The Handmaid's Tale- Finished

"'Well officially,' he says. But everyone's human, after all.'
I wait for him to elaborate on this, but he doesn't, so I say 'What does that mean?'
'It means you can't cheat Nature,' he says. 'Nature demands variety, for men. It stands to reason, it's part of the procreational strategy. It's Nature's plan.'
I don't say anything, so he goes on.
'Women know that instinctively. Why did they buy so many different clothes, in the old days? To trick the men into thinking they were several different women. A new one each day'" (Atwood 237).




Analysis of Quote-

This quote from the Commander creates a biological justification for the desire for men to be polygamous in their sexual relationships. It is something that human beings in nearly every society in the world struggle with and it is one that seems to have no solution. This type of behavior is, most of the time and especially in our society, frowned upon, although as most people will agree, it is animal and therefore human nature to have multiple mates. However biological this behavior is, it is still going against one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible. This quote is an excellent example of Atwood's use of religious satire to point out the many corruptions that are present. In the Christian faith, people are told that premarital sex is forbidden, and once you are married, you are then permitted to have sex, but only with the person you marry, and then you are never allowed to divorce them. Christians are expected to go against human nature, something they have absolutely no control over, and have sexual relations with one and only one person for their entire life. In The Handmaid's Tale, the Bible is preached to the women on a daily basis and they are expected to be free of sin and not do anything against the word of the Bible or of Gilead. However, the Commanders, the very people who are in charge of the society, are the ones who don't practice this at all. This parallels the lives of so many priests and "hardcore religious fanatics" (for lack of a better term) in our society who are caught having affairs or doing otherwise "unholy things." It proves the hypocrisy that exists in both Gilead and in our own society that is present, especially in the world of religion.

Analysis of Symbols: Syntax and Language-

One of the most prominent aspects of The Handmaid's Tale is Atwood's syntax and word choice. Her language plays almost as important, if not as important, of a role in the story as the plot and the characters themselves. The system of naming in Gilead is likely the most effective and major areas where Atwood uses word choice to reinforce her point. By giving the men their own personal names, and ranks such as "Commander," it is obvious that this is a society run by men, in favor of men. Women are not only not allowed to keep their own names, but the names they do have are simply those of the Commander, with the possessive "of" in front of it. Many would likely find this system of naming more demeaning than giving the Handmaids no names at all, or a number like the people of OneState in We. Certainly it would be less of a degradation to be given a number than it would to be given a name that blatantly points out that you are the property of another person, essentially making you less of a human being. With a numbering system, at least everyone receives their own unique number. With the "Of_____" system, women are very obviously displayed as inferior to men and only exist to serve one purpose: to be the property of their Commander and to procreate. Naming is an important tool in the real world as well. Militaries and governments all over the world use very specific terms that even someone without sufficient knowledge of their practices could infer the meaning of. Military ranks, for example, are used in our society just like in the novel. Something such as "Commander" or "General" is obviously a position of much higher power than something such as "Private." Even without a knowledge of military ranks, one could determine how much power a certain person has just by their title. Titles have been used in the social class system for hundreds, if not thousands of years. In feudalist goverments, for example, a person's social importance is known simply by the title of their social class. "Serfs" are the peasants who hold no power, and whose only job it is to serve those who are "above" them socially, and can be compared to the Handmaids or the Marthas in Gilead. Those with the title of "nobility" are above these peasants, however, they are still not at the top of the social ladder; they still are below others. These "nobles" are comparable to the rest of the men in the society who do not hold the rank of Commander. The Commanders in Gilead are obviously the "lords" of feudalist societies. They are the all-powerful ones who have complete control over the rest of the people in the society. They are the only class with full rights, and are permitted to do anything, even if it goes against the laws they have created themselves. This abuse of privileges is found in many instances in The Handmaid's Tale, from the Commander's secret meetings with Offred to the nights at Jezebel's, etc.

Reflection-

I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which is highly unusual for me. First of all, I typically get incredibly bored with the books I have to read for English class, mainly because they all tend to have a very old, outdated, and difficult to concentrate on style of writing. I think that books written in the 1800's were designed to be read by people who actually talk like that. Second, I actually really don't enjoy reading in general (you're probably wondering, then why am I in AP Lit? Well the answer is, because I can be, but that's a whole other story that I won't start on right now). It's actually quite ironic that I dislike reading books as much as I do. It's actually not reading books that I don't like, it's reading long novels of fiction. Give me Mein Kampf or The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx, something that actually can happen, something that actually DID happen, and I'll be more than happy to read it. Also, give me something controversial (see above, for instance. A book written by Adolf Hitler and a book written by a former heroin junkie who killed himself three times from an overdose and still manages to be alive and sober to tell about it. That's controversial. Besides Dr. Seuss, these people are my favorite authors). Anyway, back on track here. Controversy. This is probably one of the main reasons why I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale so much. I love it when people get offended by things, call it horrible, but it's true, I won't lie. I personally love these kinds of books because it's very difficult to offend me, so I can read these and then I can enjoy hearing about what others have to say about it... those who may have a different opinion. Besides this controversial aspect of the novel about which I have just been ranting for the past twenty minutes, I loved Atwood's use of language in the novel. It wasn't written in 19th century old English that no one uses anymore, nor was it censored or cut off in the middle of ideas (like in We... that really bugged me about that book. Wow.). It was written just like Offred herself would be talking to a close friend about her experience, making it so much easier to get into the story and not want to put the book down, and it takes a lot for me to say that I didn't want to put a book down. It was almost a work that I could see myself writing if I had more of an aptitude for writing fiction and a much longer attention span to sit and write a whole novel.