As I neared the end of the Handmaid’s Tale, I began to wonder about who it was that was benefiting from Gilead's society. What if everyone was unhappy with Gilead’s social order?
Most obviously, women are severely oppressed and largely discontent with their positions in society. Handmaids and Marthas are forced into slave-ish roles in society in terms of sex and manual labor. Wives deal with humiliating ceremonies and a constant reminder of their infertility. Aunts aren’t too oppressed relatively speaking, but I think it would be hard to argue that they are large beneficiaries of the society. Although women, by large, are unhappy, it doesn’t seem like the Commander - who was one of the individuals who set up the Republic - is completely happy with Gilead’s society either. This is evidenced by the way that the Commander has forbidden but oddly friendly encounters in his study with the handmaids. The handmaid before Offred likely visited the Commander often but hung herself when their affair was found out. Additionally, Offred was invited to play scrabble and read books with the Commander. It seems almost as though the Commander craves new meaningful/romantic relationships and is dissatisfied with his current relational situation. This does raise the question, however, is the actions of the Commander a reaction to his own unhappiness or just his demonstration of his sexual greed. I like to think personally that the Commander comes moreso from a place of unhappiness rather than greed because he is in a position of power where he doesn’t need to do things like play scrabble or read with Offred to have sex. Obviously, that’s a
debatable topic. But running with the idea that even the Commander is unhappy, who is satisfied with this society? There’s not much textual evidence to say anything about the eyes or angels, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend held true with them as well. What are your thoughts?
debatable topic. But running with the idea that even the Commander is unhappy, who is satisfied with this society? There’s not much textual evidence to say anything about the eyes or angels, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend held true with them as well. What are your thoughts?
Great post, Lab! At least at the beginning of Gilead, I'd definitely agree that almost no one is happy, but i think this is mostly due to the fact that at that point, everyone still remembers normal pre-Gilear life. Once new generations are born and Gilead is the only life they know, maybe the citizens arent too unhappy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that no one in Gilead seemed happy. From Offred's narration, we get to understand the plight and feelings of women in Gilead who are mistreated and oppressed. However, the Commander allowing Offred to do forbidden things such as playing Scrabble etc. made me think that he was unhappy himself. I felt that he was using his powerful position to bend the rules for his own benefit.
ReplyDeleteI also think that nobody is truly happy in the society of Gilead. In the movie we watched, it did seem that the wives were happy while one of the handmaids was giving birth, but maybe they were just faking their happiness.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen, I would agree. There does not seem to be a single happy person in Gilead, but it's highly possible that the higher ups like the Commander, who brought about such a society, justified it to themselves as sacrificing the happiness of the individual for the happiness of the community. Or something like that.
ReplyDeleteI agree in the sense that no one in the society is happy. It seems that even people like the commander, with large roles in the society, are unhappy because of the way Gilead turned out. They had their conditions set and were "forced" to come up with a better society so that humanity could progress. What they came up with was stupid but it was too late to change it. He is stuck and doesn't want to fight back because he is in a good position.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I liked the points you made about how no one in this society is happy. However, I think that there must be at least a few people who are very happy as they probably have maximum authority over everyone and most of the commanders. Of course it might just be a singular ruling commander family and his/her friends. However I agree that in general everyone is going to be unhappy, and fake happiness in order to avoid persecution.
ReplyDeleteI agree, everyone in this society isn't truly happy. Not even the Commander who is in a position of power. I'm guessing only a select few at the very very top are happy and the rest just have to play by their rules. It's either that, or the higher ups decided to sacrifice their happiness for the greater good of society.
ReplyDeleteI can't see anyone as being truly happy in Gilead except for maybe the Aunts, and whoever is running Gilead. But I think that having a main person in charge--an obvious villain--would be uncharacteristic for Margaret Atwood. I think the ambiguity of who's in charge shows that nobody really knows how the Gileadian society came to be, that America kind of slipped into a dystopia without fully realizing. It also is inconsequential for Offred's story: she can't attack whoever's in charge and she has more anger against those who hurt Luke and her daughter.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that it's difficult to argue that any group or individual in Gilead is truly happy. My thoughts while reading the book was that even the people that crafted Gilead aren't happy with it because it didn't turn out the way they expected. Serena is revealed to have been involved in the crafting of Gilead, and yet she is clearly unhappy with how things turned out. Their theoretical vision of Gilead most likely did not match with how it turned out in reality.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about this. No one seems at all happy with their role in the new society, not even the most powerful members of the government such as the commander. We see no indication that the men below the commanders are happy either, since most of them are not allowed families and any friendships could result in them being turned in by someone who wanted an advancement for "gender treachery". And, as we see demonstrated throughout the book, none of the women are happy with their positions either.
ReplyDelete-Sasha
Great Post, I agree with many points in this post. Gilead is a mess, no one appears to be happy , not ever the people with the highest amounts of power. It seems that they only do things because they're doing it for god despite the toll it takes on them.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely seems like the utopian vision of Gilead went awry for everyone involved. However, were there any individuals that were more involved with the creation of society than the Commander? I think it's possible that a tiny group of high-ranking officials might be benefitting from the new social structure, though I'm sure that they would have completely abandoned the utopian premise in favor of wealth and power.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting reading 1984 and then coming back to this post, since we saw how in 1984 the Party's motivation was essentially power for power's sake. In that book, I'm not totally sure whether or not the higher-ups of the Inner Party were happy at all, but I do know that they did achieve their goal of absolute power. I think it's possible that beyond all the ideological mumbo-jumbo propping up Gilead, people like the Commander are also seeking absolute power over its citizens.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it seems as though no one is really happy in Gilead. I think this is because the people of Gilead remember their prior lives, so they have better memories to contrast with their current lifestyle. As future generations spawn, those past memories and ideals will fade away, and the population will become complacent - so long as the resistance dies out.
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