How Does Margaret Atwood Use Language In The Handmaid's Tale

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood dissects words and/or phrases through the voice of the main character, Offred. Women are not allowed to read or write in Gilead, and Atwood uses this to prove just how valuable language is. Having the book narrated by a woman who grew up with freedom of speech and then having that right taken away from her, allows for the feelings of restriction. Offred would know that she was being discriminated against being a woman. Whereas, if Offred had grown up in the society of Gilead, she would have been ignorant of gender equality. Therefore, Offred wouldn’t have had the same thoughts of wishing to be free, since Gilead would have been all she’d known. Offred continues to express her language musings throughout the book, because one will never know how much they actually appreciate something until it’s gone.

Offred, as well as the other women, has limitations of language. Women have only a certain amount of phrases that they can say to one another. Some of those phrases include, “Praise be”, “May the Lord open”, and “Blessed be the fruit”. Having limitations on words is like having a limitation on clothes; it stops expression. People are individuals, but Margaret Atwood makes it so in Gilead women are simply tools of reproduction.

They must dress the same, say the same things, and act the same. Freedom was completely stripped from them. Offred explained how she and the other Handmaid’s felt about their situation through her figurative language descriptions, such as, “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” So, they internalized their own expressions, personalities, and thoughts. Offred does this by having musings on language. Language was important to her and her husband, before Gilead even existed. Margaret Atwood gave Offred this love of language to make the restrictions of it more pronounced. If Offred had never really cared about language in the first place, the limitations might not have affected her as much as they did throughout the book. Which is why Offred says, “Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance; you have to work at it.”
Offred’s language musings connected her to a time before Gilead, when her husband, Luke, and she would make little comments about the origins of specific words for their own pleasure.

For instance, the word ‘Mayday’ is derived from the French “m’aidez” which means “help me”, this certain word could be considered a hint by Margaret Atwood as to what happened to Luke since there is no information on what has become of him. The word ‘Mayday’ was used in the book to act as a code, and by having the word origin itself be something that most people wouldn’t discuss with their husbands, and because they shared a connection with it, the reader might guess that Luke was involved with the rebellion taking

place.
Margaret Atwood also has Offred wonder about certain phrases, why they have come to be, and why we have simply accepted them. “Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling.” Offred is not merely speaking about which word would fit best with describing the passing of another day. Everything is all about perspective. If one looked west at sunset, they would see night falling, if they looked east, night would appear to be rising. By simply changing one’s perspective, we have changed their whole view on the matter. For instance the Wives’ perspectives are different from the Handmaids with their roles as women. The Wives might see being a Handmaid an honor, when the actual Handmaid’s themselves were being forced to do this task and are so torn about it that some killed themselves. The Commander’s thoughts are affected by the society he was placed in. Therefore, being a man in a book where men are the only ones with power changed his perspective on the rest of the world, especially the role of women.
Within the book, Offred’s opinion of the Commander changes frequently. She didn’t know what to make of him at first. Then the Commander invited her to play Scrabble, which in the society of Gilead, was completely illegal for women. Offred should not have been spending time alone with the Commander in the first place; yet Offred played. Loving words as she did and not being able to use them must be what it would feel like to be a marathon runner who can no longer run. Playing the Scrabble game in Gilead was one of the ways in which Margaret Atwood showed how, if one lost something they once had, they would want it even more than before.
Women have always seemed to be inferior to men, because that is how society sees it. Perspective was a key in what Margaret Atwood was trying to show us. Equality is supposed to exist, but sexism is still around today! Margaret Atwood is said to be a brilliant feminist. The Handmaid’s Tale clearly show her views on gender equality through her character’s language musings.