Femenism and The Concept of The Caged Paradigm

Throughout this novel, Margaret Atwood manages to strike the reader emotionally, intellectually, and even spiritually on how we view our place in the world, despite a constant shift in narrative between past and present. In this final part of The Handmaid's Tale, she describes this world so horrifically true that it sends me into a state of horror simply by imagining. A passage where she shows this is: “This is a district Salvaging, for women only. Salvagings are always segregated. It was announced yesterday. They tell you only the day before. It’s not enough time, to get used to it. To the tolling of the bell, we walk along the paths once used by students, past buildings that were once lecture halls and dormitories. It’s very strange to be in here again. From the outside, you can’t tell that anything’s changed, except that the blinds on most of the windows are drawn down. These buildings belong to the Eyes now.” This passage also brings up another defining point in the dystopia. The decision to make the Salvagings at Harvard University proved the change in society when Gilead. After doing research on this addition I learned that Margaret chose juxtaposition to bring home what Gilead has done to society. “Harvard becomes a symbol of the inverted world that Gilead has created: a place that was founded to pursue knowledge and truth becomes a seat of oppression, torture, and the denial of every principle for which a university is supposed to stand.”(SparkNotes,15 Dec. 2023) In addition to this point, Margaret Atwood powerfully uses antidote and metaphors to connect the reader to living in Gilead. For example, she described a speech before the killing as something where tea and light clapping would occur which brought me right there in the moment but also made me reflect on the absolute horror that living in that time would be for me. “She goes on like this for some minutes, but I don’t listen. I’ve heard this speech, or one like it, often enough before: the same platitudes, the same slogans, the same phrases: the torch of the future, the cradle of the race, the task before us. It’s hard to believe there will not be polite clapping after this speech, and tea and cookies served on the lawn.” This line made me feel uncomfortable and as I reflected I realized that the author's choices and constant reflections on what we think as normal, dig up my grasp on reality. You read and read until something, like Offred’s memories, hit you, and I feel her. I believe that this almost indescribable impact is a choice by the author as is exemplified when she describes: “The three bodies hang there, even with the white sacks over their heads looking curiously stretched, like chickens strung up by the necks in a meatshop window; like birds with their wings clipped, like flightless birds, wrecked angels. It’s hard to take your eyes off them. Beneath the hems of the dresses the feet dangle, two pairs of red shoes, one pair of blue. If it weren’t for the ropes and the sacks it could be a kind of dance, a ballet, caught by flash-camera: mid-air. They look arranged. They look like showbiz. It must have been Aunt Lydia who put the blue one in the middle.” Margaret makes me squirm. She makes me squirm at the gory, and the humanity, at the inhumane, and the terrifying truth that not one is separate. As stated when she wrote: “A sigh goes up from us; despite myself, I feel my hands clench. It is too much, this violation. The baby too, after what we go through. It’s true, there is a bloodlust; I want to tear, gouge, rend. We jostle forward, our heads turn from side to side, our nostrils flare, sniffing death, we look at one another, seeing the hatred. The shooting was too good. The man’s head swivels groggily around: has he even heard her? Aunt Lydia waits a moment; then she gives a little smile and raises her whistle to her lips. We hear it, shrill and silver, an echo from a volleyball game of long ago.” The perception of the moment was not disconnected from the past but has changed and morphed like the spread of cancer into a destructive army of our own will. “Things are back to normal. How can I call this normal? But compared with this morning, it is normal.” Dystopia is often regarded as “too far off”, however Margaret Atwood uses an poetic prose and description of Offglen’s experience, composed with the societal oppression that you are forced to sit with her, empathize with her, and leave the comfortability with time we have today. She reflects: “I sit in my room, at the window, waiting. In my lap is a handful of crumpled stars. This could be the last time I have to wait. But I don’t know what I’m waiting for. What are you waiting for? they used to say. That meant Hurry up . No answer was expected. For what are you waiting is a different question, and I have no answer for that one either. Yet it isn’t waiting, exactly. It’s more like a form of suspension. Without suspense. At last there is no time. I am in disgrace, which is the opposite of grace. I ought to feel worse about it. But I feel serene, at peace, pervaded with indifference. Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I repeat this to myself but it conveys nothing. You might as well say, Don’t let there be air; or, Don’t be. I suppose you could say that.” I read this, and then it hit me. It was the fact that she was going to die, or her life would be ruined even more and I felt it. I believe this was Atwood’s doing. It was the journey of thought, the understanding on how the mind distracts you from the inevitable to not die of terror, and the truth that millions have dealt this, thought this, and expirences this throughout history. It is a purely human thing, yet it is often only humans who make it happen.

Journal 1 The story winds through the despotic reality like smoke through a stagnant valley; touching what it passes, but moving in no direction. This first section uses constant metaphors, smilies and reflections to paint a picture and to emotionally connect the reader with the oppressive reality. I am left with a lot of questions yet I still remain intrigued. The effect of the choices made by the author when deciding what details to include and to leave out have inspired introspection and an entourage of emotions that engage the reader. Through these few chapters we begin to be introduced to the setting, Offred’s perspective on it, and the conflict of the story. Giliad is a Feminist dystopia where woman are taught to believe they are as worthy as their ability to conceive and where class is separated by colour. Although it is obvious that Giliad is a Dystopia, what I learned however how dystopias come to be and why Giliad is not too far from where we are headed as a society. A passage that highlights this is: “We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.” Said by Offred. This excerpt shows the exposition of an oppressive reality. Margret Atwood wrote consistently in this manner; expressing the psychological impacts of a dystopia and this way of storytelling was the main reason why I was intrigued while reading. We are shown the oppressive changes that come when its ideals are given power and it makes you question if things are really all that different from today. journal 2 As Margret Atwood winds through memory and current, we learn more and more about how past experiences and present happenings contribute to the patriarchal society that has become Giliad. At the beginning of this section we learn about how the society makes Offred feel like a failure during menstruation and how another girl’s brutal story of sexual assault is met with the blame being placed on her. Although this was early on, I realized the impact the society has on your perspective of self-worth when Offred said: “Each month I watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes it means failure. I have failed once again to fulfil the expectations of others, which have become my own.” It proves the fact that Giliad is successful and that the conflict between Offred and Giliad’s oppression, is changing her and causing her to accept these values. Soon after I begin to realize that Offred consciously has changed and I wonder how such a dramatic change in her perception continues when she says: “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run, push buttons, of one sort or another, and make things happen. There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Inside it is a space, huge as the sky at night and dark and curved like that, though black-red rather than black. Pinpoints of light swell, sparkle, burst and shrivel within it, countless as stars.” This excerpt reveals the change in time, the increasing existential conflict, and how that increases the conflict within Offred. During this memory, she reflects on Moira, her best friend. She, I believe is the rebel. Representing strength and ideals from th e second wave of feminism when Miora says: “God, do I need a cigarette” After they witnessed what was supposed to be an act of “brainwashing” by the Red House. Offglen proves her impact when she says: “Me too, I say. I feel ridiculously happy.” This representation of resistance is not actionable but as we learned in The Cannon Shot video “Most social rights movements start by people talking together and then they realize they have the same shared experience”. When learning about the second wave of feminism, we learned about the empowerment of body control. This novel highlights the struggles women face with gender roles, apathy, and self-worth. Moira seems to challenge the oppressive narrative with her Genosexual persona. journal 3 Throughout this novel, Margaret Atwood manages to strike the reader emotionally, intellectually, and even spiritually on how we view our place in the world, despite a constant shift in narrative between past and present. In addition to this point, Margaret Atwood powerfully uses antidote and metaphors to connect the reader to living in Gilead. For example, she describes certain events with a detail that not only connects you to the plot but to the emotion and the setting on a deep level. An example of this is when she said: “Quiet, I say to her angrily. I think about her drowning and this thought slows me. Then the shots come behind us, not loud, not like firecrackers, but sharp and crisp like a dry branch snapping.” It is this description that brings out the utter horror of the moment seemingly effortlessly. This style impacts me through Offglen's reflection on bodily control and how she describes the oppression of Gilead. For example, when she says: “But they won’t stay still for me, they move, there’s a smile and it’s gone, their features curl and bend as if the paper’s burning, blackness” She is talking about losing her memory of previous times but is in great pain while doing so. Margaret Atwood also uses suspense to keep the reader engaged. She writes in possibility like the way Offglen thinks; always leaving space for change. For example, she writes: “I could burn the house down. Such a fine thought, it makes me shiver. An escape, quick and narrow. I lie on my bed, pretending to nap.” When she is describing Offglen's thoughts about what to do with a match and cigarette. She brings you into the moment of her thought and she brings you to her emotion and fantasy, living in such oppression. Margaret Atwood also hooks the reader through her descriptions and thought. I originally felt that this book was going nowhere but then I realized that it was her reflections that held the most context and I became fascinated with Offglens thoughts. From example one night she philosophizes: “Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn?” And in an instant I am , in her mind, thinking, wondering, and feeling her curiosity. This approach brings me there, it stimulates my mind and takes me out of the present moment or the rush of the plot and conflict and shifts the story to form a 3 dimensional shape in my mind. Journal 4 In The Handmaid's Tale, the conflict is like physics: It always will exist and all you can do is learn how it works. There was no resolution of the oppression faced in Gilead and I believe Margaret Atwood made this choice on purpose. It shows that Gilead is not something that is a quick fix but a plague that is incurable, caused by the very things that perceive it; our minds. I realized this when Margaret Atwood wrote: “Cora and Rita press through from the kitchen. Cora has begun to cry. I was her hope, I’ve failed her.” Proving that Offred had not succeeded in her rebellion despite other's hope she would. However, before that, as she is being taken away after she has been caught, she remarks: “I am above him, looking down; he is shrinking. There have already been purges among them, there will be more.” This indicates that change is happening, that the current dystopia is not stagnant, and that with or without Offred, there will be change. It dealt as though something was going to happen, something would have happened if things just differed a bit, if she had just made a couple of different moves. I realized this when she said: “How could I have believed I was alone in here? There were always two of us. Get it over, she says. I’m tired of this melodrama, I’m tired of keeping silent.” As she waits to be taken away. It was as if this presence was telling her that she failed, that she should only feel regret. It was this emotion and reality that drove what I have taken away from this novel. Margaret Atwood told an absolutely horrifying story of Offred and the oppression she faced as a sex slave or “national resource” as she called it. Relating the story to the message, I believe it warned that American society will resort to traditional and fundamental religious values of sexism of because complacency and apathy towards matriarchal oppression. T used the fact of totalitarian governance and the dangers of religious fundamental ideology to create a dystopia that tells us the hidden oppression in certain ways of thinking and believing. As the historians reflected on Gilead one said: “As we know from the study of history, no new system can impose itself upon a previous one without incorporating many of the elements to be found in the latter,” proving that Gilead was just a “latter” of the past. However, the message warns that it takes a stimulation by current events to act as a catalyst of regression.

In this section of the Novel, I began to understand the parallelism of misogyny in beauty in the book and today, male apathy towards women’s issues, and how the society of Giliad reflects a similar path of the society of today. Reflecting on the excerpt: “Butter, he said, musing. That’s very clever. Butter. He laughed. I could have slapped him.” I realized how much women have to go through to try to make themselves have the best opportunity. I reflected on how makeup can be seen as sexual in the workplace but if a women does not wear makeup, than they can be viewed as less successful. This sexism made me rethink how woman are oppressed today through buety standards, profiling, and objectification. In the Novel, woman are only for their usefulness to reproduce and are seen as “national property”. They are simplified down to their body and although there is not a giliad today, woman are constantly valued or ed on what they have no control over. Doing further research, I found that this applies to clothing as well. In the novel clothing represents sexuality but in a different way. I realized the power that clothing for women holds on society today and how clothing relates to the man’s point of view an which further agrees to the fact of objectification. I began to think about the apathy that we have towards women's issues and the lack of consideration we hold today. I thought about perspectives that I hold or that are societally-accepted and I began to understand how easy it is to think whatever way we want in the society we live in. I also related this to the warning sign for today through this idea of slow to rapid change. In the novel, there were videos on TV like there are today but without rapid action, there was a turning point where rebellion would be met with death. I thought about today and the truth that things are going backwards. With the overturning of Roe V. Wade and the banning of certain books, America is slowly turning to a splinter reality of Giliad and its dystopia. Things may seem like they are under control, but like the war between religious secs in The Handmaid's Tale, Religion is driving society in a degressive and harmful route. After reading this section, I wonder what it will take to prevent this horrible future from happening. I think again about male apathy and the passage of the book that made me realize this. Offred said: “You don’t know what it’s like, I said. I feel as if somebody cut off my feet. I wasn’t crying. Also, I couldn’t put my arms around him. It’s only a job, he said, trying to soothe me. I guess you get all my money, I said. And I’m not even dead. I was trying for a joke, but it came out sounding macabre. Hush, he said. He was still kneeling on the floor. You know I’ll always take care of you. I thought, already he’s starting to patronize me.” Oppressive changes were happening in the novel but as we see today, men always find a way to ignore conflict or empathy through patronizing a woman’s emotions. Today I believe it is this apathy the harmful changes that are being made and the denial to sacrifice comfortability for the good of others that can and will lead our world to a dystopia. connector Throughout Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction, we are confronted constantly with the connection between this fiction and the horrific truth that these events have happened in history prior. Although every aspect of this novel is connected to something in history, I chose to highlight the connection between fleeing Gilead and the stories of refugees fleeing against an oppressive governemnt. I decided also to go one step further and connect to today to prove that Gilead can will be our future if we do not understand what our fear and greed can cause if unchecked. I showed this through the connection to the sortie of woman’s having to travel out of their state to receive an abortion and I highlighted the inequality and in the legislator. This further proves the fact that our decision often are intersectional and that even if it seems not too bad now for many, for some the oppression will expodential. I realized that Offred’s reflection of trying to flee Gilead has an uncanny resemblance to the countless stories of refugees fleeing an oppressive situation in their homes throughout history. There is no hope for many, some try and succeed but in the case of this story, it makes clear the unrelenting truth that many do not make it out and the censorship of their story makes their lives meaningless. “I’m running, with her, holding her hand, pulling, dragging her through the bracken” This passage in the Handmaid‘s Tale connects to the countless refugee stories in current history, the stories of fleeing Gaza as well as the countless other times of fleeing Central America to the US and being caught or stuck and dying along the way. The fact that they are trying to flee Gilead proves the oppressive nature of the society but also reflects the oppressive nature of many other countries. “Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their home country because of feared persecution, conflict, violence, or other circumstances that place them in need of international protection.” (Reid 2023) Like fleeing a war, Offred, Luke, and their child are escaping oppression. During the excerpt: “Quiet, I say to her angrily. I think about her drowning and this thought slows me. Then the shots come behind us, not loud, not like firecrackers, but sharp and crisp like a dry branch snapping.” I realize that there is no easy way to leave oppression. And that like the shots being fired, when we reach a certain point in society, there is not much people can do. I am often stuck in the “not in my country” perspective on gender issues, but the truth is, our country is being affected by backwards views, it is going backwards, and the control of information often hides us from the linear change and direction that our country is headed. This scene also relates heavily to today with the decision to overturn the longstanding Constitutional right to abortion and eliminate federal standards on abortion access that had been established by earlier decisions in the cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Today the banning of abortion in certain states has caused inequality, requiring women to leave the state they are in and sometimes travel days to get an abortion. “overturning Roe v. Wade disproportionately impacts women of colour, as they are more likely to obtain abortions, have more limited access to health care, and face underlying inequities that would make it more difficult to travel out of state for an abortion compared to their white counterparts.” (KFF 2023). The fact that the oppression in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Dystopian Feminist novel, can blend in with the news of today, proves the increasing truth that the society of Gilead is a warning of likely can become of our future and when yearning for the future becomes a reintroduction of the past. History Throughout Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction, we are confronted constantly with the connection between this fiction and the horrific truth that these events have happened in history prior. Although every aspect of this novel is connected to something in history, I chose to highlight the connection between fleeing Gilead and the stories of refugees fleeing against an oppressive governemnt. I decided also to go one step further and connect to today to prove that Gilead can will be our future if we do not understand what our fear and greed can cause if unchecked. I showed this through the connection to the sortie of woman’s having to travel out of their state to receive an abortion and I highlighted the inequality and in the legislator. This further proves the fact that our decision often are intersectional and that even if it seems not too bad now for many, for some the oppression will expodential. I realized that Offred’s reflection of trying to flee Gilead has an uncanny resemblance to the countless stories of refugees fleeing an oppressive situation in their homes throughout history. There is no hope for many, some try and succeed but in the case of this story, it makes clear the unrelenting truth that many do not make it out and the censorship of their story makes their lives meaningless. “I’m running, with her, holding her hand, pulling, dragging her through the bracken” This passage in the Handmaid‘s Tale connects to the countless refugee stories in current history, the stories of fleeing Gaza as well as the countless other times of fleeing Central America to the US and being caught or stuck and dying along the way. The fact that they are trying to flee Gilead proves the oppressive nature of the society but also reflects the oppressive nature of many other countries. “Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their home country because of feared persecution, conflict, violence, or other circumstances that place them in need of international protection.” (Reid 2023) Like fleeing a war, Offred, Luke, and their child are escaping oppression. During the excerpt: “Quiet, I say to her angrily. I think about her drowning and this thought slows me. Then the shots come behind us, not loud, not like firecrackers, but sharp and crisp like a dry branch snapping.” I realize that there is no easy way to leave oppression. And that like the shots being fired, when we reach a certain point in society, there is not much people can do. I am often stuck in the “not in my country” perspective on gender issues, but the truth is, our country is being affected by backwards views, it is going backwards, and the control of information often hides us from the linear change and direction that our country is headed. This scene also relates heavily to today with the decision to overturn the longstanding Constitutional right to abortion and eliminate federal standards on abortion access that had been established by earlier decisions in the cases, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Today the banning of abortion in certain states has caused inequality, requiring women to leave the state they are in and sometimes travel days to get an abortion. “overturning Roe v. Wade disproportionately impacts women of colour, as they are more likely to obtain abortions, have more limited access to health care, and face underlying inequities that would make it more difficult to travel out of state for an abortion compared to their white counterparts.” (KFF 2023). The fact that the oppression in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Dystopian Feminist novel, can blend in with the news of today, proves the increasing truth that the society of Gilead is a warning of likely can become of our future and when yearning for the future becomes a reintroduction of the past.