Anel

‘At the beginning of the novel Atwood presents a terrifying vision of the power and dominance of the
Gilead regime.’
Write about Atwood's presentation of Gilead in chapters 1 to 12 in light of this view:

Atwood’s presentation of the Gileadean theocracy of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is predominantly oppressive and
regimented which is displayed through indoctrination tactics alongside the implementation of physical coercion
and class division. Nevertheless, Atwood plants ‘peepholes’ that serve as gestures of defiance which limit
Gilead’s ascendancy. Additionally, this essay will delve into Atwood's dystopian and satirical features which
enable the reader to identify modern society’s fallibility and highlight the terrifying similarities between modern day
with the extremist Government of Gilead.

Atwood depicts the regime in a militaristic manner which embellishes Gilead’s powerful features. The novel’s
introduction delves by depicting the Red Centre which Atwood presents as institutionalizing and centered around
nationalism. The Leah and Rachel Centre’s army-like state is emphasized by the quote “We tried to sleep, in the
army cots that had been set up in rows, with space between so we could not talk”. The description of the
placement of the cots elaborates on the theocracy's austere conduct which is accentuated by the repression of
women as they’re prohibited from exchanging with one another. Atwood prolongs the regime’s militaristic theme
through the Aunts who are presented as daunting and physically dominating with their “electric cattle prods slung
on thongs from their leather belts”. The Aunts also serve a similar role to the Eyes which is illustrated through “It
was a bad idea to rustle or fidget during these pauses: Aunt Lydia might look abstracted but she was aware of
every twitch” which underlines Gilead’s severe restrictions and extends the Aunt’s roles as vigilant officials.
Atwood forges Gilead's strictly regulated and patriotic theme as an extension of the infantilization of women. This
is particularly demonstrated with “We had flannelette sheets, like children, and army-issue blankets". The victims
of the Red Centre are continuously compared to children as their predicaments situate them in vulnerable
positions, facilitating their resocialization and submission to the regime.

Appendaged to Gilead’s perception of women as a collective state and coercing their victims, Atwood showcases
Gilead’s most powerful medium which corresponds to their deformation of language. The ‘Aunts’ and ‘Angels’
demonstrate Gileadean rhetoric and indoctrination tactics. The ostensibly reassuring emotional connotations
behind these titles are instrumented euphemisms to serve as vehicles for the regime’s fundamentalist Party
Politics. Atwood pronounces the terrifying characteristics of Gilead by the rapidity of the women’s subservience to
the regime’s conventions which is particularly palpable with the fixation of the human anatomy. In Chapter 5, the
handmaids present their antipathy towards the Japanese women’s appearance “backs arch at the waist, thrusting
their buttocks out. Their heads are uncovered and their hair too exposed.” The vilification of these Westernized
women is displayed through the usage of hyperbole and conceit metaphors (comparing red lipstick to scrawls on
a washroom wall) yet Atwood underlines that this criticism stems from a sense of unfamiliarity. The reiteration of
the Aunts’ indoctrination manifests itself into a perceived reality as Offred herself belittles her body. This is
embellished in chapter 12 through "My nakedness seems strange to me already. My body seems outdated" in
which the anaphora punctuates Offred’s distaste of her body, and the terminology “outdated” displays the extent
to which Offred’s been extracted from her past identity. Atwood additionally presents the Aunts’ mental infiltration
through the quote “I did, without thought, among men, without caring that my legs, my arms, my thighs and back
were in display, could be seen. Shameful, immodest.” Although, the narrator desires to extract herself from her
body as it “determines [her] so completely”, Offred concludes the chapter by conforming to Gilead’s reductionist
perception of her. This is illustrated by the quote “My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a
speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born.” Through this quotation, Offred endorses the
principle of fabricating an automated facet that serves as a “vessel” which indicates her submission to the regime.
Although indoctrination plays a major role in highlighting Gilead’s dominance and power, the lynchpin that
preserves Gilead is the antipathy between women. Atwood introduces the class divisions between women
through the quote “The Marthas are not supposed to fraternize with us.” In Chapter 2, the interaction between Rita
and Offred is strictly monetary as Rita enumerates the list of groceries to buy “twelve eggs, a piece of cheese, a
brown thing that’s supposed to be a steak.” Atwood elongates the lack of comradery and the alienation felt by
Offred through the quote “I would help Rita to make the bread, sinking my hands into that soft resistant warmth
which is so much like flesh.” Atwood constructs an unvarnished and quotidian-like imagery to reflect the yearning
for solidarity and basic human interaction. Additionally, the regime prohibiting friendship between the Marthas and
Handmaids facilitates Offred to spiral into alienation which Atwood displays through the quote “They’re talking to
me as though I can’t hear. To them I’m a household chore, one among many.” This underlines how the
handmaids are ubiquitously dehumanized as even the Marthas reduce Offred to a mundane domestic activity.
Furthermore, Gilead’s objective to turn women against each other is appendaged to the regime’s societal
dominance which is highlighted through its patriarchal hierarchy. Atwood constructs numerous social dynamics
including the interaction between a handmaid and the Wife of a Commander. The class segregation between
Offred and Serene is displayed in chapter 4 through the recurring imagery of human anatomy as the back lawn’s
path division is compared to a hair parting. The application of this organic-like simile translates to the regime’s
belief in the inherent and biological-like differences between social classes which echoes Gilead’s theme of
intersectionality. The issue of intersectionality is heavily pronounced in Offred’s perception of the Econowives.
Atwood presents this social group as incongruous to the rest of Gilead’s puritanistic principles as they’re depicted
as a prolongation of modern America’s capitalistic social constructs. Their stigmatization could be presented
through Aunt Lydia's quote "when times improve (...) no one will have to be an Econowive" and the fact that
they’re expected to do “all the work” reflects women's status in working-class households.

Transitioning to a macro analysis of the regime, Atwood presents the antithesis of the synthesized archaic Gilead
in Chapter 6. This is initially exemplified by “the gates have rentiers ugly new floodlights mounted on metal posts
barbed wire along the bottom” and “broken glass set in the concrete”, giving the regime a dimension of
industrialization and disorder. Atwood exposes the second facet of Gilead’s regimented and terrifying
characteristics in the exhibition of the Wall. Atwood highlights Gilead’s conduct towards outlaws and articulates
the displayed disproportionate punishments. At first glance, the theocracy presents the hanged bodies with their
“hands tied in front of them” which implies that they’ve surrendered to the system and that a supposed justice has
been served. Atwood also compares the hooks attached to the bodies to “appliances for the armless”. This
depicts the bodies as fragile and harmless which prolongs the theme of Gilead’s excessive sanctions.
Additionally, the exhibition of the Wall alludes to the citizens’ ubiquitous suffering. The men are stripped of their
sense of individuality as they’re unidentifiable due to the "white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders".
Gilead likewise perceives these bodies as monolithic which echoes the regime’s treatment of women. The bodies
are likewise compared to “dolls on which faces have not been painted; like scarecrows” which accentuates
Gilead’s ownership of the men’s bodies. Atwood extends the theocracy’s manipulation of these men by describing
their heads as sacks “stuffed with some indifferent material like flour or dough". The omnipresent suffering of both
genders is emphasized in this description as it is adjunct to the quote “women are vessels”. Atwood challenges
the patriarchy’s exploitation of both sexes as Gilead dehumanizes their citizens for their own benefit. Furthermore,
Atwood enunciates the theocracy’s unyielding and coercive conduct in the presentation of the Wall which serves
as a deterrent to emphasize the power of the state. Gilead demonstrates that each of its citizens can be touched
by detrimental consequences through the display of the priest in chapter 8. The Priest is presented in his black
cassock to communicate that even a figure who represents the system’s religious institution can be affected by
these same severe punishments. Offred likewise compares the hung bodies to anachronisms which signifies a
gesture of defiance and sparks a sense of hope. However, Offred simultaneously depicts the hung bodies as
snowmen with “heads [that] are melting” which deflates the bodies' emblem and signifies the dominating reign of
Gilead.
However, Atwood also constructs limitations of Gilead’s power and ascendancy which will first be exemplified by
the regime’s duality. A major theme of the novel is the omnipresent dichotomy between reality and illusion,
signifying that Gilead’s dominating characteristics have limitations. Atwood constructs numerous characters to
embody this dualism (Commander and Ofglen as ‘the double’) but between chapters 1-12, Serene Joy enunciates
this recurring motif. The pathetic fallacy of Serena’s Garden is a microcosm of Gilead’s artificial facet. The garden
represents a sense of inauthenticity which is congruous with Serena’s persona as a media personality who
embodies a modern pro-capitalism touch on the angel in the house trope. In chapter 4, the terminology “facades”
is used to depict the lawn and compare Serena’s property to an idyllic real estate home “beautiful pictures they
used to print in the magazines about homes and gardens” which serves as an extension to this manufactured
narrative. However, Atwood implicitly indicates the garden’s frailty through the quote “the same absence of
people, the same air of being asleep.” This underlines the home’s lack of human inhabitance and alludes to
Gilead’s fertility crisis.

In addition to Gilead’s dualism, Atwood forges marginal gestures of defiance which taints the theocracy’s
dominance. In Chapter 4, Offred’s narrative techniques serve as agencies which restrict her submission to Gilead.
This could be seen in Aunt Lydia's change of voice which is described as "wheedling” and “conspiratorial".
Atwood underlines that Offred is aware of the Aunts’ unlawful conduct as the terms used connotate a sense of
immorality. Aunt Lydia is likewise caricatured by Offred which is elucidated by "the mole on her chin that went up
and down while she talked.” The limitations of Gilead’s dominance are additionally protruded with Offred’s
awareness of the Aunts’ biblical appropriation. Atwood displays this through the parody of a divine intervention
which amplifies Offred’s subversion. This is presented by "the tremulous smile, of a beggar, the weak-eyed
blinking, the gaze upwards (...) and God on a cloud of Pink Pearl face powder was coming down through the
wires and sprinkler plumbing". Another example which pronounces the Aunts’ religious facade is embellished in
Chapter 12 when Offred notices that "[Aunt Lydia] didn't go on to say anything about inheriting the earth" after
Aunt Lydia deems that "you get too attached to this material world and you forget about spiritual values". Through
these biblical appropriations, Atwood criticizes how fundamentalist Parties interpret religious texts yet displays
how the power of narration serves as a medium of resistance.

Finally, in Chapter 5, Atwood transitions from the centralization of Gilead to the outside world which is emblematic
of the modern-day West. To begin with, Atwood criticizes society’s omission towards quotidian issues that women
face. Through the quote "Women were not protected then. I remember the rules, rules that were never spelt out"
Atwood brings awareness to the omnipresent feeling of precaution that women face at night. This evidently
contrasts with the Gileadean regime as it implements a hyperbolic degree of regulations on women’s security
which is illustrated by the quote "Now we walk along the same streets, in red pairs and no man shouts obscenities
at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one wishes.” Atwood’s usage of anaphora accentuates the tone of deprivation
that comes with the ostensibly securing regulations. Through these two distinctions, Atwood emphasizes that
feminism’s objective is centred around women’s liberation rather than a varnished idea of ‘equality’. Furthermore,
although Offred is hostile towards the Japanese women which is embellished through her caricatures “nearly
naked in their thin stockings”, Atwood presents Offred’s awareness of the high beauty standards that implicitly
oppress the Japanese women. When elucidating on the sandals, Offred’s description is unglazed and lacks her
usual deformed imagery which alludes to the fact that Offred’s depiction is attempting to take an impartial
approach to the subject rather than follow her regular pattern of being an unreliable narrator when faced with
opposition. Atwood underlines the degree of unease that the Japanese women face through the quote “the way
the toes felt, pushed towards the opening in the shoe by the whole weight of the body” and then substantiates the
picture by presenting “The woman with the painted toes [shifting] from one foot to the other.” However, Atwood
argues that the epicentre of the issue corresponds to the appeal of the male gaze which is exemplified through
the quote “Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom.” This deluded sense of liberty preserves the
systematical oppression of women as they themselves believe they’re in control.

Overall, Atwood’s presentation of Gilead is terrifying due to its regimented regulations, deterrents, and
manipulation of language alongside biblical appropriations. However, Atwood underlines the power of narratives
which bursts the bubble of the theocracy’s ascendancy. Nevertheless, the most alarming element of the novel
derives from the proximity of modern-day to Atwood’s dystopian world. Although Atwood forges a liberal pro-
individualism take on feminism, the novel contains subtle critics of capitalism through Serena’s character and
heavily explores the issue of intersectionality which reflects even meta-modernism.