Internal 3.4

“Gilead was used to present the overhanging ironic links to a society Atwood warned against.”

Gilead and the more obscure settings within, are the imprisonment of Offred and the other servants to the totalitarian society situated just outside of Boston, US. The roots of New England and Puritan beliefs embed the nature of male dominance and the prehistoric pastimes of ancient biblical beliefs into the lives of those imprisoned. The simple, seemingly innocent minor settings are ingrained with broad array of ironic links to the society Atwood wrote the book in effort to prevent. “These things have happened before, there is nothing to say they won’t happen again”, and while some have very active endeavours to warn against a disdainful future, Atwood has placed specific irony in her novels to warn us of the society she fears. Yet despite her efforts, in our world, current fact imposes on future fantasy.

To start at the beginnings of higher human education but also at the opening pages of the novel we are to place ourselves on the grounds of Harvard. The Harvard establishment is considered to be guiding the world’s most bright and resourceful humans to careers where their intelligence can lead humanity to a more protective and even society. Yet within Gilead’s time, sexism is abundant. The “Sexism at Harvard Law is not a new problem”. When put under scrutiny in a Business Insider article in 2013, many women felt under-minded and isolated in a male dominated environment. The basis of women being so uncomfortable in their unfair environment stands as a contrast to the favourable prejudice surrounding Harvard. The purity and moral integrity of not only the staff but the students alike is considered by society to be above such past times but in Gilead the complete dehumanisation of women takes place its in very grounds. The bold ironic nature of this setting only fuels the outrageous nature of the treatment of these women and the values which this regime holds dear. 

The material structures in the grounds hold badges of the violence conducted on or within them. Once again, coming back to the purpose of pursing the truth through knowledge, Harvard was created in honour. The ignorance that contributes to the violence in Gilead and the shootings and war of the present world are so ironically opposite to Harvard and its values. The physical buildings on the grounds of Harvard have been transformed into the detention buildings of the Eyes, a secret enforcing unit filtered into the society in wait of the brave exposing themselves. A wall is in place to prevent enemies from invading a community and to protect its people. The wall still stands in the future, yet now it surrounds grief and imprisonment. The handmaids are left without a choice on their whereabouts and the wall constructed in efforts to keep others out leaves them trapped. The bodies hanging from its heights further intensifies the fact that it is more than just the physical structure holding within, but the elephant in the establishment, the “women are afraid that men will kill them”.

The Commanders Study is a place of liberation and temptation. The unlawful acts of Scrabble, pleasantries like moisturiser, and general chat of better times create a small escape for Offred although she knows it is more for the Commander. Her Oasis from a barren world forbidden from life’s greatest experiences is merely an exercise of guilt for the Commander. As a Commander of a household, he was undoubtedly part of societies reform yet now as the complete isolation of his regime builds its walls around him, he begins to see the harm he has caused. He longs for connection and feels he can force his servant of reproduction to serve his craving for connection. The  current outside world struggles with the increasing pandemic of instant connection through the arising technologies and humans have lost their touch. The many centuries of our kind before us lived in a time where communication was purely primary. The instant contact removes the emotion and one becomes disconnected. The study acts as an Allegory of what the world should not become. Fear of losing personality and connection was at the forefront of Atwood’s worries while articulating the world she does not want to see. Wether it be through technology, or another method of which removes the need to be human, the world will always face these challenges as we do today. These ironic links of disconnection are slowly creeping into our society, the society Atwood warned against.

Garden fertility irony. “You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.”