The Handmaid's Tale

Dystopian novels are twisted versions of reality, a portal into the extreme, or a future that may take place. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a dystopian novel that is in all manners creepy and disturbing. The novel follows a character that is called Offred in the Republic of Gilead. This Republic has been created in the United States and has become the way of life. The people in this republic take the Bible in it’s most literal sense and although are supposedly following God’s will, are entirely faithless. They no longer feel close to God and love does not exist in any real form. Everyone is miserable and lives in fear; humans to not exist, only tools. The men have secret agendas and the women are broken down into roles that they are required to follow. Everyone lives in fear for one false move and the Eyes take them away, they are killed, or they are sent to the Colonies; all of these a terrible fate. Offred describes her experience in this society, detailing her life in the home of her Commander, flashbacks of her times with the Aunts, and flashbacks of her life before she was a Handmaid.

Even though this book made the reader uncomfortable, I liked it and thought it was well written. There was a good amount of imagery and the characters were diverse and interesting; their personalities delicately playing off of each other. I thought it was interesting how Atwood commented on religion and feminism at the same time, and showed how people must learn to choose between taking everything literally and interpreting writings and ideas in a proper manner. The people lost sight of what religion truly is and this was part of their downfall. The book was also likeable because the reader was left to interpret the end. It wasn’t automatically a negative or a positive; Offred stepped up into the van of the Eyes, apparently rescued by Nick, and stepped into the light. This could be taken as she died, as her she started a new life, or something else entirely. I enjoyed the book and the numerous analogies, symbols, and references that it contained.

One big symbol that is present in the novel is that of the Faith pillow. The pillow is dingy and hard and the printed word, Faith, is the only letters that Offred is permitted to see. Also the words and flowers are faded and worn out. The pillow symbolizes that faith is always present, even if it had taken a beating. You should not give up on your faith, it is always there for you to grasp and have for hope. But the shape of the pillow also suggests that the beauty of faith has gone from this society. The irony in this pillow is that there is hardly any faith left in the people, but here it is sitting in Offred’s room, solid material for her to touch. The hard pillow is on a seat that is narrow with, showing that the faith that this society follows, the faith in the government leaders, is rigid and tough. No one is fully at ease. Another link with the pillow is that Offred wanted to throw it at the Commander. This suggests that the men in society and the Commanders need to be hit with faith and woken from this dreamy state of misery. Everyone needs a little more faith. The pillow is symbolic of the shaggy state of faith in this society, and how it’s no longer taken care of and cherished like it once was.

The novel was a chain of words that created imagery and an interesting plot. The quote that I found most intriguing in the novel was “the window of Soul Scrolls is shatterproof. Behind it are printout machines, row on row of them... what the machines print is prayers, roll upon roll, prayers going out endlessly…ordering prayers from Soul Scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety and faithfulness to the regime, so of course the Commanders’ Wives do it a lot. It helps their husbands’ careers” (p 167). This quote took place when Offred was running errands with Ofglen one morning. After they shop for the groceries that they are required to get, the two liked to visit the wall or other parts of the town. Offred had known this city before it had turned into Gilead, but this place no longer resembles the modern society it once did. Soul Scrolls is a franchise that prints out prayers that have been ordered by the Wives. There are five different types of prayers, and after the prayer is ordered it is printed out on the paper and the machine “says” the prayer.

This quote is interesting because it shows that the traditions of religion have lost their value. Praying is supposed to make one feel closer to God and is a personal act that one does. But Soul Scrolls has mutilated this practice and turned it into something to gain, either for money or status. The Wives order the prayers to help their husband’s careers and the store makes money off of the prayers. There is nothing personal and touching about a machine that says a prayer, especially ones that always have the same words. The act of praying has been turned into a business that is made to benefit the Commanders and the regime, there is no link to faith or God. This quote shows how disconnected this society truly is from the traditions, values, and meaning of religion. The people merely follow the literal words that have been printed on paper of the Bible; there is no feeling behind the acts they commit.

We

The novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, is a dystopian novel that, through the extreme, shows the disadvantages and wrongs of Communism. The novel is told in the manner of a diary by the character D-503. He is a mathematician and the constructor of the INTEGRAL, a type of space-ship. D-503 lives in a city called OneState which is led by a powerful, dangerous machine called the Benefactor. OneState is built of glass so that everyone’s business is out in the open, there is no such thing as secrets. Or at least that is part of what the Benefactor and this society is trying to weed out. The people in this world follow a Time Table, march in step, wear the same clothes, and imagination and creativity are not allowed to exist. The world is made of math, logic, and not standing out, people were meant to be one with people around them. Also in this society, they were not supposed to feel emotion, though they could have a sort of friendship with people. Love was irrelevant, but occasionally it slipped in, as it did with D-503. In the beginning he fit into the society and seemed to feel a connection and happiness with all of the logic and order about him. But as the novel progressed, he changed quite drastically. He fell in love with a woman named I-330, who used her sexuality to draw D-503 in; he was putty in her hands. D-503 seems to break away from OneState and its laws to a degree; his thoughts have changed, he focuses more on his emotions and love for I-330, and he risks going outside the wall. In the end D-503 has an operation and his imagination is taken from him, but the twists the book takes on the way is quite interesting.

Overall I thought the book was okay. It was interesting that the author was able to write in such a mathematic way, though I do not think I appreciate this skill as much as I should. The mathematical terms and references were sometimes hard to follow, but did add to the story as a whole. The ending was darker, with OneState once again taking over the mind of D-503. He had a soul and lost it, and he watched I-330 die and felt no emotion. The novel conveyed the message that equality and giving up abstract thought, creativity, and individuality leads to a controlled and twisted society that is most undesirable. The book was occasionally hard to follow, but interesting.

My favorite quote from the novel was in the very beginning when D-503 first meets I-330. She seemed to hear his thoughts as he tried to interpret her face. When he looked at her, he saw “something about her eyes or brows, some kind of odd irritating X that I couldn’t get at all, a thing I couldn’t express in numbers…what white teeth!...I saw the sharp angle her brows made when she lifted them toward her temples- like the sharp horns of an X, and for some reason I got confused again” (p 8). This was a description by D-503 when he was marching along with everyone else down the streets of OneState. He was having some rather interesting thoughts about God when I-330 interrupted him and seemed to know what he was thinking. This quote is interesting for several reasons. First, it emphasizes how large a role math and logic play in this society. D-503 describes I-330 using x’s and angles, it is the only way he knows to see and understand the world. But something about I-330 and the way she is confuses him and is outside of the realm of mathematics; he is unable to describe it and therefore understand it. He is confused and with normal logic and reasoning, confusion is not normal. This is also important because it seems to describe I-330 in a demon like manner, foreshadowing her mischief and toying with D-503. She is described as having sharp white teeth, and her eyebrows make “horns.” She knew how to use her charm to get what she wanted, and she seemed like a dangerous character. Her X did not fit in and her teeth stood out, sharp and gleaming. I-330 was a variable added to D-503’s life, but he was unsure how to solve for her, and she always kept him guessing.

One symbol that was brought up numerous times in this novel was D-503’s hands. He did not like them and “can’t stand people looking at my hands. They’re hairy, shaggy, some kind of throwback…’monkey hands’” (p 9). The hands were symbolic of two things. First, they showed that society was not the same. The people of OneState had shaved their heads, wore the same clothes, had restricted thoughts, and did almost everything at the same time. But one thing that the people could not have in common or be equal in was their looks. They were all quite different. O-90 was round and pink, a gentle lady, while I-330 was thin and cunning. The people were not the same and their looks would always differ and D-503’s hands emphasized this. More importantly, though, his hands connect him with a more primitive way of life. As he stated, his hairy hands are like monkey hands. The society of OneState is a very controlled place; it is clean and there are no animals or any real signs of nature. It is a city full of glass buildings, a clean machine. But D-503’s hands portray a wildness and lack of control. He does not like them because they are linked to the past. His hands are symbolic in that D-503 is still human and linked to the primitive past of people, and there is a wild side in him that is fighting to get out (his soul).

Anthem

What would it be like to live in a world where the individual did not exist and humanity survived as one, a mass of people serving each other? Ayn Rand illustrates this life style in her novel Anthem; that type of life would be utter hell. The story is told by a man originally named Equality 7-2521 who never fully fit in. He was taller, stronger, and brighter then many of the other men in the city he lived, and the people in power regarded him with frowns and dislike. His personality was also something to be fretted over. He was curious, he preferred some people over others, and he had dreams and wishes. The poor man thought that he was cursed for having natural feelings, but the world he lived in told him that everyone had to be equal and men lived only to serve other men. Life was a monotonous routine that had to be followed under the consequence of punishment; no one had a choice, they did as the government told them too. But Equality 7-2521 fell out of this pattern. He found a tunnel that had been leftover from the “unmentionable times” and continued to learn; he dissected animals, rediscovered electricity, mixed acids, and read manuscripts. He broke many laws and even fell in love. In the end he is forced to run away from his home with his love, Liberty 5-3000, in pursuit. Together, the two create a new life in the Uncharted Forest. They find an ancient house with mirrors, clothes, lights, and books. But most importantly they discover the word “I” and understand its meaning. No longer does “We” control them; for they are now separate beings who can follow their own emotions and thoughts.

The novel was set in the future, after civilization as we know it died out and was replaced once again by medieval technology, thoughts, practices, and medicine. But the twist of the novel was that Communism and Socialism had taken over like a plague and had a firm grasp on everyone. There was no such thing as “I” there was only “we” in the dark, controlled world. At first I was not a fan of the novel because of the strict control that the people lived in, but once Liberty 5-300 appeared my interest had been caught. Overall, I did enjoy the book. It brought up the topic of extreme ways of society, such as communism and socialism, and tried to prove a point in a creative way. I also liked that it ended with the main characters falling in love and finding a new place in the world. It was a happy ending; in dystopia novels very few, it seems, have lighter, happier endings.

My favorite quote in this novel is rather long, but I love it in its entirety.
“‘We have followed you,’ they said, ‘and we shall follow you wherever you go. If danger threatens you, we shall face it also. If it be death, we shall die with you. You are damned,and we wish to share your damnation…Your eyes are as a flame, but our brothers have neither hope nor fire. Your mouth is cut of granite, but our brothers are soft and humble. Your head is high, but our brothers cringe. You walk, but our brothers crawl. We wish to be damned with you,rather than blessed with all our brothers. Do as you please with us, but do not send us away from you’" (p 105). This was said by Liberty 5-300, now known as the Golden One. She said it to Equality 7-2521 after she had followed him in the forest. Previously, he had presented the light bulb and its gifts to the House of Scholars. But they became upset with him and said he had gone against their society. In anger and fear he ran to the Uncharted Forest, leaving behind the fate of death that would have befell him had he stayed. When the Golden One heard the news of him running away, she followed him into the forest. The two had not really been allowed to talk or be together, for it showed preference and in the city that they lived everyone must be entirely equal and one could not like another anymore then the next person. But the Golden One and Equality had feelings for each other. Out of this budding love she followed.

This quote has quite a bit of significance. First, it shows that the Golden One truly cares for and loves Equality. Though she may not be able to say it bluntly because the word “I” is not yet discovered, she described it to him the best she could. She wants to be with him. She has given up the meager society and comfort of what she already knows, and drifted into the unknown forest with him. Though these surroundings may be no more dangerous from whence she came and the threat of death just as present, she is willing to risk this new surrounding to be with Equality. Also, this quote shows that even thought this society tried to cover it up, people are different and human emotions can not be so easily suppressed. Equality contrasts very differently from his fellow brothers, especially in the eyes of the Golden One. He has a curiosity and hope, and also the strength to fight for what he believes in, as this quote suggests. He also has pride and the intelligence to hold his head high and walk when others fear to. Equal rights are important, but everyone cannot be forced to be equal in ways such as human strength and intelligence. Emotions had been suppressed in this society, but it was obviously still present. The Golden One admired Equality and loved him more then anyone else. Humans cannot be forced to have no emotion or be equal.

Though there were multiple symbols sprinkled throughout the book, one interesting one is the name that Equality took on after he and the Golden One started their new life in the Uncharted Forest. The choosing of new names shows that Equality and the golden one are no longer apart of the Communist Society; they recognize themselves as individuals. This in itself is symbolic. But even more so is the name that Equality picks, Prometheus. In the Greek legend, Prometheus was a man who stole fire from the gods on Olympus and gave the fire to the humans, giving them light. Equality chooses this name because he too gave light to the world. He had brought something to the world that would be helpful, but same as Prometheus, he was punished. Prometheus was tortured everyday and the gods were displeased with him. Equality was also expelled from society, but he felt relieved and free rather then unhappy. This name is symbolic of what Equality has done, he has brought something new and helpful to the world. This is the light and also this new way of being. He is an individual.