The Handmaid's Tale - a novel by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood published in 1985 in Toronto by "McClelland & Stewart. A dystopia maintained in the convention of sociological science fiction, the action of which takes place in the near future in the United States. The book won the first ever Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best science fiction novel published in Great Britain. The novel, feminist in meaning, is associated by critics with a reaction to the rule of Ronald Reagan, the Republican president of the USA when attempts were made to limit emancipation processes. The piece is a psychological study of a young woman placed in an extreme life situation. In 2019, the author released a sequel to the novel, The Testaments, set 15 years after the events described in The Handmaid's Tale.
The plot of the novel is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead - a country created on the territory of the present United States. Created by a racist-nationalist terrorist organization with a religious profile - the Bank of Thoughts of the Sons of Jacob - it is an ideological response to the all-encompassing ecological disaster, infertility, and the collapse of society. The imprisonment and assassination of the president and the dissolution of Congress led to the downfall of the legitimate government and the suspension of the constitution. The new authorities quickly took on the characteristics of a religiously oriented military dictatorship and began to transform society according to new principles, based primarily on the Old Testament. The rulers of Gilead, literally reading the words of the Bible, breed crowds of fertile women to breed, the titled "handmaids". A handyman is given to a distinguished companion who cannot have offspring in his marriage. In an elaborate sexual ritual, the handmaid is impregnated by the man while resting in his wife's arms. The protagonist of the novel is an unnamed young woman captured while trying to escape to Canada, during which she is separated from her husband Łukasz, and their daughter ends up in an unknown place. The heroine is sent to a camp for handmaids, and after training, she ends up at the home of the Commander and his wife Serena Joy. There he meets Nick, the Commandant's young chauffeur, thanks to whom he has a chance to regain his lost freedom.
Freda is a Handmaiden assigned to the house of one of the Commanders. She must be absolutely obedient, abide by the rules of steel, and endure the Wife's treatment without batting an eyelid. Her only contact with the outside world is once a day, going shopping and secretly communicating with another Handmaiden assigned to her pair. Once a month, during the Fertilization Ceremony, she must pray to get pregnant. Handmaids that are infertile are assigned to Unwomen and sent to the Colony.
"Then she said, "I have Bilhah, my slave girl. Approach her that she may give birth to a child on my lap; though in this way I shall have offspring from you."
Genesis 30:3
The Republic of Gilead, where the plot takes place, was founded in the northern part of the United States, on the foundations of extremely orthodox principles. Due to the ever-decreasing birth rate, all fertile women were forcibly rounded up. They were forced into absolute obedience. In a submissive, passive way, they must obey a series of rules that apply to them. And actually, it's hard to say whether there are more things that must or that they can't.
They can't talk, they can't touch anything. All text has been replaced with pictures because they can't be read. They can't express themselves, they can't communicate with each other, and they can't look at each other.
They must obey their Commander's Wife and obediently lie down during the Fertilization Ceremony. They need to take care of themselves because they are the vessels in which new life will arise. They must pray as much as possible and must attend the execution of those who disobey...
It's not just the Handmaid's life that's hard. Over the course of the story, we discover that each woman has strictly assigned tasks that she must fulfill and show maximum subordination. What's most tragic, at every step they have to show how happy they are with the life they lead and grateful for what they do. Because they have had the honor of participating in great work.
"Better" is never better for everyone, he says. “It's always worse for some people.
Freda, as the heroine, is initially a very mysterious character. In order to show her life as accurately as possible (first person narrative, because it is her story) she allows us to feel how much she is really allowed. Her life is incredibly poor in experiences in every field. The greatest tragedy of her and her friends is that they remember the lives they led before. That they were wives and mothers. That they had a job, a home, and could laugh whenever they felt like it. These memories, on the one hand, give them the strength to survive the next day, and on the other hand, plunge them into more and more stagnation.
The hallmark of Atwood's novels is peace and quiet. No one screams in it, no one calls for justice, and no one opposes. Such controlled and dispassionate brutality literally deprives hope. And this is the most shocking because it shows silent surrender, hopelessness, and lack of possibility to change.
The world created by the author is quiet and gloomy, but this silence screams. And it's fascinating because I've never experienced such a climate anywhere else. Freda's thought process is completely opposite to what is going on around her and what she agrees to. And we wait all the time for something to break. And this anticipation, I must admit, is exhausting!
I highly recommend it.
Dystopian literature is probably my favorite genre, it arouses incredible emotions in me on the border of realism and fantasy. The book is not overrated, which I feared. It's a good piece of history, extraordinary and sickly fascinating. The ending is quite surprising and worth reading until the last line.
Mysterious deals with the Commander, secrets of the Wife, hidden, forbidden love, powerless underground. This book is bursting with events and emotions, although it is shrouded in paralyzing silence.
My rating: is 7/10
"I'm sorry that there is so much pain in this story. That it is torn like flesh pierced by a series of bullets.
But there's nothing I can do about it."
Characters
Freda, Handmaid
The main character was separated from her husband and daughter after the founding of the Republic of Gilead and is a representative of the first generation of Gilead women: those who still remember the period before the creation of this totalitarian state. As a fertile woman, she belongs to the most valuable wealth of the time and goes to the Rachel and Leah Center - a training camp for future Handmaids. She is then placed as a slave in the home of Commander Fred and his wife Serena Joy. She is to give birth to a healthy child.
Freda is not her real name, but a name that describes her affiliation (meaning she belongs to Commander Fred). Her original name is unknown (although it can be inferred that her name was June). We know, however, that during her stay at the Commandant's house, Podręczna is 33 years old.
Commander
His name is Fred. Little is known about his past - during one of his meetings with Freda, he mentions that he used to be involved in the so-called market research. He is probably one of the founding fathers of Gilead and the author of its laws.
Serena Joy
She used to be a TV star and now she's married to a fundamentalist religious regime she helped create. All power and fame, as well as other women, were taken from her by the regime. She is an old and infertile woman. She feels humiliated by having to use the Handmaiden, especially during the regular fertility ceremony - the Commander then intercourses with the Handmaid lying on his wife's lap.
Glen
Freda's neighbor, who, like her, belongs to the Handhelds. Every day they do shopping together in such a way that none of the Handmaids is ever alone and each watches over the behavior of the other. Glena is a member of the Mayday Resistance (a secret organization in rebellion against Gilead). Unlike the relatively passive Freda, Glena is very brave. During the so-called Participation (a cruel ritual in which the Handmaids are goaded into beating a man accused of alleged rape and infanticide) Glen stuns the man about to be lynched to spare him the pain. Glenn eventually commits suicide before the government arrests her as a member of the resistance.
Freda then gets another Handmaid as a mate, also named Glena, who refuses to share her feelings about Gilead and warns Freda against making such judgments.
Nick
The Commander's driver lives above the garage. At the suggestion of Serena Joy, Freda begins a sexual relationship with him to increase her chances of getting pregnant and saving herself from being sent to the infamous Colony. Over time, Freda develops feelings for Nick, even telling him about her life before the founding of Gilead. Nick is an ambiguous hero, and Freda doesn't quite know if he's on the side of the government or the resistance. At the end of the story, however, Nick reveals his true political affiliation and arranges Freda's escape.
Moira
She is Freda's close friend from her student days. An important aspect of Moira is her homosexuality and resistance to the new regime. Moira ended up at the Red Center (officially called the Rachel and Leah Center) for future Handmaids shortly after Fred. During her stay in the center, Moira manages to escape - she steals Aunt's clothes (sister superior) and leaves the Center in her disguise without any problems. Freda loses sight of her for several years.
He meets her only in Jezebel - an exclusive brothel for senior officials of the regime. Moira tells Freda in the restroom that after escaping she was captured and given the choice between being sent to Cologne or prostitution.
Remember the story of Jacob and Rachel from the Old Testament? A quick reminder - Rachel was infertile, but she really wanted to give a child to her beloved. So she gave him her maid, Bilhah, who had no choice but to hand them over to their legal guardians after the children were born.
Several thousand years later, God decided to punish people for their sins, licentious behavior, and hedonistic tendencies. He cursed them with a declining birthrate. Unable to cope with the situation, the people decided to return to what is written in the Bible, because only the humble will be blessed. Thus begins a revolution in the name of a better tomorrow. A revolution in which women are fertile cattle, all minorities are eliminated and the notion of freedom disappears for good. Welcome to the world of The Handmaid's Tale. Praised be.
In recent years, dystopias on the big screen have mostly been associated with teenage blockbusters. Some of them cannot be denied bravado in their approach to the subject, but most lacked depth. Even earlier, "Children of Men", "V for Vendetta" and "Blade Runner" cemented the anti-utopia genre in film history. Interestingly, both cinema and television derive their dystopian ideas mainly from literature. It is no different with "The Handmaid's Tale", which is based on Margaret Atwood's novel from 32 years ago.
The timeliness of such mature material may be surprising. It might seem that in our time the events presented in the series are not supposed to take place. However, it is enough to read about the procedure of women's mutilation through circumcision or the liquidation of people with a different sexual orientation to understand that we are already partly living in the reality of the series. Maybe that's why "The Handmaid's Tale" is so emotionally charged.
The story of June (the brilliant Elisabeth Moss), who was named Offred in a post-coup world, is the story of a mother whose daughter was taken, her husband killed and put into the service of the Waterford State. Service in which I assume the role of the aforementioned Bilhah. What does this mean in practice? June is raped by the master of the house while his wife holds her on her lap. All in the name of the greater good - the conception of a child. Any attempt to escape or disobey ends in torture. In this new, fanatical world, no one can be trusted, and any privileges are reserved only for men.
Gloomy photos are a great way to show the barrenness of the post-revolutionary world. Empty and sterile rooms, limiting the characters' costumes to a few colors show the ideal order of the new regime and increase the feeling of hopelessness accompanying the heroines.
At certain moments, the creators could resort to greater subtlety, and some threads are conducted in an overly obvious way. You can also attach yourself to not always hit songs that simply do not match the scenes presented. This does not change the fact that the blow we get in the face watching this dark, the dehumanized story is extremely strong. Once a character says that "Better is never better for everyone. It's always worse for some." Better is the enemy of "good", it becomes an excuse in uncertain times. Sometimes, however, even the worst state of affairs can be better than a revolution. Especially when it leads to treating people with rules written several thousand years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment