In Margaret Atwood's satiric novel, The Handmaid's Tale, she consistently references titles, names, and events from the Bible. By using these allusions, Atwood enhances her critical tone of traditional views and values of strict and structured religion. For example, the author takes the traditional stereotyped roles of women given by society and blows them out of proportion in her fictional society of Gilead. The jobs of cooking and cleaning have been given to the Martha's. Atwood alludes to Martha from the New Testament who dedicated her life to caregiving and housekeeping. Other examples include: the Guardians of the Faith acting as the security guards in Gilead, supposedly "protecting" the society, the Commander's of the Faithful, the members of Gilead who have the most power and who starve woman of their power, the Eyes of the Lord, who are the government spies, and the Angels who are also guards. The names of stores are also biblical allusions: "Lilies of the Field" and "All Flesh." The Soul Scrolls are meant to increase the piety and holiness in Gilead. In the society, by naming the places and people after events or people in the Bible, Gilead is trying to enhance the religious foundation that Gilead has been built upon. By basing her society on traditional religious views, Margaret Atwood uses voice to portray the flaws and faults of this society and shows the reader how disturbing some of our everyday values and beliefs would be if they were exaggerated to extremes.
"But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from. There's nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere. Who knows where they are or what their names are now? They might as well be nowhere, as I am for them. I too am a missing person" (Atwood 103).
This quotation takes place when Offred is daydreaming about the past and Luke. She is reminiscing about her and Luke's love making. Offred speaks of how much she believed her body needed to have sexual intercourse with Luke. In this quotation, Offred is realizing that it was not just the sex that she needed, she needs the love and the compassion of another human being. As a Handmaid, Offred still engages in sexual intercourse, although not with a man she loves or shares any passion with. By losing her family and anyone who loved her, Offred seems to have lost herself and she is recognizing that. Offred has been objectified and has therefore lost any emotional connections with another human being which is dehumanizing to Offred. Similarly, this may occur in today's society when women are objectified for the attractiveness of their physical attributes, for some time a woman may be okay with this but eventually she will realize that she needs the compassion, love, and care of another human being to make her feel like she matters and belongs. Otherwise, a woman used purely for sexual purposes may lose herself and feel lost from the rest of the world, like Offred feels lost and trapped in Gilead.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, on the surface it appeared to be a novel with interesting characters and a plot that intrigued me as a reader. By analyzing the meaning of the work as a whole and Margaret Atwood's intentions the novel became even more appealing and interesting. Although exaggerated the similarities between Gilead and our society in 2013 were shocking. Atwood really captured the reality of many common issues and transformed them into a satiric novel that would insult some and surprise and inspire many to think and the change their ways. One of the most prevalent themes in this work is the objectification of women. Most people are not concerned or worried about this hardship that many women endure day after day. By Atwood taking this concept and transforming it into something so much deeper it really showed me the dangers of what our society is turning into. While The Handmaid's Tale was enjoyable to read it also contains many lessons and themes that our society should examine and try to learn from because the consequences may be toxic.
