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The Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaid's Tale is a 1985 dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (essentially, dress codes) play a key role in the form of social control in the new society. Themes Dystopia A revolution has taken place in the United States. The Constitution has been abrogated and a new order - the Republic of Gilead - has been established. The Republic of Gilead is ruled through biblical propaganda and rigid enforcement of social roles. Most citizens have been stripped of their freedoms. All religions, except the official state religion, have been suppressed. Those who do not conform to the new societal norms are pressed into service as maids and personal servants or deported to "the colonies" (regions where pollution has reached toxic levels) - if they are lucky. Political and religious dissidents, abortionists, and homosexuals are executed and hung at "The Wall" for public display. The government has proclaimed martial law due to the destabilizing effect of "hordes of guerillas" roaming the countryside, although the actual threat from the "guerillas" may be greatly exaggerated. In Gilead, many people are infertile for reasons not explored in the novel. It is possibly due to the ecological disaster which has made parts of the country unlivable. Fertile women are forced to engage in sexual reproduction for the benefit of the upper classes. Lower class women who cannot reproduce are exiled. Although men may also be infertile, it is fundamental to the Gileadan power structure that they be beyond reproach. Subjugation of women In Gilead, women are stripped of their independence. They are no longer allowed to hold property, arrange their own affairs, read, wear make-up, or choose their clothes. Women are segregated into categories, and dressed according to their social function. There are five legitimate categories (Wives, Aunts, Marthas, Handmaids, and Econowives), and two illegitimate functional categories (Unwomen and prostitutes). Socially accepted and promoted categories of women in Gilead - Wives are at the top social level permitted to women. They are women married to the Commanders who are the ruling circle of the new military dictatorship. They are often infertile for unknown reasons, possibly related to an unexplored ecological disaster. Wives dress in blue coloured suits.
- Aunts have the duty of training and monitoring the Handmaids. In return they receive - relatively speaking - a substantial degree of personal autonomy. It is a central organisational element of Gilead that women be used in the social repression of women. Aunts dress in brown suits.
- A Handmaid is a fertile woman whose social function is bear children for the Wives. Handmaids are subjected to a monthly reproductive ritual derived from the biblical story of Rachel and Leah's reproductive competition (Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24). Handmaids dress in a red habit with a white headdress which obscures vision.
- Marthas are infertile women whose compliant nature and domestic skills recommend them to a life of domestic servitude in the houses of the elite. There is conjectural evidence that Marthas may be African Americans (in the chapter "Shopping"), reflecting a long tradition of the American elite using black slaves and domestic workers as house servants. Marthas dress in green smocks.
- Econowives are women who have married low ranking bureaucrats. Econowives are expected to perform all the female functions: domestic duties, companionship, child-bearing. Why the Econowives are required to do this when they are (implicitly) capable of bearing children and thus, would be as valuable as Handmaids, is not explained. Econowives' dress is multicoloured: red, blue and green to reflect their multiple roles.
The division of labour between women engenders resentment between categories. Marthas, Wives and Econowives perceive Handmaids as sluttish, though Econowives also resent Handmaids' freedom from domestic work. Socially unacceptable categories of women in Gilead Outside of society exist two further classes of women. - Jezebels. Informally the desires of Commanders for mistresses, as in the former times, has resulted in an illegal and collective form of prostitution available only to Commanders. The women who populate this system are informally known as Jezebels. Jezebels are housed in the remains of a hotel from former times, and are used by Commanders to entertain foreign dignataries. Jezebels dress in the remnants of sexualized costumes from "the time before": cheerleaders costumes, school uniforms, and playboy bunny costumes.
- Unwomen are sterile women, widows, feminists, lesbians, and politically dissident women confined to the Colonies (both areas of agricultural production, and sites of deadly pollution). Unwomen as a category embraces all women (and some men) unable to fit within the Republic of Gilead's gender categories. Unlike members of society who transgress and break fundamental rules (who are murderously punished), unwomen are categorically incapable of social integration as their society rejects them utterly. Males who engage in homosexuality (or related acts) are either executed, or declared unwomen and sent to the colonies. All unwomen, male or female, wear grey dresses.
"The Ceremony" Human sexuality in Gilead has come under a general social regulation that sex for pleasure is fundamentally degrading to women. Men are seen as constantly desiring sexual pleasure, but obliged to abstain for religio-social reasons. The social regulation is enforced as a law with corporal punishment inflicted by Aunts for lesser offences, and capital punishment inflicted by a group of Handmaids for greater offences (particicution). Only one socially accepted form of sexual engagement appears to exist, sex for the purposes of reproduction with two women present. This is known as "The Ceremony", and unites Wives, Aunts, Marthas and Handmaids in an urgent reproductive mission. Sex acts which defile the Ceremony (sex for pleasure involving Handmaids, homosexuality) are punished severely with death. It is uncertain what sexual relations exist between men and Wives, but the example of Commander Fred indicates a high degree of personal and sexual alienation in marriage. The sexual position of Econowives is also uncertain - the narrator has no interaction with them - but they are viewed with disdain by the reproductive alliance of Wives, Aunts, Marthas and Handmaids. The Ceremony reenacts in rather literal fashion the biblical passage where Jacob's infertile wife Rachel says to him "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees" (Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24). The Gileadan variation on the passage has the Handmaid lying supine upon the Wife during the sex act itself. Offred, a Handmaid, describes the ceremony: - "My red skirt is hitched up to my waist though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for."
Once a Handmaid is pregnant, she is venerated by her peers and by the Wives. When her baby is born, it is given to the Wife of her Commander, and she is reassigned to another household. Subjugation of women in pre-Gileadian society Through Offred's memories, the novel makes clear that pre-Gileadian society was not the result of a triumph of feminist activism. In pre-Gileadian society violence against women has reached a structural peak in terms of Western consumer society. Women were in a state of regular and constant fear of physical and sexual violence in public. Despite long running feminist campaigns (approximately 1970-2000 within the text), the social relations between men and women of 1970 prevail in private relationships. Feminist campaigners, particularly radicals like Moira (Offred's long-time friend), are persecuted by the state. Additionally, the advent of the mass commercialization of sexuality had occured and prostitution had reached a nadir of "fast-food" and "home delivery" sexuality. Women outside of prostitution in "the former times" were subject to a socially constructed vision of romantic love which encouraged serial monogamy in favor of men's social and sexual interests. In the former society, despite holding a University degree, Offred was a menial white collar worker. Offred's coworkers were all women, but her boss was a man. Apart from the oppressive cultural phenomena of the former society, women lacked full and meaningful control over their economic lives and careers. Social regulation of human sexuality As Commander Fred explains, the Gileadian elite has a definite analysis of the failure of society in "the former times": women were too available to men. Men's ready sexual access to women led to violence and abuse. Gilead's solution is to limit men's access to women until they have proved themselves within social-ideological terms. Fred sees no problem in the fact that women are in both cases treated as the property of men, in the former case as individual property, and in the latter case as social property. Sumptuary laws The sumptuary laws of Gilead are quite complex. All lower status individuals are regulated by sumptuary dress laws. Women, in particular, are divided into castes by their dress. Men too are regulated, but equipped, with powerful military or paramilitary uniforms: constrained but also empowered. Only rare civilians (increasingly persecuted) and Commanders seem to be free of sumptuary restrictions. This freedom itself is indicative of power. Additionally, those punished with death are dressed for the occasion: priests in long forbidden robes and Doctors in consulting gowns. Through its sumptuary law, Gilead is a society of appearance. Plot The story is told from the perspective of Offred, a Handmaid. "Offred" is the patronymic which describes her function in the Republic of Gilead. Offred belongs to, or is "of" her Commander, whose first name is Fred. She does not state her "real" name. (In the 1990 film adaptation, Offred gives her real first name as Kate; however, this was not derived from the novel.) In fact, none of the characters in the novel are identified as having surnames, which enhances the atmosphere of other-worldliness. Offred's assignment to the household of the Commander is her third, meaning that if she fails to become preganant, she may be exported to the colonies as an Unwoman. This assignment differs from her prior experiences in that she is given, in various disjointed episodes, glimpses that all is not as it seems in the new world and that the people in her life, while paying lip service to society's mores, seek various means of expressing their individuality. Offred initially becomes aware of this new viewpoint when Fred oversteps the bounds of her official role by ordering her to visit his study late at night to play Scrabble with him. He also obtains forbidden hand lotion for her and allows her to read magazines from the old days-- something extremely forbidden as women are no longer allowed to read. Once, he dresses her up in a sexy costume and smuggles her out to a forbidden nightclub called Jezebel's for the night. He asks that she keep these secrets from his Wife, Serena Joy. At the same time, Serena Joy is asking Offred to keep secrets from the Commander. In the old days, Serena Joy was a televangelist (loosely based on Tammy Faye Bakker), and she resents her new diminished role. The only thing that can give meaning to her life is a child, and since the Commander is sterile (he has had multiple Handmaids before this one, none of whom have conceived) Serena Joy suggests that Offred attempt to conceive a child with Nick, their male servant. Nick and Offred begin an emotional and sexual relationship which they continue until, in the final chapter, Offred is either caught or smuggled out of the household; however in the ambiguous ending neither is truly made clear and there seems to be no closure as to what becomes of Offred. Appendices following the story proper treat Offred's narrative as a historical document, implying an academic setting even farther into the future. In this respect The Handmaid's Tale is similar to Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, or Dune by Frank Herbert, and to a different degree Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The Handmaid's Tale is similar in theme to some of Margaret Atwood's other books (such as Oryx and Crake) in its atmosphere of post-apocalyptica. It makes use of many motifs, such as the debate over the separation of church and state, sexual roles in society of both men and women, and ultimately the right to individuality within the confines of an increasingly controlling government. Social critique Atwood's tale presents a number of social critiques. It presents a dystopic vision of American society in the period 1970-1985, particularly in the period of backlash against feminism. This critique is most clearly seen in both Offred's remembrance of the slow social transformation towards theocratic fascism, and in the ideology of the Aunts. Atwood also presents a critique of modern fundamentalist religious movements, including American fundamentalist Baptist Christianity, and Iranian fundamentalist Islam. In the American case, a religious revival of the mid-1970s seemed to remain particularly influential in the early 1980s. Jimmy Carter, a US president during the period, had avowed his renewed and reaffirmed Christianity. Additionally, the religious right was growing as a power base through televangelism and other revivalist techniques. In the book, Atwood pictures revivalism as a counter-revolutionary doctrine, opposed to the revolutionary doctrine espoused by Offred's mother and Moira, which sought to break down gender categories. A common Marxist historical reading of fascism states that fascism is the backlash of the right after a revolution has failed. Atwood plays on this Marxist reading of class, and translates its analysis into the structure of a gender revolution. Similarly, in the Iranian revolution, an alliance of Western cultured intellectuals advocated modernism and Marxism. This revolutionary ideal was defeated by an alliance of predominantly rural and proletarian Islamic clerics. Women played a key role in the Islamic revolution, and became both paramilitary enforcers of Islamic gender codes, and occasionally secret gender police. At the time the novel was written, it was a common fear that women would be completely disempowered by the revolution. Contemporary feminist critiques of Iranian society recognize that some Islamic institutions, and the "revolutionary myth" associated with pro-Islamic women, have empowered some Iranian women. Finally Atwood offers a critique of contemporary feminism. By working against pornography, feminists in the early 1980s favored censorship and thus cooperated with the religious right. Atwood warns that the consequences of this alliance may end up empowering feminists' worst enemies. Atwood also suggests, through the character of Moira, that contemporary feminism was becoming a leadership or activist cult, offering ordinary women little assistance in empowering themselves or breaking down sexism in their immediate lives. Film, stage and musical adaptation A 1990 film adaptation of the novel was directed by Volker Schlöndorff. It starred Natasha Richardson (Offred), Faye Dunaway (Serena Joy), Robert Duvall (The Commander, Fred) and Aidan Quinn (Nick). A straight stage adaptation by Brendon Burns was toured by the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, UK in 2002. There is also an opera, written by Poul Ruders, which premiered in 2003. Biblical references The primary biblical reference in The Handmaid's Tale is to the story of Rachel and Leah(Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24). While both Rachel and Leah are fertile, Rachel's fertility is low. Both Rachel and Leah proceed to compete in producing sons for their husband, by using their handmaids as property. Rachel and Leah take immediate possession of the children produced by their handmaids. In the context of Atwood's book, the story is one of female competition, jealousy, and reproductive cruelty. A similar story also exists in Genesis where Sarah is infertile, and Hagar conceives on Sarah's behalf. The Sarah and Hagar story is considerably different from the Rachel and Leah story. This is mainly because of the active role played by Hagar, and Hagar's possession of her child. Due to Sarah's reproductive generosity, Sarah's fertility is restored by God at an advanced age. Atwood was aware of the similarity between these stories, and was using it to show the hypocrisy of Gileadean biblical interpretation: the biblical story showed a relationship between a wife and a handmaid which did not involve sexual and reproductive subjection. Handmaid's Tale Handmaid's Tale Handmaid's Tale Handmaid's Tale Handmaid's Tale Handmaid's Tale
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