Nolite te bastardes carborundorum(don’t let the bastards grind you down) is a message written by the previous Handmaid of Commander Fred’s household. The phrase in Latin is carved inside the Handmaid closet in her bedroom, almost impossible to find. This message gives June, the protagonist of thisdifficult dystopian tale(that feels too close to home to be an easy watch), and the audience a much-needed ounce of hope.
Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novelThe Handmaid’s Talecould have been published in 2022 due to how relevant the issues presented in the book remain today. In 2019, she released the much-anticipated continuation,The Testaments, which continues the story of one of the most iconic characters in dystopian novels. Atwood’s smart narrative takes the reader into a journey of our potential future, providing there isn’t any change regarding women’s rights. The authorhas statedthat nothing in this narrative hasn’t happened somewhere in the world at some point in time. Driving from the need to expose horrible acts of violence against women, she wrote a fantastic book that was adapted for television in 2017 as aHuluoriginal.
Atwood’s message gets so powerfully delivered through the screen, that the pages of her books began to influence women all over the world to protest soon after the show adapted them. Women’s marches, especially regarding the laws about the female body, started to have something in common: protestersdressed as Handmaids.This is only one example of how powerful this story is and how much it exposes what it means to be a woman in the 21st century.
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The Handmaid’s Taletells the story of the United States government overthrown by anextremist cult religious group, the Sons of Jacob, that wants to control society and its norms (something not unheard of). After stating that most women can’t get pregnant, they use the Bible (modified to support their ideals) to justify their decisions. The main one? The women who are still fertile will give their bodies to the regime. That way, wealthy families can bear children. Offred (Elisabeth Moss)is the protagonist of this story, who ends season one claiming various things Gilead took from her, including her real name.
Handmaid, Wife, or Martha
In Gilead’s society, a woman should present herself in a role imposed by the government. The main ones:Handmaid, Wife, and Martha. If she came from a wealthy family, she became a Wife of a Commander and spent her days inside her household, not allowed to do anything besides take care of the house. If she was poor, she would be a Martha and have no family, living only to serve the Wife’s commands. Or, if she could bear children, she would become a Handmaid, and be given to different families. If the Handmaid didn’t get pregnant after visiting three families, she was sent to the Colonies, a certain death. Was there a way to defy these orders? That would lead to being hanged, alongside everyone who was a treat to the regime, on the Wall.
Atwood placed women into categories to represent society’s perception of what roles a woman should have. If she didn’t want to be any of these options or couldn’t conform to these roles/expectations, then she became an Unwoman. The author placed these characters in different colored clothing to highlight how much their contribution to society (and, therefore, their worth) revolves around these activities, in a feministnod to class consciousness.
Taking care of the house, bearing children, and being a good wife are the most important things women should be and do according to this society.The Handmaid’s Talealso shows how these roles become more important than the individual who fills them, thus they are called/named after the position they occupy, not their actual names. The clothes should help completely erase their identities—even though the show has a problematicmajority of white actresses, it was meant for all ethnicities. The main character’s name is never mentioned in the book: the fans decided that was her name because it is the only one she mentioned that is never given to another character. Because of that, in the television show, she is officially named June.
There isn’t much dialoguein the show, especially regarding the Handmaids. That also happens in the book, where Offred tells the story directly to the reader. This translates to television inthe form of voice-overs. They enhance the idea that the audience is always inside her head, following the story while listening to her thoughts. This choice brings the viewer closer to the character, as they feel attached to her. Atwood’s has a clear message regarding when society wants women to speak their minds, and when it’s best to stay silent.
June is trying not to forget who she was and what happened to her. Due to the amount of trauma she experienced that is a hard thing to do. Her memories are not only not important, but dangerous for the regime. The government stripped her of her name, her identity. People shouldn’t be able to see her face due to her clothing and tried (using various forms of torture) to make her memory disappear. June’s constant defiance to not forget her daughter and her husband, as well as people from her past, is hazardous. In her silent stand, she remains what Gilead (and arguably today’s society) fears the most: herself.
The Handmaids are also not allowed to talk to each other besides greetings and trivial topics. All conversations are done under heavy surveillance. They are taught that each other, especially the ones performing the same societal role, are enemies. This has been extensively discussed nowadays: girls are taught from a young age that they arecompeting with one another; enhancing the isolation they feel. This confirms the fear the regime has of them coming together and rebelling. That is why they are so isolated from one another - which enhances the silence around these characters. June’s story starts to change onceshe defies the regimeand communicates with other Handmaids.
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What makesThe Handmaid’s Talealmost unbearable to watch is how much it portrays a woman’s greatest fears. The amount of explicit violence in the show recently received backlash from various people,claiming it was unnecessaryto get their point across. In the dystopian world, women have no right to their lives and bodies. They don’t own themselves, and that is why Handmaids’ names are the names of their ‘owner’: Of + their name. Commander Fred owns June, so, therefore, her name becomes Offred, and in later seasons Ofjoseph.
The handmaids are tortured, raped, and stripped of their selves until they become a vessel to give birth. The red-colored clothes and white hat are symbols: becoming something less than human, only flesh, but also a reminder thatthis woman can give birth, therefore she menstruates, something viewed as impure by the regime. This narrative is not only painful for the characters, but for anyone watching the show. The series almost provokes the viewer to stop watching, enticing them how unbearable it is to live in a society where women are less than nothing.
The Handmaid’s Taleshows the deepest fears that sometimes are too dark to be said out loud. The story exposes the trauma and how society ignores these problems and, sometimes, would rather see women as vessels that are necessary to the human race, but that are not worth basic human rights. It is a difficult story to follow buta necessary one.
