The Handmaid's Tale Feminist Analysis

The town of Gilead had elements of conservative and liberal values but the conservative values were more prominent than the liberal. The conservative values were imposed on the women by the authorities and this affected the liberal values of women in Gilead. The commanders made laws, interpreted the laws when it was unfavorable to them and executed the laws. Women were mostly marginalized and ostracized in the polity of Gilead. They were presented as subservient objects, whose duty was only to their husbands or masters. They had no choice than to obey their masters. In fact, disobedience was punishable at the discretion of the masters. The commanders justified sex, names, religion and clothing and affirmed a strong conservatize attitude towards

It was a conservative belief that commanders maintained control over their household. Hence, commanders used their right to control everything including sex. They changed the idea of sex from a pleasurable activity to a painful experience for the handmaids. For example, the commander through his actions, presented the handmaid as a slave whose duty it is to do the bidding of her master. Offred description of one of those scenes, showed how she conservatively accepted the role of procreation. She recounts that, “My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for. There wasn’t a lot of choice but there was some, and this is what I chose”…. (108). She understood that “Rebelling or defying law in Gilead results in either execution or banishment to the colonies where one is forced to clear nuclear waste” (Ghosal etal ). Hence, the reason for staying with the commander. By allowing herself and giving up her rights to the commander she sort not just for protection but also favor from the

Women put on veils to show their subjective and oppressive state while the commanders wore black uniform to show their authoritative position in Gilead. Each social class had a specific clothing and meaning that was attach to it. With such clothing style, one can identify the group or class a person belongs. “As all men are uniform-they are the ones in control who possess power, The Commanders wear a black uniform, the Eyes and Angels are similarly dressed in military fashion. According to their status, women are forced to wear a uniform denoting their particular function in society” (Coad 2001). Women put on veils regardless of their status but this veils had different representation and meaning. For example Marthas wore green uniforms, wives wore blue while handmaids wore red uniforms (p 5-7). Their style of clothing showed that they lacked freedom and choice. Handmaids were statutorily not allowed to mingle with certain types of people even though it was against the handmaids’ personal wishes or desires. They were force to believe and accept the covering of their whole body as the right practice. No wonder when Offred saw the Japanese tourist ladies she felt the ladies were undressed despite the fact that she was fascinated about the ladies appearance (P 33). The conservative system made it a crime for handmaids to expose their face that’s why handmaids covered their faces with veil. Coad 2001