The Truth Behind the Perfect Society Imagine waking up one day without your family and having no say over your life and body. Margaret Atwood wrote a fiction novel called The Handmaid’s Tale with a story line that explains a fictional town named Gilead that has been affected by environmental issues that caused health problems and made birth rates to decrease dramatically. Then a militia group takes matters into their own hands by murdering the president and the Congress, followed by putting the Constitution on temporary hold. As Atwood goes into depth on Offred’s life, a Handmaid, we find out that there were serious warnings given to the people to take action, but instead they decided to ignore and let the government make decisions over their lives. Throughout the novel there are many connections to our society today which become frightening. Gilead’s government actions and social issues have an extreme resemblance to our problems today. For instance, the restriction of women rights, the inequality between men and women, and the mixture of religion and government. Atwood has written our future if we continue to turn a blind eye against discrimination towards women. Women should have the same rights as men and should have complete control over their bodies. The Handmaid’s Tale describes the political dystopia of inequality between men and women. Atwood has purposely made the person with authority a male, the Commander. The Commander is the only one that is allowed to call the shots and to impregnate the handmaids. The handmaid’s, which are all women, are under the Commanders control. If they rebel or do not follow the rules they are threatened to be hung or sent to the Colonies. The Colonies is on the other side of the wall, which is where the poor and the women that are infertile, or “unwomen” are sent. The Commanders also control the Angels, the Eye and the Guards. In the female hierarchy the one in charge is the Commander’s wife who controls the aunt’s, handmaid’s and the martha’s. The wives are in charge of naming the handmaid’s child and raising them with Gilead’s ideals and values. The aunts are supposed to guide the handmaids to put full faith on Gilead’s ideology and to make sure that Handmaid’s understand that their only duty is to reproduce, which is what their robe color represents, red. The Martha’s are in the lowest social class, they mostly do the cleaning and cooking around the house. In Gilead the social classes depend on your health and ability to procreate. Just like in Gilead, where your social class is predetermined by your wealth or your health, social class in the United States depends on your financial status that establishes your health plan. Many people in the lower end of being financially stable can not go into the doctors for a daily check up or need to think twice before walking into the hospital because they might walk out in debt. In the United States, we have tried to fix the issue of healthcare by trying to make it available for all people of all statuses. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was put into work in 2010 under Barack Obama’s term. It was intended to make health insurance affordable and to protect the people from insurance companies trying to raise the costs. Although it does raise taxes for many people, it has granted “more than 16 million Americans to obtain health insurance coverage within the first five years of the ACA. Young adults make up a large percentage of these newly insured people” (James). Where you place financially should not determine your health, we should all have an equal opportunity to live a long healthy life without it depending on wealth or gender. In The Handmaid’s Tale the Bible is strictly interpreted, which explains the motive that causes extreme action and ideology. Before the Commander begins the ceremony of impregnating a handmaid he reads a verse of the Bible as a justification or reasoning to force the handmaid to have sex. “Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah. She shall bear fruit upon my knees, that I may also have children by her”(pg. 88). The importance of expanding the population in Gilead has lead the town to willingly endanger the handmaid’s lives in order to reproduce. The government should not be able to have a say or input in the way you live life. All people should have the freedom to wear, say and do anything as long as it doesn’t endanger others safety. Women in many countries have the least amount of freedom and ability to have a say for they are seen as inferior to men. In Saudi Arabia, women are also seen as property or under protection of the male in their family. “All women in the kingdom are considered to have a male “wali” – an official guardian, typically a father, brother, uncle or husband”(Al-Islam). Women are seen as incapable to do anything without a man. Handmaid’s are not allowed to make any contact with the opposite sex or even to exchange words or looks. Offred experiences a scary moment when running errands, "Nick looks up and begins to whistle. Then, he says 'nice walk?' I nod, but do not answer with my voice. He isn't supposed to speak to me”(45). Offred is frighten by the minimal contact that was made between Nick and her for it can lead to her hanging by inducing the opposite sex or seen as unholy. The handmaids are not allowed to show skin so they are covered from head to toe with a red robe and a white hood to hide their face. Women in Gilead are forced to wear a uniform as indication of their duty to Gilead. For an example, handmaid’s are obligated to cover "everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us” (Atwood 8). Many women around the world today are in the same position as the handmaid's, they are, by law forced to wear a certain clothing in order to avoid punishment or to be disowned. Some of the Muslims customs require the women to have their whole bodies covered. “Women must cover the hair (on their head) and their body from non-Mahram men, with the exception of their face and hands; and if they fear that by not covering these parts they will fall into sin, or if their intention of not covering these parts is to make men look at them with a haram look, then in either of these two scenarios, it is not permitted to keep these two parts uncovered”(Rules relating to Covering). They are not allowed to show skin as part of their beliefs. This custom has become a way of life for Muslims but in Gilead it was not like that, women had options and now their freedom was taken from them. Also, in Iran women are not allowed to show skin as it is seen as immoral or against the law. In an article it describes the rules that “women who venture outdoors must wear a headscarf, known as the “rusari”, and a long overcoat, known as the “manteau”; alternatively, they can wear a black cloak known as the “chador”. These are legal requirements, punishable by fines or imprisonment for repeat offenders”(Iran’s Women). Iran laws seems very similar to Gilead's ideology. Religious beliefs and government should never be mixed because it takes all the freedom away from its people, leaving the people to live under oppression. Women are forced to follow certain customs in their country not allowing the people to choose their own path and faith. Women are as capable as men to make their decision over their lives. Women are never seen as equally powerful even though they are the only ones that have the power to give life. We have seen and witnessed mistreatment against women in 2017 by our newly appointed president, Donald Trump by saying he is pro-life making abortion not an option. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are seen as a vessel to carry life, almost as a sex slave for the commander to reproduce the next generation. They are not given the choice and are threatened to be sent to the colonies where people are starving because they are either infertile or did not follow the rules. Additionally, Donald Trump has expressed is his pro-life view towards abortion. Trump demands to “stop providing abortions, or any information about abortions, or lose valuable dollars from the United States, the biggest global funder of family-planning services” (McGinley, Laurie, and Amy Goldstein). He explicitly disapproves abortion completely disregarding the fact that abortion actually saves woman's life that are in danger because of their pregnancy. Women joined together to keep aiding other foreign countries to make sure they have a choice to either have a baby or not. Women protested to stop our country from limiting freedoms of other women which in the end, made no difference. Trump has taken freedom from women just like Gilead took away handmaid’s ability to control their own life. Women in different countries still have limited rights especially when it comes to education. For an example, in The Handmaid’s Tale women are also not allowed to know how to read it is against the law. Even though many handmaid’s are able to read, they are restricted to show their skill for it threatens mens dominance."I can spend minutes, tens of minutes, running my eyes over the print: FAITH. It's the only thing they've given me to read. If I were caught doing it, would it count”(57)? Women are not allowed to go to school or get educated because to men it seems unnecessary because their role or duty is to stay at home, cook, clean and raise children. Women in America are allowed to get an education, it’s actually encouraged. America is known for their equality and freedom. But it seems that with our new president, Donald Trump is rewinding all the efforts that many people put hard work and time to have equality in women and men. In March, Trump “revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order then-President Barack Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. The Fair Pay order was put in place after a 2010 Government Accountability Office investigation showed that companies with rampant violations were being awarded millions in federal contracts”(O'Hara, Mary Emily). We have made a lot of improvements towards equality for all, but we must make sure the people in power have the same views and wants as the people living under the laws that are being made. All men and women are created equal, that shouldn't just be a vision but motivation to keep fighting for equal rights. The main character, Offred, had a child before Gilead become a prison, and her child was taken from her because the government deemed she was unfit to raise her. Offred later found out the government were taking in the children and basically brainwashing them with Gilead’s new ways of life. This meant that the girls are being raised to become a Commander’s wife that can reproduce and doesn’t have to rely on handmaids. They are forcing young girls to marry older men, and they justify this action as the only way to reproduce and to make Gilead great again. Sounds too familiar to President Trump’s campaign slogan in 2016. In the presidential campaign of 2016 Donald Trump promised the american people that he “will take care of women, and I have great respect for women. I do cherish women, and I will take care of women” (Johnson). Yet he has separated families in order to “reduce” immigration and have taken the option of abortion even if it meant risking the mother’s life. Gilead and Afghanistan are not so different regarding the issue of allowing marriage at a young age. Forcing young girls to marry is cruel and the disregard of their rights is not justified. In Afghanistan, still in today’s society child marriage is very common: in Afghan, “more than 50% of Afghan girls are married or engaged by 12”(Life as an Afghan Woman). Many young girls have zero options and their parents are willing to sell them to the highest bidder because they are unable to provide for them anymore. Even though the United States is known for the freedom that is offered to their citizen we still have gender inequality barriers to break. Women must confront the inequality in the work force and regain women’s right to make decisions over their own body. Atwood was writing about the worst scenarios that could happen, but she didn’t know that we as the people living in today’s society were going to permit these actions. The Handmaid’s Tale is an eye opening story that should be taken seriously. All these events that happened to Gilead lead the town to dictatorship that deprived its people from freedom and rights. Offred remembers the warning that were given and wishes she would of taken action so that she can be reunited with her family. Equality, freedom, and the separation of state are the main ideals of America and we should never let go of the vision because for it makes America great. Margaret Atwood’s intentions were not to write the future but to warn us. Without her realizing she has described the consequences of the people letting the government take control over their lives. Women must continue the action in fighting for equality and justice.
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