POWER can be considered as one of the most common themes in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. Gilead is a dictatorship, which implies power is imposed entirely from the top. The power of a dictatorship must be shown in some way to overwhelm and scare the population living within. The government of Gilead displays their power in many different ways.
One of Gilead’s most imposing tools to show their power is the control of LANGUAGE. “Most of those old guys can’t make it any more,” he says. “Or they are sterile.” I almost gasp: he’s said the forbidden word. Sterile. There is no such thing as a sterile man any more, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law. (Page 70). This passage in the book underlines that some words like Fertile, Infertile and Sterile are forbidden in the society of Gilead. Through this, Gilead creates an official vocabulary and in this way the people are conducted in a way the government would like to. They think, walk and talk like the government dedicates them. Throughout the book Offred explains that everything is a re-interpretation of something else; nothing is an exact description of the truth. When Offred talks about the word ‘Work out’, she interprets and analysez this is two different ways. Working out to keep your body in shape and working out the difficulties you experience during a relationship.
One of the biggest changes to language made by the regime is that it is impermissible for women to speak or read. This is a very well thought move of the Gilead regime because language even got a more impressive power. Since some of the women of the Gilead society are very FEMINISTIC it is a very stupid move as well. Women will find other ways to communicate with each other, which gives illegal movements the freedom to rise. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ presents a very complex view of feminism. The ideas that come out with this book are based upon the feminist viewpoints that are being espoused during the time the novel is written.
Moira and Offred’s mother serve as a mouthpiece for two different sorts of feminism. Moira thinks that when women are living alone with each other it will solve a lot of problems women were currently facing. The women living in the Gilead regime have very little contact with men, they support each other in times of birth and they teach each other about the values en moral standards of the regime. By this Atwood tries to sense out that one of the thoughts behind feminism is the belief that women will feel loyalty towards one another when you’re living in such a society. Offred’s mother symbolizes a totally different side of feminism. She belongs to the one’s who protested for abortion rights, political rights, banning of pornography to equalize the rights of a woman to that of a men. Offred felt embarrassed by her mother’s activities when she was young. She was too young to know that rights could be taken away so easily. Now that she is living in Gilead’s society she finally understands why her mother participated. Offred now sees the importance of the protests since her rights are taken away by the regime.
THE PLACE OF THE INDIVIDUALS WITHIN THE GILEAD SOCIETY
Since it is illegal for women to hold jobs, the government of Gilead has created a system of titles. In this system men and women are not named after their original names like you and I are called after our first names, but they are defined by military rank (man) or their gender roles (women) like Handmaid’s, Housewives, Martha’s. By doing this, Gilead succeeds in removing the individual feeling of the people. Because everyone in this society suits a different title, the morals and values you have to keep towards one another vary as well. The two young Guardians salute us, raising three fingers to rims of their berets. Such tokens are accorded to us. They are supposed to show respect, because of the nature of our service. (Page 31).
Despite the Gilead regime’s success at imposing order, Atwood’s characters demonstrate that even if any substantial power is taken from people, they will still find a way to maintain control over themselves and other INDIVIDUALS. Offred is very well aware of the fact that she can gain immense power over a man by only just being a woman; walking by a guardian and wiggling your hips just a little more then you usually do, will already awaken thoughts in a man’s head, which he can’t control. Only you can. Offreds’ relationship with the Commander is a perfect example for this. Offred gains real power, but she is afraid to test its limits. Throughout the book, Offred learns that most Handmaids carry the idea of suicide in their heads. The regime can’t stop the Handmiads from commiting suicide because there are a lot of tricks to so this. They commit suicide to maintain some final sense of power over their own bodies and decisions.
As the last, the government covers the streets with guards (named Guardians), some of them carrying guns. The guardians aren’t real soldiers. They’re used for routine policing and other menial functions, digging up the Commander’s Wife’s garden for instance, and they’re either stupid or older or disabled or very young. (Page 30). And then you have these men called the ‘Eyes’ who seek for citizens that work against Gilead’s moral standards and values. Due to all these ways in which the regime gains power, the only free space the people possess are the few cubic centimeters in their scull.
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