final draft

Essay 4

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood presents a dystopian society where women's rights are squashed in the service of procreation after an environmental collapse. Atwood's novel questions the morality used to justify authoritarian, theocratic governments. Atwood's critique presents the most "moral" government as utterly inept at dealing with crises of environmental disaster. Her use of religion/belief/ideology is similar to disease and is used to oppress women in many ways. This essay will examine how Atwood's use of religion/belief/ideology combines with the theme of sexual exploitation, how it changes how characters understand their world identity, and how Offred, Serena, Nick, and the Commander experience change in a world like Gilead.

Religion/belief/ideology is presented as a cancerous agent used to oppress women in many ways. Atwood writes, "Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some." (Atwood, 1985, p. 221). While some may argue that religion is necessary for societal order and structure, Atwood's use of religion/belief/ideology is different. Religion has been a tool for societal order and design throughout history. However, it is also true that religion has been used to justify countless atrocities, including the oppression of women. Atwood's novel demonstrates the dangers of using religion to justify oppressive regimes, as it can exploit and dehumanize entire groups. In The Handmaid's Tale, the theme combined with creating a handmaid's identity, a subservient woman, demonstrates the cancerous and oppressive nature of such beliefs, leading to existential changes in characters like Offred, Serena, Nick, and the Commander.

Religion/belief/ideology is used to justify the sexual exploitation of the handmaids for the greater good of society. Aunt Lydia, a high-ranking official in the theocratic regime, uses religion to convince the handmaids that their sole purpose is to bear children for the ruling class. In one scene, Aunt Lydia tells Offred, "This is what you are now...You are a handmaid. This is what you are, okay? You got your posting" (Atwood, 1985, p. 97). Aunt Lydia uses religion to control and subjugate the handmaids, convincing them that their worth as human beings is tied solely to their ability to bear children.

Offred, the novel's protagonist, is stripped of her identity and forced to bear children for the Commander and his wife, Serena. She is treated as little more than a breeding machine, a tool to be used and discarded once she is no longer useful. As Offred reflects on her new role, she notes, "I am a container, of sorts, to be filled with their desire... I am a tool of the flesh, to do their bidding" (Atwood, 1985, p. 88). Offred's sense of self is completely erased as she is forced to wear a red dress and white bonnet, symbols of her status as a handmaid. Her body becomes the state's property, and she is subjected to the sexual desires of the ruling class.

Religion/belief/ideology is also tied to the creation of a handmaid's identity, a subservient woman. Aunt Lydia explains that the society was "a society dying, of too much choice" (Atwood, 1985, p. 32). She uses religion to create a handmaid's identity as a subservient woman, stripped of her individuality and freedom of choice. Offred's name, job, and family are taken away from her, and she is given a new name based on the man who owns her. She is forced to participate in rituals designed to reinforce her status as a handmaid and reinforce society's power dynamics. As Offred notes, "We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices" (Atwood, 1985, p. 133). Religion/belief/ideology creates a new identity for the handmaids that is entirely subservient to the ruling class.

The oppressive nature of religion/belief/ideology in The Handmaid's Tale leads to existential changes in the characters. Offred, for example, begins to question the regime and to long for her former life. She begins to have forbidden thoughts and to engage in acts of rebellion, like having an affair with Nick, the Commander, and the ambiguous ending.

Offred's journey in The Handmaid's Tale reveals how religion, belief, and ideology can be cancerous and oppressive. As previously discussed, Aunt Lydia uses religion and ideology to justify the sexual exploitation of handmaids. The Commander, on the other hand, justifies his actions by claiming that he is fulfilling God's will and serving society's greater good. Offred struggles with her identity throughout the novel. Her life has been stripped of her individuality and her ability to choose, and she is relegated to the status of a mere vessel for reproduction.

One way in which Offred tries to reclaim her identity is by having an affair with Nick, the Commander's driver. The Commander initially initiated this affair by inviting Offred to his study for Scrabble games, eventually leading to him requesting her presence outside the designated "ceremony" nights. Offred initially agrees to the affair reluctantly, seeing it as an opportunity to reclaim her sense of identity and take back some control over her own body. However, she eventually develops real feelings for Nick, leading her to realize that her sexual relationship with him is also a form of oppression, as she can still not control her own life fully.

Furthermore, the novel demonstrates how Serena Joy, the Commander's wife, is also a victim of the oppressive beliefs at the core of this dystopian society. Serena cannot conceive a child, which is the highest form of service a woman can offer in this society. She is forced to watch Offred bear a child for the Commander and must then act as a mother to this child, who she knows is not biologically hers. This situation leads to a power struggle between Serena and Offred. Serena is supposed to have control over the household, but her inability to bear children makes her feel powerless, leading her to abuse her position of authority by demanding that Offred sleep with Nick in the hopes of getting pregnant.

The Handmaid's Tale also explores how the oppressive beliefs in this society lead to existential changes in characters like Nick and the Commander. Offred's fate is left ambiguous at the novel's end, and we are left to wonder about her ultimate fate. We also learn that the Commander has been arrested, but we wonder why. These ambiguous endings suggest that the oppressive beliefs of this society may have finally led to its collapse and that there may be hope for a new society that values individuality and freedom.

In conclusion, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale uses religion/belief/ideology to highlight authoritarian governments' oppressive and cancerous nature. The novel shows how religion is used to justify the subjugation and exploitation of women by creating a system that values them only for their reproductive capacities. The handmaids are stripped of their identities, freedom, and humanity and forced to conform to the ruling class's narrow, restrictive role. The novel warns against the dangers of allowing religion to be used as a tool of oppression. It highlights the importance of resistance and solidarity in facing such adversity. As Atwood writes, "There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it" (Atwood, 1985, p. 24).

References

Atwood, M. (1985). The Handmaid's Tale. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.