One of the topics and underhanded intentions that I felt Atwood had when writing The Handmaid’s Tale was making her opinion that politics and religion are destined to be intertwined at least slightly. The current United States government tries desperately to separate religion and state. Separating the two to the degree that we do often takes away individuality and takes away the freedom that we so desperately strive to achieve. For example, our desperate attempts to keep religion out of the school systems have taken away our teachers’ rights to express their own religious views and opinions. We’ve robbed them of their freedom to express their religious views and opinions in the work setting. The Handmaid’s Tale shows the exact opposite in their society. Gilead’s religion and politics are so closely intertwined that they are the same system. Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale shows the dramatic effects that taking any extremist stance can have, in this particular case, the dangers of the extremist stance combining religion and politics.
Atwood’s language and the details intrigued me, and I enjoyed reading her work entirely. I had a lot of trouble picking just one quote, so I chose two. Both of these quotes, I enjoy because of their analyses, language, and use of literary devises (particularly imagery).
Pg. 140: “… drive the sharp end into him, between his ribs. I think about the blood coming out of him, hot as soup, sexual over my hands.”
I am going to walk you through my thought process for the purpose of your time and understanding of where I’m coming from. First, I noted the phrase “coming out.” I saw this as the freedom society and the people in society would reach if the Commander died. Through his death, everyone would begin to come out of their entrapment. His blood was described as “hot”. I saw this as two things. First, it represented the heat, fire, destruction and hellishness that the Commander was and represented. Second, the heat could be seen as warmth. And as we stated multiple times, sex is and represents power. Her hands symbolize control. This quote was used to show the freedom everyone would have if she killed him, the power and control she would have, and the desire she resisted in order to not murder the Commander.
Pg. 211: “… the round circle of plaster flowers. Draw a circle, step into it, it will protect you. From the center was the chandelier, and from the chandelier a twisted strip of sheet was hanging down. There’s where she was swinging, just lightly, like a pendulum; the way you could swing a child hanging off a tree branch. She was safe then, protected altogether.”
Again, I am going to walk you through my thought process for the purpose of your time and understanding of where I’m coming from. The wording is straightforward and emotionless. “Circle” shows endlessness. “Plaster” is fake. “Plaster flowers” represent fake growth or a fake progression. The protection the circle provided was a false sense of security. A child is innocent, so a death that looks like a dead child would be the death of an innocent person. Again, hands control, so the binding of hands would be the restriction of control. The tree at the end of the quote is true growth which contrasts with the fake growth earlier in the quote. Similarly, the last sentence contrasts with the false sense of security that the circle offers. Death is true safety and security. This quote points out the flaws of the society: the falsity, the lack of safety, and the allure of death because, as we were made aware multiple times, death is the only way to achieve true safety. Additionally, this quote touches on the lack of control the people of Gilead had.
The Handmaid’s Tale was, by far, my absolute favorite piece that I have studied throughout my academic career. I primarily enjoyed her usage of details and the messages the work was meant to convey. I enjoyed the usage and utilization of human sexuality and the psychological aspects of the novel, including the human attraction of violence and suicide in points of desperation.
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