The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel based in the future, when the US has become the Republic of Gillead. Atwood has written this novel to reflect on the repression of females and aims to raise awareness on the objectification of female, although the setting takes place in Gillead, the same issue can be found in today’s society. By using Gillead as a background of the story, Atwood exaggerates the issue hence emphasises on the significance of the repression of women in the soceity.
In the novel, a societal hierarchy was established. Handmaids’ are women who possess fertility abilities, therefore used by the Commanders as a tool to reproduce. The Handmaids’ are deprived of their basic rights, in Chapter 1, the main character June/ Offred tells the audience story when the handmaids are trained in a gymnasium. The juxtaposition between the “past” and “present” of the gymnasium creates a sense of repression. The use of olfactory imageries such as “sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume”, “pungent scent of sweat” and auditory imageries such as “the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound” created a contrast between the lively atmosphere in the school gymnasium and the dystopian repressive atmosphere now. The living conditions for the handmaids are also repressive, as they are assigned to be trained by “aunts”, whom is a more authoritative figure that aims to train the handmaids into tools for giving births. The handmaids can be seen suppressed and controlled by the aunts, as they had “electric cattle prods”, which dehumanises the handmaids thus creating a repressive atmosphere.
The repressive atmosphere developed even stronger when moving into the second paragraph. In the second paragraph, Atwood described the living conditions of the handmaids after they moved into a commander’s house. They lack of human rights and dehumanisation was further depicted, as they are even deprived of their right to suicide. From the quote “they’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to” and “when the window is partly open – it only opens partly”, an underlying message of the handmaids cannot suicide is conveyed. Furthermore, these quote can be interpreted as the fate of the handmaids are doomed, and they cannot escape from their role or reality. This hence created a repressive atmosphere, which also highlights the bigger issue of objectification of women in the society. On the other hand, the Commanders’ wives, who are supposed to have a higher status than the handmaids, also lack of equal rights. In Chapter 3, from the quote “maybe it’s just something to keep the Wives bust, to give them a sense of purpose” implies that even though they are Wives of the commanders, but they do not possess any authority or power. They are appendages of the commanders, and the lacking of meaning of their lives stated that they also cannot escape from this religious based, male dominated society.
Similar oppression and issues can be found in different classes of female in the book, Atwood uses the similarities in the different hierarchies to further create this sense of repressive atmosphere, which is resulted from the totalitarian patriarchy society.
