One of the themes of The Handmaid’s Tale that I found most compelling, but also most worrisome was Atwood’s firm assertion that people can get used to anything, given time and “a few compensations.”
Early on in the novel, Offred reminisces on the time that she spent with Luke in the early days of their affair. She recalls how happy they were, though they thought they had problems, and remembers their complacency regarding the growing number of incidences of violence against women in the news. Prior to the rise of Gilead, no one had imagined such a state was possible- but once the Republic had formed, Offred was shocked to look back and realize just how different things had been.
“Is that how we lived then? But we lived as usual. Everyone does, most of the time. Whatever is going on is usual. Even this is usual, now. We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.” (The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapter 10)
Reading through chapter 10 a second time I was struck by Atwood’s comment that if society had changed so quickly to afford women greater rights and freedoms that it could change back just as quickly. When I imagine the advances that have been made within my lifetime alone, I am horrified to consider the possibility that they could change, for worse and not better, just as quickly.
Human Rights and social justice are constantly making headway. Health care and access to it is improving world-wide. More and more states and countries are legalizing LGBTQIAP+ marriage, or at the very least, decriminalizing it.
But the seeds of hatred are always as present as the foundations of justice.
Violence and open, irrational hatred against LGBTQIAP+ individuals is still on the rise. First Nations women in Canada go missing and the government doesn’t seem to be too concerned. Last year I read a news story about a woman in North Dakota who’s rapist fought for custody of her child- and won.
“In a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.” (Chapter 10)
One of the things which also strikes me as ironic about Atwood’s novel (and similar dystopias that were written around the same time) is that the rise of an oppressive regime is almost always concurrent with an increase in government surveillance of civilians. Shortly after 9-11, a bombing not unlike the terrorist attack that launched the fictional Republic of Gilead in Atwood’s novel, legislation around government surveillance was amended in many countries including Canada and the United States.
Over the last couple of years, especially with the increased media attention paid to “whistle-blowers” like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden it’s become very clear just how much information different governments are privy to. But while there has been a lot of protest, there are also many who feel that being spied on by their own government is a fair trade off for being kept safe from attacks similar to those on the Twin Towers.
“Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” (Chapter 41)
Times change, and with the rate the world moves at today, those changes can only come faster and faster. What worries me is not that we cannot adapt to our rapidly changing world, but that, as Offred’s mother feared, we are too adaptable. Like Offred, we may move quickly from reminiscing about days when we had no problems to forgetting that we have problems of a greater scale in the present, and if we do, I fear we may fail to notice that the bath water is getting warmer, and our world is taking a turn for the worse.
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