Wow! There is no other word I have to describe this novel by Atwood. Although I find the idea far fetched, I thought the way she painted the word of Gilead was wonderfully done. I do believe that if the world or government were to crumble in some way, women would be one of the first to be disregarded. As a society today, we are getting better at fighting for equality, but there is still a social imbalance between men and women.
Years ago, and even in some areas of the world today, it is a belief that the purpose of women in to bare children. They are to be vessels of which new lives will come forth. I am happy that I live in a world where I know I am valued based on who I am, not what I can produce. I am valued for my mind, not my womb. Although the world of Gilead executes their beliefs in an obstruct way, I am still able to understand the thought process behind their views of women because it is an idea as old as time.
I wondered why they did not just opt for a polygamist society or in-vitro fertilization to ensure healthy children. I was also curious as to why they made the reproductive process such a ceremony between the mother and handmaid. I would have thought that they would have treated the handmaid’s like mistresses, but they still attempted to impregnate the wives. An example of something odd was during the birth process when the wife would lie down as well. I didn’t see much of a point to it. Today, if a women has a child via surrogate, they don’t lie in bed with their surrogate or act as if they are the ones birthing. I know the idea was to make it seem like the child was more theirs, but I really thought this was an odd detail to the society.
Hello! I too was ‘wowed’ by the novel, I thought it was a very exciting read! I even had dreams about it for two nights after finishing it! I appreciate how you emphasized just how absurd some of the details were, it was rather shocking at some points. That being said, I can see why Atwood might have written it that way. Coupled with the Latimer reading, the fluidity of the words ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ became quite clear to me. The Handmaid’s in Atwood’s tale were made to believe they were ‘free’ from the atrocities they once endured, but it was very clear just how oppressed they really were. Despite how absurd the novel was, I can see the similarities (however faint) between it (the novel) and the present reality. We are lucky to live in a society where we are valued for more than our womb, moreover, it is thanks to ongoing battles for women’s rights that we can genuinely say that choices and freedoms do exist for women. However, I strongly believe that regardless of one’s political clout, some choices are (generally) valued over others, and I would argue that this puts immense pressure on women to sometimes opt for choices that are not necessarily best suited to their needs. This slightly obscures my conception of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ in Canada.
I have to agree right off the bat, all I could say about this book was wow. I have to agree I thought it was very fun and interesting, albeit weird. I found it hard to stop reading and found it very interesting, even though like you said it was quite unrealistic it was very intriguing. It was also a very cool concept I think and it was interesting to see her opinion on how she saw the world for women and their rights, I think it was a way of her telling us how she felt by putting it into a futuristic world.
I also completely agree with you about the fact that there used to be a lot of societies as well as now that only thought of women as important because they could bare children and that was all they were really needed for. I tried to point that out in my write up. I also think Atwood was trying to show the path that we were taking as a society and to show that women were more than just objects to bare children and they needed to be respected for than that like what they can accomplish and what they can contribute to society amongst many other things.