Welcome to my very first blog post for The Handmaid’s Tale! I’m excited to continue reading this book. I know it will inform me of the tragedy of women being objects. Also, I feel like there are going to be hints of reality in here, and I’m ready to dig in and find them out for myself. Basically, I want to see how much I can compare this to real life events.
Let’s jump right in the epigraph. The first one, from Genesis 30:1-3, sticks out to me the most. It is listed first, so it has to have major significance. It really sets the tone of seriousness and just rawness for the book. According to these scriptures, Rachel is unable to bare children for Jacob; notice the emphasis on the importance of having children to please her husband. In order to make this happen, Rachel tells him to get her maid pregnant so she can claim the children as her own. I’m assuming that Atwood is trying to suggest further reasoning behind using women as objects of fertility. This makes me question why I ever read that scripture and never thought twice about it.
Moving into the introduction, in 1984 Margaret Atwood began creating this futuristic world that was influenced by West Berlin and her experiences while she was there.
“I experienced the wariness, the feeling of being spied on, the silences, the changes of subject, the oblique ways in which people might convey information, and these had an influence on what I was writing.” -Margaret Atwood
Atwood continues by describing her writing process as a “risky venture.” It is important to realize the setting of the book is not labeled the United States of America. It is now called the “Republic of Gilead.” Also, although the name of the narrator is not mentioned in the beginning of the first chapter, Atwood tells us in the introduction her name is Offred. The author also highlights the possibility of “offered,” “denoting a religious offering or a victim offered for sacrifice.” This is a crucial comparison to remember while reading the book because it points out what the women are truly viewed as in this society.
Atwood mentions “the literature of witness,” and it brings about a different point of view. She compares Offred to Anne Frank, offering her story to a future reader; “this is an act of hope.” I like how she mentions that all writers start by reading a book that speaks to them, saying that Offred’s readers may become writers in response to this. This means me or anyone who chooses to read this book could be inspired. Knowledge is power.
Chapter 1: Night
The chapter begins in first-person narrative, describing a gymnasium in which the narrator, Offred, sleeps. This seems unusual at first, but, then, we find out she is not the only one sleeping here. Atwood uses imagery to describe the memories that were created here, and I pick up on a sense of longing or reminiscing. At first read, the army cots that they sleep on give me the assumption of slavery or imprisonment, especially when she says they are forbidden to speak to each other. She goes on to introduce the Aunts, and we learn they patrol and watch them as if they are being held captive- because they are. This is where it gets weird. The guards stand outside and make sure none of the women go outside. They’re only allowed to go outside for their walks, which are also monitored. At the end of this chapter, we learn a bit of Offred’s dark, twisted character. She realizes her power is her body, and she knows the men will respond to it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though; she’s had to think of her options, just like any other woman would do. I feel like this may be a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the future chapters of the novel.
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