So we're reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood in my AP English class right now. We had the choice between 1984, by George Orwell, and Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. When my teacher warned us about very extreme content in the Handmaid's Tale, I kind of chuckled and threw a glance over at Game of Thrones. You want suggestive content? Read that series. So anyways, I teamed up with a couple of my friends and we worked together to read the book. One of us had to pick up some passages and analyze them, another had to analyze characters, and the last one of us had to create some smart-person "AP-style" questions relating to the text. <sarcasm> I always have such a great time ripping myself away from a good book to take notes. It's my favorite! </sarcasm>
The premise of the book is that birth rates have dropped dramatically due to some sort of chemical imbalance which has destroyed everyone's ability to reproduce; now society has decided to take matters into its own hands, creating a sort of "utopia" where women are appreciated for who they are, crime rates are null, and everything is perfect. Well, except for the fact that no one is allowed to be an individual, women aren't trusted to have ideas or read, and everything is so cookie-cutter that collapse is inevitable. I mean, this is a dystopian novel for God's sake. Where's your sense of fun?
Offred is the main character, and she is a Handmaid. Her role is to lie down once a month and get funky with her Commander, who is one of the higher ranking members of this society. Anything pertaining to sex has been practically outlawed; lingerie, bikinis, normal clothing, magazines, pornography, everything. So Offred spends most of her time in a gigantic red robe with a matching red habit. Attractive. We haven't really been given a time frame of what has happened yet, but I am guessing that the events take place about the time it is written (1980s) and Gilead and the "oppressive" government had been established about ten years prior.
I think the book is pretty good so far. If you are a feminist, then you'd really enjoy this book. Everything in this novel is so relevant to modern society and how it treats its women, and it creates a very intriguing atmosphere throughout the entire novel. I think what's even more funny is that if you don't see the irony of the entire story, it'd probably piss you off. I really want to see someone's reaction that way. It'd make my day.
The only thing I really dislike about this book, though, is that it has no real climax. Bear in mind, I'm about forty pages from finishing, but I think I'm far enough to at least recognize some hint of a climax. There is no revolution. There is no heroics from her old friend, who had given in to the society. There is no escape from the Commander and barely living in the woods. Maybe that's the point, and we are supposed to see how dreadful this sort of future would be, but I'm going to be unhappy if I don't get some sort of closure.
Moving on to another topic that I'd like to discuss is the contrasts between Brave New World and Handmaid's Tale. Yeah, being the really lame, bookish kid that I am I decided to read two novels from this unit (luckily I only have to do work for one). In Brave New World, the birth rate is "technically" nothing (all the kids are born from test tubes), and the focus is on a dystopian perfect society. The difference is that in BNW, everyone is actually encouraged to have sex; if you aren't doing it with six partners a week and twice on Fridays then you might find yourself deported to Iceland. In HMT you have sex and you are given to the Colonies, where your average life span drops to about three years.
Each author had their own takes on the matter and each one is just as engaging. I'm about halfway through BNW right now, hopefully gonna finish it before I go off to Skills next week.
So that's all I really have to say on the matter. Pardon my mindless rambling, hopefully I got my point across successfully. I always have such trouble organizing my thoughts, and usually I just word vomit everything.
May your days be filled with spontaneity, laughter, and a little bit of that rebellious nature.
Hobey ho,
Nate~
(Word count: 770 words)
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