Coping Mechanisms

Offred Employs many survival techniques to cling onto her sanity as she fights the regime’s attempts to indoctrinate her with their extreme puritanism, religious dogma, brainwashing, and authoritarianism.

She is very perceptive and analytical - her use of lists: extensive categorisation to grapple onto reality and find reassurance.

Small acts of rebellion to internally oppose the regime.

For example:

• swaying her hips.

• her affair with nick

• her interactions with the commander

The night sections - regressing back into her pre-gilead life. Claims the room and the night as her own.

Uses Moira and ofglens as Beacons of hope.

She finds contentment in the writing “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”/”Don’t let the bastards grind you down”. Although she didn’t know what it meant, “It was still a message, and it was in writing, forbidden by that very fact” —> saw the message as a form of inward rebellion. She projects life onto the message and imagines the woman who wrote it to be very similar to moira. By personalising this message she gave it a sense of familiarity and comfort. She often repeats the words to herself, giving her a “small comfort” .

Indoctrination

INDOCTRINATION - he process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.

Religion - used as a shield to hide the reality of the regime’s intentions. *

Gilead warps the bible, ushing of an agenda which views women as subordinate. —> see women as tools of reproduction. Incubators.

Repression of sexuality in the name of God, leaving women reporting to minimal expressions of femininity and flirtation. (Offred shaking hips as a form to rebel against this)

The epigraph from genesis “give me children or else I die” indoctrinates the significance of surrogacy in the regime + raises issue of religious fundamentalism; women are regarded as nothing but sexual and domestic commodities. (Quote from Leah and Jacob’s biblical story - excusing the ceremony from adultery)

Psychological manipulation and conditioning occurs from their entrance into the regime - Women are manipulated into embracing the barbaric nature of gilead. For example: Janine’s transformation from rebel to obedient conformist —> admits to her previous sinful nature. In the Red Centre, The aunts use Janine’s story involving rape and abortion as a means of shame, indoctrinating both janine and the rest of the women in the red centre to believe this is a sin.

Theme of control is introduced from the beginning of the novel through the use of militant wording. and offred’s description of the red centre —> women instantly categorised and stripped of their individuality, and are brutally punished for their resistance/inability to blindly comply.

there’s a limit of verbal expression and reading is prohibited - no education or discussion in order to keep citizens contained. ——————->“Places are known by their sign alone” - people not given the ability to read, the restriction is enforced mostly towards women. if people cannot be educated, they cannot form substantial opinions and therefore uprise against the regime.

Offred’s only permissible friendship is the one with Ofglen - limited conversations only, all which praising Gilead’s version of God

“What you don’t know won’t hurt you” - the regime demands ignorance to maintain functionality.

Indoctrination is a common theme found in dystopian novels

1984 the Party is constantly trying to indoctrinate its subjects, in a number of ways. Each citizen has a giant screen in their room that blasts constant propaganda, designed to make everything they do seem positive.

*Religion

Gilead operates under a strict set of rules which follow extremist christian theology where the order of life is based on a literal fundamentalist interpretation of the Old Testament —> the return to the patriarchal authority of men to rule.

Violence is the main element used to scare the people of Gilead:

• people who are hung at The Wall

• Handmaids being ordered to kill wrongdoers, brutally.

The language used in daily conversations:

• “blessed day”

• “blessed be the fruit”

• “may the lord open”

• “praise be'“

• “under his eye” - this phrase is taken the most literal. God and his servants are always watching (The Eyes/The Guards constantly surveilling)

Ruthven - Fundamentalists are selective when it comes to the texts they interpret.

This selective reading of the bible is opposed to homosexuality - shown in the handmaids tale when a handmaid was discovered of being lesbian and her cliterus was cut off. - Culmination of taking biblical readings to their most literal sense.

Connection to the New Right Christian movement - limits women’s autonomy and choice for contraception and abortion (Ruthven)

Rejection of religious pluralism and diversity. Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.

The totalitarian state of gilead does not have a barrier between the church and the state. They are one.

Some parts of the Bible are actually made up. “From each according to her ability; to each according to his needs” is actually by Marx - used to justify women being in existence only to serve men

Since women weren’t allowed to read the Bible, Men could make up and leave out whatever they wanted.

another example is the lunch time prayer: Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the silent.”

The Soul Scrolls - another form of propaganda. The prayers projected must be paid for. The repetition of these scrolls can be interpreted as a form of brainwashing.

—> Repeating chanting of other handmaids during janine’s testimony similar to soul scrolls - if you hear the same lies enough times, sometimes they become the truth.

Time - Interplay between the past and the present - HT as a hisotircal novel.

This provides an escape for Offred.

• Reflecting those things she was accustomed to in a woman in pre-coup d’etat America, TV, conversation, freedom. She looks back at the Nazi documentary - similar to her current situation.

• Reflects on her passivity during the takeover in comparison to her mothers. now she lives a life of burden by what she never tried to prevent.

Atwood employs a repeatedly fluctuating narrative technique + nap and flashback sections.

Wider use of the past in this novel - in many ways it is a historical novel.

Gilead - based on mid-1980s cultural milieu from when she was writing, but also American colonial and Biblical history - provide a greater understanding of american history + present.

She refers to the scarlet letter which also takes place in puritan New england - unishes sexual intercourse and exposes the female sex as a living proof of the devil's mission to tempt us and lure us into sinning, The Handmaid's Tale takes this idea and deforms it to the point where some women are only fitted to be ―two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.

Many elements of Gileadean society are pulled directly from archaic periods - colour coded fashion.

required greetings going back to biblical passages.

Gilead uses women as scapegoats for society’s issues - part of a larger cultural trend of misogyny which developed as a reaction to the second wave feminist movement in the 60s/70s

“These bodies hanging on the wall are time travellers, anachronism. They’ve come here from the past”

Atwood is referring to the fact that these men are echoes of the time immediately preceding Gilead; Apart from that she is also reaching back to other histories, moments in time when these who were considered enemies of the regime were publicly executes as an example to others.

Writing Utopia - Atwood’s Essay.

• describes historical basis of HT

• The most potent forms of dictatorships have always been those that have imposed tyranny in the name of god.

Reproduction and Fertility

Dichotomous view of sexuality —> contradicting in Nature.

Sexuality is both shunned upon yet necessary for functionality.

Only sexual experiences women are granted are highly regulated and in no means pleasurable.

When sexuality is encouraged it is always at the expense of vulnerable women.

Unwomen - female reliance on fertility and reproductive capacity - without it they are not women.

“Give me children or Else I die” - taken literally. Infertile women considered faulty machines.

Handmaids treated as commodities - existence is a necessity rather than intrinsic individual value.

Offred expected to take the blame if unable to conceive, even if it is the commander who is infertile.

Looking at the novel through a feminist lense is necessary in understanding the books relevance: critique of Gilead regime and the patriarchal commodified view of women.

Mental indoctrination regarding reproduction —> red centre, conditioning, religious dogma.

Birthing Scene —> forcible inpregnantation seen as a celebration of life rather than enslavement.

“Keep us from seeing, but also being seen” - Indoctrination. the Handmaids exist solely to abide by and assist the regime.

Flowers

• the reproductive part of plants —> fertility and reproduction.

• They sprout everywhere throughout this novel.

  • paintings

  • stained glass windows

  • embroidered along the edges of SJ dress

• Flowers are also displayed in SJ garden - ironic contrast to serena herself, who is unable to reproduce.

• their blooming and fading helps offred track the seasons

• Remind the narrator of existence of beauty.

• Symbolise what the women lack:individual beauty and the ability to grow and reproduce freely.

Individualism

Loss of identity - way gilead takes control

Women’s freedom is solely dictated by a newly implemented role.

Must Offred give up her identity to survive, but what is survival without identity.

Offred’s name is never revealed - “[my] name isn’t Offered, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden”

Offred found repeating her real name to herself - gripping onto the last sense of self she has - privately resisting gilead’s control.

After one of her meetings with the commander - “I must forget about my secret name (…) my name is offred now, and here is where i live.” - admits her name is offred + recognises that she has no real identity - survival tactic.

uniformity in their titles, clothes, and roles.

Offred’s name is SO dehumanizing in the way it not only strips her of her individuality, but also as her status as a person. OF FRED - Of commander fred. a commodity.

By continuously being transferred from household to household and continuously changing names - handmaids feel lost without a sense of self.

Offred has no individuality and is only seen as a “two legged womb(s), that’s all, sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.

Excessive censorship - citizens not allowed a voice, or even think about opinions which do not abide with the strict rules. —> their personalities, thoughts, and opinions completely stolen from them, and any breaks of conformity is brutally punished.

The Wall - Hanging bodies known by their sins only - Individuals become tools of indoctrination and control.

Jezebel’s - initial taste of freedom and individuality later becomes submission; women seen as objects and not as individuals. Used and discarded.

Handmaid’s biological children considered Kins of their commander’s and their wives.

Hierarchy provides the aunts and commanders to enforce their individuality at the expense of the ones below them.

similar to the thoughtcrimes of 1984 - secondary Gileadean citizens are conditioned to think in the most undeviating, conformist ways with any disobedience completely banned.

Restrictions on language - ensure no individualistic opinions formed due to fear of rebellion.

Aunt Lydia teaches “Freedom to and freedom from”. Women in Gilead are Free from violence, sexual insults, and toxic body image, however as a woman they do not have the freedom to work, love, or do as they wish, stripping away their individuality.

Serena Joy - Once successful woman, loses it all. Left disconnected from her past and loses her freedom to express her identity. Ironic as she was supporting Gilead’s ideologies in pre-coup d’etat America.

“i have trouble remembering what I used to look like” Offred starts describing herself. this shows that she is forgetting her old self and her old identity.

she then proceeds to describe her “viable ovaries” - the only part valuable in gilead —> gives her a sense of identity.

Offred and Nick’s Affair

• she feels as though she has more autonomy - therefore more of an identity.

• more equal power within the two

• she tells nick her “real name, and feel that therefore I am known”

• Contrasts with the first meeting with the commander, when she wanted to forget her real name.

• commander rel - dehumanising and coeercive / nick rel: autonomous and intimate.

• Offred’s choice to continue her affair with nick - Offred is finidng an identity by taking this choice and acting against gileads dehumanising control.

Serena joy shows picture of saughter to Offred - Offred feels like daughter has forgotten her. “I am only a shadow now” “shadow of a shadow, as dead mother become.

• imagery of a shadow - offred no longer views herself as a real person

• shadow of a shadow - actively being erased and becoming less of a person.

• dead mother even though she is alive

• throughout the novel offred’s memories, particularly of her daughter, revolve around her identity.

• loss of identity as a amother.

Discipline and punishment

Gender

Male Characters

Symbolism?

The colour Red

• color of blood - related to menstruation, a sign that a woman is able to bear children

• Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, A woman must wear a red letter A as a punishment for committing adultery. Although the handmaids are doing what the law requires, they are in some ways the commander’s mistresses and so occupy an uncomfortable moral area.

a darker crimson

removed the men’s eyes

the time before

anarchy - aunt lydia

play with words

salvagings

prayvaganza

particicution

soul scrolls

un woman un baby shredder

thinking can hurt your chances

thought must be rationed

i intend to last

colour of blood which defines us

the night is mine. my own time

dont let the bastards grind u down

control over the ending

waste not want not

freedom to freedom from

transitional generation

to him i am not merely emoty

viable ovaries

domain of the commanders wife - garden

taken at her word - serene joy

an approach to her, a necessity

i am not being wasted

no room for vanity

impenetrable

give me children or else i die

barbed wire

her real name as a treasure and something hidden

what i present is a made-thing, fragments, reconstruction butthen what happened?

ignoring isnt eh same as ignorancw

positively daddyish

loose women

lazy sluts

so much pain in the story

cant call it lovemaking because only one is involved

not rape

violating custom

duty

no such thing as a sterile man

hes breaking the rules

her or me

womens cultrue

gilead is within you

no romance

kissing is forbidden

shes been taken at her word

chant in unison