearance at the club was the first, but both her and the Commander shed parts of themselves that Offred has counted on since she met them.

   Moira didn't panic when the past society shut down her financial account, she took charge when Janine's sanity started slipping, and she carefully tricked an Aunt (armed with a cattle prod) to escape. To Offred, Moira was "swashbuckling" and "daring". For years, Moira's braveness inspired Offred's ideas of a strong woman, so seeing this braveness squelched in a place like Jezebels shakes Offred's perceptive foundation, making her much less "inert".

   The Gilead society subdued Moira, and this doesn't help how she sees the Commander. Up until the above quote, Offred notes that the Commander has the power to get rid of her at a moment's notice if she doesn't comply in meeting him at night. This constant threat gives him an edge of power that emphasizes his position in his region of Gilead, but he does not order her into explicitly sexual favors; he asks her to play Scrabble, breaks game and Gileadean rules by providing lotions and magazines, treating her with an almost fatherly intrigue in her manners and shows of precocity in their games.

    In the hotel, however, he sheds all of his power. There is no Scrabble, no pen, and no uniform, just remnants of his position ("something dried"). His facade is long gone. This begins once Offred is in the hotel bathroom, reflecting over the night in front of the "ample mirror" (Chapter 39, page 253). She calls herself "a wreck", and despite seeing her old friend, she is as "disheveled" as her used outfit. The Commander is waiting for her, but she wants to ruminate on the disappointment she just experienced. She looks past the risk in angering, or even merely annoying, him, so she figuratively begins to strips him of his high rank before they sleep together.

      The fact that both Moira and the Commander lose their original faces doesn't just change their appearance, it emphasizes Offred's differences as our narrator. Offred expresses a lot of thought and ideas in how she could escape or how the Aunts, Marthas, Wives, Commanders, and other officials assert their power, but she never acts on her own, the way that Moira does throughout the book, or shows the same level of pride that the Commander manages to exhibit in book and social knowledge. In comparison to him and Moira, Offred is a passive character. However, Offred's lack of action doesn't jade her position as the narrator because it brings out the level of power that surrounds her in Gilead. Her thoughts are contained, and this theocratic government served to keep them that way, showing her observers the power of a whole society in comparison to one person.

Image of Offred and the Commander is courtesy of The SciFi Movie Page
Image of Offred and Moira is courtesy of the Elizabeth McGovern Webpage
Image of Woman in a Jar is courtesy of 123 Royalty Free Stock Photos

Rebellion: The Irony of The Republic of Gilead

"There is something powerful in the whispering of obscenities, about those in power. There's something delightful about it, something naughty, secretive, forbidden, thrilling. It's like a spell, of sorts. It deflates them, reduces them to the common denominator where they can be dealt with."
       
Obscenity: The character or quality of being obscene; indecency; lewdness.


         In context with the entire story of The Handmaids Tale, this quote summarizes the flaws of Gilead. Part of what makes the society a dystopia is dehuminization and the lack of privacy that is justified by the term "security", but there are a number of moments that "secretive" and "forbidden" items and words seep through the cracks of this tale's government.

           Up to this point, Offred has taken account of the methods by which the Handmaids share their names, secrets, and gossip similar to the type that is passed between Moira and Offred in the bathroom stall. Without direct eye contact and awareness of every sound, they each get away with passing through the rules. They even purloin items like butter, small flowers, and condiment packets to gain some power in their submissive roles as vessels. These furtive actions give the Handmaids "a spell" over the Aunts, the Commanders, the Wives, and other officials.

           From the Offred's point of view in the story, there are even a select few that has the upper hand through secretive and casual means. Ofglen, for instance, seems to be the only Handmaid that has ties to the rebel group that hides among the other Handmaids and brings the officials down to the "common denominator" by feeding bits of information to Offred. Moira "deflates" the officials (particularly Aunt Lydia in context with this chapter and quote) through her gossip. Even Janice has some power by gaining favor of the Wives and Aunts through complete compliance.

            Despite the lengths to which the Aunts and Eyes guard the Handmaids from obscenities, the methods are useless. Often, the Handmaids are generators of the obscenities, be it through petty thievery or gossip, because they want the power over the authoritative figures of the society. In other words, Gilead's governmental mandates engenders the obscenities they try to prevent.

Definition of obscenity courtesy of Dictionary.com
Image courtesy of The Guardian: January 2013 article "The Handmaid's Tale In Pictures"

"Small" Things Matter Too

"Today it makes me think of a hat, the large-brimmed hats women used to wear at some period during the old days: hats like enormous halos, festooned with fruit and flowers, and the feathers of exotic birds; hats like an idea of paradise, floating just above the head, a thought solidified." (Ch. 22; pg 128)

       While studying chapter 22 of The Handmaids Tale, I noticed the importance of the attire in the caste system of Gilead. The Handmaids are dipped in red, the Wives are dipped in blue, the Marthas are draped in green, and the Econowives are striped to suggest their fertility. In the quote above, Offred's musing suggests the great importance of the seemingly smaller things in her life that she sees and wears.

         In context with Gilead, hats are nothing more than shields from the long-term effects of hours out in sunlight. Particularly for the Handmaids, hats cover vulnerable parts of the body the way the red wool dresses cover the Handmaids. Offred is probably wearing this hat, so the first mention of a "hat" may draw attention to her winged shield. However, Offred turns the musing away from it in order to reminisce on the exocitism of past hats, using words like "halos", "fruit and flowers", and "exotic birds".

        In light of the situation, these words boost her thought of past hats and appearances, because by comparison, the hats of the Handmaids also cover the head  are also "large-brimmed" and "like enormous halos". The difference between the winged hat and her recollections is that the bouyance ("floating") of the imagined hat. It takes her away from her present situation, like "an idea of paradise" and holds more individualism as a "thought solidified. She completely forgets about her shield in order to escape her present place as a Handmaid.

        The imagined hat is a metaphor for the small things that Offred misses. Throughout the book she muses on her habits and the items she owned and her loved ones, such as Luke, her daughter, and Moira before prior to her escape. However, she avoids thinking hard about her past loved ones to the extent that she reminisces about items like the hat. Unlike the idea of Luke's death (or life), and the life of her daughter, the hat keeps her mind from going over the psychological edge by allowing her to revel only in the picturesque ideals of the past. In its own way, the hat sustains some of her sanity by keeping her attention away from everything of the past and probable future, bringing to life an adage that she may remember later on:

  

Hat image courtesy of Blanche's Place
Simple Things quote and image courtesy of QU 301 South Africa

The Two Sides of Offred

  "My self is a thing I must now compose as one composes a speech. What I must preset is a made thing, not something born."
          

      In this quote, Offred illustrates two contradicting messages about her position as a Handmaid. On one hand, she must act unattached due to the limits of the dress and lifestyle. The comparison of her life to the composition of a speech demonstrates this bleak tone by separating her thoughts and ideals from her body. She begins the separation by stating that her "self" is "a made thing", implying that she has been molded rather than developed naturally or "born".
 
      However, Offred doesn't seem to lose all of her hope. According to the first part of the quote, she must compose and preset herself. Fearing the effects on her unborn child, the officials of Gilead will not beat her into submission. She owns very little, but she still holds implicit power with every thought and slight movement that she makes, such as her accounts of her life and the Latin writing in her room that she doesn't show anyone. Gilead has pressured her into becoming a cautious Handmaid, but she still makes her own decisions, even if they are small and surreptitious.

       These two sides of Offred deepens her character. On the surface, she is a resource who must obey official authority. Under white wings and red dress, she holds tightly onto scraps of the past and aligning them with her present situation to preserve her individual power. The existence of these two sides shows readers of the Handmaids Tale the possible differences between the surface and the true nature of individuals.


Image courtesy of OWNI.eu
Quote courtesy of The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

In Der Nacht.....

          Today marks a gruesome day in fictional history. There were troubling times in Gilead as the Eyes and Rebels engaged in a stealthy trench warfare. On one side, Eyes wanted to contain the Handmaids and squelch the Rebels. On the other, Rebels took great risks to free the Handmaids. As I stand near the Wall, awaiting my "just" end, I shall recount the events from my perspective.

        On my first day as a Handmaid, I eyed everyone in the room suspiciously. Points were rewarded for surviving, and I couldn't trust a single person if I were to earn at least 20 of them; this was the objective the Handmaid's Mayday. The air was casual, and I spat out the greeting, "Praise be" to lessen anyone's suspicion. Recently, and tentatively, to be honest, I had become a Mayday Rebel. The day passed quickly in my furtive investigation to find any Eyes--- the treacherous fools--- and the first night came.

         As I feigned slumber in the classroom (I refuse to call it my classroom), I first tried to be furtive and peer through the gaps of my crossed arms as the music and patting began. As my head slowly rose, I counted three other unanticipated others who were valient enough to join my ranks in liberation. Just in case my fellow liberators have continued in their heroism, I will name them: Mophead, Flaxen, and Chestershire Cat. All four of us didn't know who to choose, so the first Handmaiden to select was a great risk. As I lowered my head and the night went on, I noted that only one person left. Even when I could hear the Eye music play, there was no audible sign of immediate execution. Praise be! We were successful.

          The next couple of days and nights went on just as smoothly as the first, give or take the dissappearance of an Eye (good riddens!). On the fourth day, however, I noticed that Flaxen was missing. Immediately, everyone noticed her absence. Sarah quickly figured out that a rebel must have been executed, and my blood rushed. I couldn't help but wonder if I could be discovered now that the number of Handmaids diminished. That night, as I rose with Chestershire Cat and Mophead, the group decided to chosoe another Handmaid to liberate. The music covered my steps, but I was still nervous when I woke Emily up. With a grin and an extended hand, she silently chose to become one of Us.

        After Emily joined, I began to gain confidence in my safety. Then, as I lied back down to rest, I realized that one of the Handmaids shifted to peak. Corina, a possible traitor or friend, had turned her head so quickly that I almost didn't notice. Just as I realized this, someone tapped my shoulder. It was a small tap, but it terrified me at first because it was during the rhythmic sound of Eye music. Looking over my right shoulder, I saw Derrel. What? "Are you an Eye?" she mouthed. For some reason, at that exact moment, I couldn't lie. Upon joining the Mayday Rebels I thought I could, but I just couldn't lie! So, in less than five seconds, I ended up where I am now, with a bag over my head and only minutes away from execution.

                   ****************************************************************

       At the end of the day, I don't have many regrets.  I learned that I should walk more quietly and that a certain extent of trust will always prolong my existence, since my fellow Rebels kept me alive longer than other Handmaids. However, I also learned from the experience that I shouldn't discount people who look nice (like Derrel) from having the boldness to passively murder me or sentence me to death. In the obscurity of the night, anyone can be merciless.

      Overall, The Handmaids Mayday was fun because I was able to live vicariously through the daily threat of persecution and death of the Handmaids. The thrill that I lived through during the class activity kept me interested with the plot of the Handmaids Tale by giving me more personal experience on the risks that Offred often tries to avoid. Now I have a deeper understanding of Offred's first person view.

Sewn Shut From Sisterhood

"Fraternize means to behave like a brother. Luke told me that. He said there was no corresponding word that meant to behave like a sister. Sororize, it would have to be, he said." Chapter 2; page 11

         The ownership of women by men is implied throughout the first four chapters of The Handmaid's Tale. In this dystopia, each Handmaid is assigned a name according to their individual husband, they are not allowed to read, and they are monitored by male dominated officials, such as the Guardians and the men in black vans. Succinctly, Offred's quote of the meaning of "fraternize" implies the social order of Gilead.

        Throughout The Handmaid's Tale, women, from the secured Handmaid's to the working Econowives, are clearly not allowed to socialize with one another; this parallels with the fact that sororize doesn't exist. The only existing word for sororize is sisterhood, but its "s" sound is passive in comparison to the clear sound of the "f" and "b" in fraternize and brother. Sororize doesn't have a position in dictionaries, just as every wife in Gilead cannot form friendships, but their guardians can fraternize. This quote illustrates through word denotation and connotation, the rift between the men and women in Gilead.

Image courtesy of ISP - Handmaid's Tale