The Role Of Puritanism In The Handmaid's Tale

Built on the pillars on Puritanism, the United States of America has been largely divided over the debate of whether the fusion of politics and religion would be suitable to run a country. Margaret Atwood addresses this question in her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Published during the growing conservative era of the 1980s, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in the fictional Republic of Gilead, where the religious extremists have grasped control of the government. The laws implemented by the Gileadean officials, largely based around religion, are meant to act on the issue of a declining birth rate. Although the laws are rooted in valid concerns, their religious influences are soon manipulated to oppress women and validate the oppression. Offred,

Here, they are trained to become proper handmaids, so that they may fulfil their duties with dignity. The Center also serves to “educate” the handmaids on hand picked passages from the Bible. “Give me children, or else I die” (Genesis 30:1), Rachel cried to Jacob, ashamed of her infertility. The phrase is presented to the handmaids in the novel as a form of a mantra, teaching them to be associate shame with their lack of children. However, while Rachel only fears shame, the handmaids are taught to fear more, since “there 's more than one meaning to it” (Atwood 68). If deemed infertile, the handmaids are declared to be “Unwomen” and sent to the colonies to work under hazardous conditions among radioactive waste – waste that will kill them. The handmaids’ threatened future also creates a contrast between them and the families of Commanders they are meant to serve. The Wives of the houses fear shame, just as Rachel does, but they are protected under the Gileadean law in that they have very little chance of becoming Unwomen. Their desire for children is merely a desire for praise within their social circle, since the Wives that are able to “bear” children are held up with respect and admiration, with barely any consequences if they are childless. While the phrase is more applicable

The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985, shortly after The Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling in the case Roe vs. Wade guaranteed the right to abortion for women in America in 1973. The feminist achievements of the 70s seemed threatened, however, during the growing conservatism of the 1980s. The New Right were a group consisting of Christian religious leaders and conservative business persons who wanted to return the United States to its Puritanical path, including implementing family values into American life and encouraging the pro-life movement, because the group believed that Americans were becoming Godless. When Ronald Reagan won his position of president with the help of the New Right, the chances of abortion remaining legal seemed slim, since the Reagans themselves were very strongly pro-life. Atwood wrote her novel during a time of panic, when women feared that they were about to lose their right to choice after a lengthy battle, a decision made based on a religion they might not partake in. To their luck, Reagan was unable to implement laws that would threaten their reproductive rights largely, but it was a dark glimpse into how much of women’s bodies they own themselves. A simple flick of a politician’s wrist, and they could lose control over a large portion of their