The Handmaid’s Tale is an interesting yet disturbing story showing the future of USA after the government was overthrown by a religious extremist group; the new society is now called Gilead, which is a totalitarian state. Those in power have set an even more extreme patriarchal and hierarchal society, where women have no rights and birthrates are very low. Citizens are required to wear colors that reflect their class and social status in society. The men are divided into 4 main categories: The Commanders: they wear black clothing and are members of the government and ruling class. The Eyes: which are the police or similar to the CIA. The Angels: are the soldiers fighting the war against the rebels (Maydays), and protect the new society’s borders and overall agenda. Finally the Guardians: they are low-level soldiers performing routine checks and other small tasks.
Women are divided into categories as well; those at the top of the class are the Wives: they wear blue and are the wives of the high ranking officials (Commanders). The Handmaids wear red and they are fertile women that are taken in by Commanders and Wives that cannot bear children. The Handmaids are educated to believe that their sole purpose is to procreate. The Aunts wear brown, teach and monitor the Handmaids, they are usual older and infertile themselves. The Marthas wear green and they work in the houses of the ruling class as servants. The Daughters wear white and they are the adopted girls of the ruling class. There are also women that have become Jezebels; they work in the brothels as entertainers for the Commanders.
The main character is Offred and the story begins with her in a ‘school’ for handmaids. They are read scriptures from the bible and are taught to be the perfect Handmaid, obedient, non-questioning, and non-thinking, brainwashed to think their sole purpose in life is to procreate. They are not allowed to wear any make-up, not allowed to read, The Bible plays a pivotal role in the construction of the new society; everyone is consistently reading scriptures from the bible. It is used to further control and push the agenda of the ruling class; it has become the law of the land for everyone to follow. The use of the Bible is similar to our society in some ways (even though we have freedom of religion and supposed separation of church and state) for example the bible and its’ Ten Commandments is the foundation of our constitution, it is used in our courts, it is used to swear in our President. It is also used to push conservatives (Republicans) agenda that are in opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, etc., thus creating policies that reflect their beliefs.
Offred is always being watched, from the Aunts at the schools to the soldiers at various checkpoints which are everywhere. The Handmaids are not allowed to talk to each other; this is why Offred and her friend Moira have to sneak off to the bathroom to talk. They never know who is an “Eye” which are governmental spies. This reminds me of the NSA, which has access to all our phone calls, emails, credit card transactions etc. Our society in many ways have become a police state with our government telling us it is for our own safety, but we are slowly but surely losing our constitutional rights (4th amendment).
As I mentioned earlier, women’s rights