Independent Reading Blog: Post #3

As I continue reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, I have started looking at issues presented in the text and how those issues relate to issues that our current society faces. The main issues addressed in this novel relate to gender roles, religion, and politics. Although the novel takes issues to the extreme, sadly, I haven’t found it too difficult to imagine our current society transforming into the horrific dystopia which Atwood creates. One issue that our current society faces is the stigma surrounding rape. Some individuals, including high-powered politicians, argue that rape is somehow the victim’s fault. The Handmaid’s Tale exaggerates this mindset. Aunt Helena, a woman who oversee the Handmaids, chastises a woman for being raped. She leads the Handmaids in a chant: “But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says… Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. She did. She did. She did”(72). This scene depicts a society that brainwashes women through humiliation and skewed values, not too far off from today’s rape stigma. The novel also showcases other issues relating to gender and sex including a commentary on the “double-standard” that society emphasizes today. Today, men have more sexual freedom than women. If a woman has sex with many men, others will likely label her as a “slut.” However, if a man has sex with many women, others will likely applaud him. In the novel, society expects women to remain chaste; men, on the other hand, are allowed much freedom. The Commander defends this by saying, “Nature demands variety, for men. It stands to reason, it’s part of the procreational strategy. It’s Nature’s plan”(237). The society in the novel uses this flawed logic to defend men’s sexual freedom.

Another issue presented in the novel is that governments and individuals often use religion to defend unjust acts. During a ceremony, the Commander says, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, not to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve”(221). This Commander and this dystopian society as a whole uses religion frequently as their reasoning for male supremacy. Although in the novel, this sort of “evidence” appears ridiculous, people use often religion to justify injustice in today’s society. I picked up a brochure at a Wisconsin county fair on homosexuality, printed from the Catholic church. The brochure says, “The rejection of homosexual behavior that is found in the Old Testament is well known”(Catholic Answers). The brochure then creates an argument that gay people are sinners, almost entirely based upon the words of the Bible. This type of argument against gay rights and the argument presented in the novel share similarities.