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Women in Gilead

In what way control tools used by Gilead affected women in The

Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood?

Candidate number:

Category 3 - literature

Word count: 3337 +

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Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION 3

CHAPTER 1​: Introduction of the system and control tools 4

CHAPTER 2​: Control Tools 7

Identity

Roles

CHAPTER 3​: Impact 13

Language

Physicality

Psychology

CONCLUSION 17

Works Cited 18
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INTRODUCTION (183)

The Handmaid’s Tale is a “highly feminist vision of dystopia, a society in which women’s

rights have been completely revoked and women are forced to contribute to their own

oppression by conforming to very strict gender roles and restrictions, but at the same time

enforced sexuality.” (Mirzayee 116). The novel was published in 1985 and written by

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. While writing the book, Atwood took real-life

inspirations from the socio-political events in the early 1980s. The story is still relatable for

many women and sparks debates about women’s reproductive rights and governmental

control over their bodies. It also tackles environmental concerns such as the consequences of

pollution and climate change.

The book follows the story of the main character and narrator - Offred. Among other women,

she has been confined, appropriated and forced to serve the state. There were various means

of enforcing these new norms, most of them with deleterious effects.

The essay will focus on the ways in which control tools used by Gilead affected women. It

will be provided by examining their introduction and influence on women’s identity,

psychology and physicality.

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CHAPTER 1: ​Introduction of the system and control tools (691)

The Republic of Gilead is a futuristic regime, controlled by Christian fundamentalists, created

by violence (Malak 9). It exists in what used to be North America.

The origin of the society shift were environmental issues - climate change and radioactive

pollution as the damage to human bodies have “rendered a large part of population infertile”

(Mirzayee 116).

They shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a

state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time. Keep calm,

they said on television. Everything is under control. … That was when they suspended

the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. … There wasn’t even an enemy

you could put your finger on. (Atwood 159)

The introduction of a new and radical system was quick and efficient. The leaders used

military forces called “Sons of Jacob” to keep citizens within the borders and get rid of

perplexing people or opponents. Concurrently, women lost their jobs and rights to possession.

Their work and properties were now controlled by men related to them. “Women can’t hold

property anymore, she said. It’s a new law.” (Atwood 164). Mirzayee remarks that “Because

they could no longer own property, they became possessions themselves” (120).

[Gilead] reverted to the harsh aspects of ill-treating women, disenfranchised them,

ignored their rights of education, seized their credit cards, destroyed homosexuals,

religious sects, and abortionists. In an innovative method of redress, old women, Jews,

and non-whites were resettled in radioactive colonies. (Mirzayee 115)

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Intellectuals were mostly banned or killed, as knowledge was considered dangerous,

documentation, clothes, books, and any remains of the past life were burned. In the end,

families were separated and children were given to those in power. The main goal of Gilead

was to overcome the fertility crisis while being submissive to the Bible. “The dangerously

low birthrate led to a desperate government creating a new system in which the essentialist

notion that a woman is not a real woman unless she can have children is preached and

supported.” (Kirkvik 32). Roles of women were assigned to them according to their past and

body capabilities.

Almost every thinkable insult to women has been tested and institutionalized at one

time or another: foot-binding, witch-burning, slavery, organized rape, ritual

mutilation, enforced childbearing, enforced chastity, and the mere denial of ordinary

rights to own property, speak out in public, or walk down the street without fear.

(Ehrenreich 78)

Propaganda and chosen fragments and interpretations of the Bible were treated as the ultimate

truth. “The voice was a man’s. Blessed be the poor in spirit … Blessed are the silent. I knew

they made that up, I knew it was wrong, and they left things out, too, but there was no way of

checking.” (Atwood 85). Thanks to the law that banned women from reading, such

adjustments were possible. Offred spots a pertinent sentence written on an old shop entrance:

“God Is a National Resource” (193) which proves that the regime used the Bible as a tool for

supporting itself. The new law also allowed punishments and death sentences that were the

utensils to manipulate the people through intense emotions like fear or survival instinct.
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Serena always lets us watch the news. Such as it is: who knows if any of it is true? It

could be old clips, it could be faked. … They only show us victories, never defeats.

Who wants bad news? … He tells us what we long to believe. He’s very convincing.

(Atwood 79)

The nation used propaganda, misinformation, death threats, developed military forces, special

agents Eyes and Guardians and lack of connection to the outer world to prevent rebellion and

disobedience. Friendships were suspicious, physical contact was forbidden. The society was

based on a hierarchy. The most powerful were Commanders, who often felt like they were

beyond the law, and could break those same rules they have created. “Perhaps he’s reached

that state of intoxication which power is said to inspire, the state in which you believe you are

indispensable and can therefore do anything” (Atwood 214). It shows the attitude towards

rules and hypocrisy of the leaders. Commanders controlled servants and women in their

household but also had certain responsibilities. Gilead used such rituals as Particicution and

Ceremony to manage certain groups and achieve designated goals.

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CHAPTER 2: ​Control Tools

IDENTITY (219)

Women had to obey many rules and laws. Many of them were limiting their freedom of

speech, thought and other human rights. Most couldn’t possess anything, everything they had

or used was owned by a man. They couldn’t read, and if they did they would be chastised.

​ omen were also

They couldn’t be alone, however, they couldn’t build real friendships.​ W

called the servants of men and burdened with the responsibility of the original sin. The new

generation of young women that already grew up in Gilead was used as a prize for

meritorious men and they were nothing more than voiceless servants who looked out only for

the comfort of the head of the house.

And now the twenty veiled daughters, in white, come shyly forward, their mothers

holding their elbows. It’s mothers, not fathers, who give away daughters these days

and help with the arrangement of the marriages. … Even though some of them are no

more than fourteen—Start them soon is the policy, there’s not a moment to be lost …

They’ll always have been in white, in groups of girls; they’ll always have been silent.

(Atwood 197)

Additionally, to eliminate women of privileged men from posing a threat, the government

allowed women to do one thing only (Mirzayee 119). It was possible by assigning roles

which made them more helpless and powerless.

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ROLES (1396)

Women in assigned roles were easier to control and replace as their individual features faded.

Categories of women were marked by colours and privileges. This division portrays the

objectivity and the attitude towards subjects.

Aunts.​ The most powerful women were the Aunts as they worked for the Gilead and

controlled other women, mainly handmaid’s, and their main tasks were to train them at the

Red Center, distribute them to households, take care of them during the birth and administer

Particicutions. Some of them worked at Jezebel’s.

The best and most cost-effective way to control women for reproductive and other

purposes was through women themselves. … In the case of Gilead, there were many

women willing to serve as Aunts, either because of a genuine belief in what they

called “traditional values,” or for the benefits they might thereby acquire. … Childless

or infertile or older women who were not married could take service in the Aunts and

thereby escape redundancy, and consequent shipment to the infamous Colonies.

(Atwood 271)

The colour of their clothes was brown and since they worked for the state, some exceptions

could be decided upon: “The Aunts are allowed to read and write.” (Atwood 121). They often

used their power to torture and torment, but as Atwood said in an interview for BBC

“Naturally, [Aunts] would have to answer to a top-level of men.” (Harriett 00:18:15-18).

Wives.​ They controlled the household, raised children and kept company with the

Commanders. In spare time they could paint, sew, knit or nurture the garden and watch

television. They wore blue and had more freedom than Handmaids and Marthas but little
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power. Usually, they were called Wives of Commanders and not by their name. Offred lived

with Serena Joy who she is familiar with from her speeches on television. In the novel, she

notices that “She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in

her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her.” (48). Serena in the past thrived for the

creation of Gilead, but the result of her actions didn’t satisfy her. “Partly I was jealous of her;

but how could I be jealous of a woman so obviously dried-up and unhappy?”​ (​ Atwood 148)​.

It contradicts the statement, that women are biologically meant to serve men, as they become

miserable and their potential is lost, even if they have wanted that at the beginning. The least

Wives could do to “add(s) interest to their lives” was to become sick and visit one another. It

was “the only place she could conceivably go, by herself, in the evenings. … They get sick a

lot, these Wives of the Commanders.” (Atwood 141). Infertile Wives also had to take part in

the Ceremony. “she holds my hands, each of mine in each of hers. This is supposed to signify

that we are one flesh, one being. What it really means is that she is in control, of the process

and thus of the product. If any.” (Atwood 89). If the Handmaid gave birth to a baby, the merit

went to the Wife and she got to raise the child.

Handmaids.​ Handmaids wore red which symbolised blood and fertility. Their names were

replaced with the prefix ‘Of’ and their Commanders name to show that they were their

property. Thereat “her identity as in individual with rights has been erased” (Chin-Yi 110).

Handmaids were controlled by Aunts, Wifes and Commanders. They spent most of their time

in the assessed room or waiting. They could also go shopping, but they had to go with the

assigned pair.
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We aren’t allowed to go there except in twos. … The truth is that she is my spy, as I

am hers. If either of us slips through the net because of something that happens on one

of our daily walks, the other will be accountable. (Atwood 25-6)

The Ceremony was their most important task as only then they could breed children. They

were“confined to a prison-like compound in order to be available for periodically

programmed sexual intercourse with their ‘Commanders of the Faith.’” (Malak 9).

We are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans. On the

contrary: everything possible has been done to remove us from that category. There is

supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the

flowering of secret lusts; no special favors are to be wheedled, by them or us, there are

to be no toeholds for love. We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels,

ambulatory chalices. (Atwood 128)

Offred underlined the significance of her body as a machine where she as a person has no

significance. Above that, there were rules Handmaids had to follow. Apart from visiting the

doctor every month and keeping clean, they had to take part in Particicution - either by

pulling the rope to hang allegedly guilty people or by tearing assailants alive. Offred also

described the Ceremony and how she tried to distance herself from her body so that she could

withstand.

Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body.

I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be
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inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape

cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for. There wasn’t a lot of

choice but there was some, and this is what I chose. (Atwood 89-90)

Her choice was very simple: the death in the Colonies or being alive as a Handmaid. Since

scientists were no longer necessary, but rare doctors, when a Handmaid was about to give

birth, only other Handmaids and Aunts assisted, doctors waited outside. The chance of having

a healthy baby was one-in-four, but the interpretation of the Bible and the laws prohibited

examining the baby’s condition since a mother had to carry the child anyway.

What will Ofwarren give birth to? A baby, as we all hope? Or something else, an

Unbaby … ? There’s no telling. They could tell once, with machines, but that is now

outlawed. (Atwood 104)

After birth, the Handmaid would be “allowed to nurse the baby, for a few months, they

believe in mother’s milk. After that she’ll be transferred, to see if she can do it again, with

someone else who needs a turn. But she’ll never be sent to the Colonies, she’ll never be

declared Unwoman. That is her reward.” (Atwood 118). Yet, Handmaid’s were still more

vulnerable than Marthas, as only they could reproduce. Their death, caused by anyone,

especially if they were pregnant, would be a death sentence for the tormentor.

​ arthas were domestic workers. They were easily replaceable and killing them
Marthas. M

didn’t involve any real consequences. “Last week they shot a woman, right about here. She

was a Martha. … There have been such incidents.” (Atwood 27). In like manner, if they or
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Handmaids showed any mark of “any real illness, anything lingering, weakening, a loss of

flesh or appetite, a fall of hair, a failure of the glands, [it] would be terminal.” (Atwood 141).

Their clothes were pale-green and apart from domestic work, they could help raise children.

They often helped Handmaids with bathing and gave them coupons for shopping.

Jezebels. “​ Gilead offers its own state-sponsored brand of prostitutes called the Jezebels:

dolled-up women whose sole function is to entertain foreign delegations.” (Malak, 11).

Women that worked at Jezebel’s were former intellectuals, criminals or gender traitors. They

were controlled by Aunts and had to wear “antique and bizarre” costumes (Atwood 216) and

keep fit to please guests. They had access to drugs and the rules that applied to the “normal”

world did not apply there. They had to be sterile or go through an operation. When they

showed any signs of wear (after around 3-4 years) they got out “in a black van.” (220).

​ s Atwood describes it: “some in the striped dresses, red and blue and green and
Econwives. A

cheap and skimpy, that mark the women of the poorer men. Econowives, they’re called.” (30).

They too belonged to men, but this time, the state didn’t interfere that much in their life. Also,

“These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can.” (31).

Colonies.​ People (mainly women) in Colonies were slaves that worked until they eventually

died. They wore grey and they cleaned the country from sludge and pollution or by cultivating

goods. “They don’t bother to feed you much or give you protective clothing or anything, it’s

cheaper not to. Anyway they’re mostly people they want to get rid of.” (Atwood 224).
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CHAPTER 3: ​Impact (848)

Women were controlled on many levels - by language and thought curtailment, evoking

emotions, retrieving basic human needs like the sense of security or warmth and depriving

the will to live. Cixous in her essay shows the correlation between body, mind and freedom:

“Censor the body and you censor breath and speech at the same time” (880).

Language. ​Gilead eliminated certain words and controlled language to manipulate citizen’s

minds and impose certain beliefs. The state also eliminated anything that brought pleasure,

freedom or happiness were not necessary to survive and reproduce. Thus songs, books and

any cultural artefacts became forbidden, destroyed or appropriated by higher-ranked

Commanders. “Such songs are not sung anymore in public, especially the ones that use words

like free. They are considered too dangerous.” (Atwood 56).

One of the most important forbidden words was ‘Sterile’. “There is no such thing as a sterile

man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are

barren, that’s the law.” (Atwood, 61). Men blamed women for their defects, giving

themselves the status of a perfect being and shunning from responsibility or logical solutions.

They manipulated the words of the Bible and their meaning to have total control over

women’s minds. When Handmaids went on their daily trip to the shop they had to use a

certain formula: “‘Blessed be the fruit,’ she says to me, the accepted greeting among us. ‘May

the Lord open,’ I answer, the accepted response.” (Atwood, 25).

The dialogue, especially the conversations between the handmaids, is often scripted, in

an attempt to more easily control them. They are discouraged to speak to each other
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too much without using the standard words and phrases, as female friendships are seen

as ‘suspicious’ in Gilead. (Kirkvik 27)

Physicality. ​The concept of the biological aspect of people, the integrity of body and mind,

body constraints and clothes that cover the body were one of the most important concepts in

the novel. To control women Aunts often applied tortures.

They took her into the room that used to be the Science Lab. … It was the feet they’d

do, for a first offense. They used steel cables, frayed at the ends. After that the hands.

They didn’t care what they did to your feet or your hands, even if it was permanent.

Remember, said Aunt Lydia. For our purposes your feet and your hands are not

essential. (Atwood 87)

The only thing that interests leaders is the inside of women’s bodies: “we are containers”

(Atwood, 92). “The commodification of women as sex objects, sex toys and mere maternal or

domestic workers then becomes very clear” (Chin-Yi 111). Offred also observes the blurring

difference between her as a person and her body: “It’s my fault … Not mine, but my body’s,

if there is a difference.” (78).

Psychology. ​Dominating emotion incited by the regime was fear, such as fear of death - for

treason, disobedience or flaws. Their humanity could’ve been divested “I could become an

Unwoman. But to refuse to see him could be worse. There’s no doubt about who holds the

real power.” (Atwood 128). You could be sent to the Colonies or hung up on the Wall:

“​You’ve got three years maximum, at [Colonies], before your nose falls off and your skin
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pulls away like rubber gloves.” (Atwood 224), “I don’t want to be a doll hung up on the Wall,

I don’t want to be a wingless angel. I want to keep on living, in any form. I resign my body

freely, to the uses of others. They can do what they like with me. I am abject. I feel, for the

first time, their true power.” (Atwood 256). Since they are replaceable objects, they cannot be

affirmed their life: “If your dog dies, get another.” (Atwood, 172).

Another emotion is, as Offred refers to it, the hunger for intimacy and physical contact, as

humans need warmth and interactions - ultimately she gets into an affair with Nick.

Nick risks certain death if his liaison with Offred is discovered, yet the couple are

compelled to express their humanity by carrying on their secret affair. In each other

they find an outlet for expressing all those emotional human needs that their society

represses by restricting both males and females to prescribed roles. (Mirzayee 118)

Constant surveillance, insecurity and lack of trust, prescribing roles and categorizing people is

very damaging psychologically and can lead to a loss of identity, suicidal thoughts or burnout

and emptiness.

Offred realizes the importance of being an individual instead of a crowd after a

conversation with the Commander where he claims that ‘women can’t add’. “For

them,” he says, “one and one and one and one don’t make four (...). Just one and one

and one and one” (195). She later goes on to conclude that “one and one and one and

one doesn’t equal four. Each one remains unique, there is no way of joining them

together. They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each

other” (201-2). (Kirkvik 37)

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By doing so, Gilead treated women as one blended gender without individual features. There

was only the distinction between men and women, not between separate human beings. The

assumption, that any social group indicate a common identity equalize treating them in an

inhumane way.
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CONCLUSION (500!)

Gilead has introduced laws and traditions to control women through assigning roles,

controlling speech, constant surveillance, managing property, limiting language and

enforcing beliefs, the interpretation of Bible and ultimate version of the truth. By managing

emotions and depriving people of humanity the state subordinates parties. By steering the

subjections the regime manages its resources for profit and reaching the established goal.

Children created by that system become the products that are owned for future development.

The totalitarian system allows accomplishing the ambitions of the leaders. Every female

organization support the nation in many ways while children extend and support the nation

from going extinct. Considering all the facts and statements above, I find that all women and

children are owned, controlled and financially sustained by the state while they support the

country and allow it to become wealthier. The impact of the Gilead regime undoubtedly has

strained their lives and minds forever, causing widespread detriments in body and mental

health.
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Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. ​“The Handmaid’s Tale.”​ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986.

Chin-Yi, Chung.​ “Feminist Dystopia In The Handmaid’s Tale.”​ NEW ACADEMIA:

An International Journal of English Language, Literature and Literary Theory, Vol.

IV Issue III, National University of Singapore, July 2015, pp. 110-115.

Cixous, Hélène. ​“The Laugh of the Medusa.”​ Signs, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 875–893.

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3173239. Accessed 16 May 2020.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. ​“Barbara Ehrenreich on feminist dystopia.”​ Margaret Atwood’s The

Handmaid’s Tale, Bloom’s Guides, editor Harold Bloom, Infobase Publishing, 2009,

pp. 78-80.

Harriett, Gilbert. ​“Margaret Atwood.”​ BBC World Book Club, 8 April 2003,

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02r76k2​. Accessed 7 June 2020.

Kirkvik, Anette. ​“Gender Performativity in The Handmaid’s Tale and The Hunger Games.”

The Arctic University of Norway, May 2015, pp. 25-40.

Malak, Amin.​ “Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and the Dystopian Tradition.”

Canadian Literature 112 (1987): 9-16.

Mirzayee, Mitra. ​“Female Identity in the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.”​ World

Scientific News, March 2019, Volume 123 (2019), pp. 114-123.

www.worldscientificnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/WSN-123-2019-114-123

.pdf​. Accessed 3 June 2020.