What is the symbolic power of naming as described in The Handmaid’s Tale? Link to your wider reading about the politics of naming (250 – 300 words)
Names are the very first, the main ways we identify each other’s identity. Within The Handmaid’s Tale, the narrator’s name, like many others, is taken away from her. This is due to the fact that Atwood really wants to emphasise how the narrator has been subjugated to the will of the dominant male forces in society. Although her real name is, in fact, June, we rarely associate her to this identity and instead know her as Offred – only her association to Fred. The prefix “of” indicates which commander they belong to. When they change commander, they change name and, for example, when Ofglen is replaced, another Ofglen appears in her place. The body of the individual is of no consequence, it’s the relationship to the commander that’s important.
The handmaids understand how important their names are to their identity. The opening chapter of the book concludes with them whispering their names in the dark – a time when they reveal more personal information and become more in tune with themselves – so at least someone will always now who they are.
Through my wider reading, I have understood how over time, “since the 9th century” there has been a longstanding tradition of women accepting the last names of men when they get married. There are many connections to something so normal and something so extreme as the situation in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Given that it has been a tradition for such a long period of time, women are subjected to not only societal pressure, practical and professional costs, as well as psychological costs of losing individual identity. Many of these issues, on a more extreme basis, do connect to the nature and symbolic power of naming within “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
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