not to freak you guys out, but i worry it’s “the time before”

 because gilead is approaching, and fast.

Margaret Atwood, I hope you’re saying, “I told you so”, because every day feels more and more like the Republic of Gilead.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), is a novel set in the near future in Cambridge, Massachusetts. However, the Massachusetts the world knows doesn't exist; it’s part of Gilead - a fascist and totalitarian patriarchal theocracy run by white supremacists, where women are not merely viewed as second class citizens, but are treated as such by political institutions, and society at large. The story is told from the perspective of Offred, a handmaid to a high-ranking commander.

 

The dystopian Gilead is fictional, right? Right??? 

 

Well. 

 

Atwood labelled the novel speculative fiction, because it can’t be science fiction. It’s only fiction if the things “happen[ing'] are not possible today” and they all are. Every horrific action in the book (whether it is the public executions, institutionalised rape, or forced pregnancy tests) was taken from a moment in the past. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my rules was that I would not put any events into the book that had not already happened… nor any technology not already available. No imaginary gizmos, no imaginary laws, no imaginary atrocities. God is in the details, they say. So is the Devil.

Margaret Atwood with the New York Times 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Handmaid’s Tale is a loud warning sign bound into the quiet pages of a novel; it cautions modern society against complacency and ignorance to authority by demonstrating how harmful it can become, and we mustn’t ignore its cries. 

I. night

In Gilead, the lowest ranked women are Handmaids. Handmaids belong to a commander and his wife. They take the name their commander (Fred → Offred), and when they go to a new commander, their name changes too. The Handmaids are chosen for their fertility, and every night they have non-marital sex with their Commander (a Ceremony) in hopes of pregnancy to raise the birth rate. They are trained to be Handmaids at the Rachel and Leah Centre, a repurposed school that offers constant reminders of the time before in genuine psychological torture. 

This Centre is presided over by the Aunts - not at all maternal like the name attempts to imply. They patrol with ‘electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belt’. This contrast between what their name implies, and the true nature of the “Aunts” emphasises their cruelty. These are powerful women, they have weapons after all, but this power is used to incite fear. 

Well, powerful. Relatively. They remain subordinate to men - “even they could not be trusted with guns”. Despite all they do for furthering the Gileadean cause, they are still not seen as worthy of a real weapon just because they are women. This torment often extends to the home, done by Marthas and Wives.

Where would you stand in Gilead?

The reason the regime is so effective is because all the women are pitted against eachother. They have certain things other women would kill for. The Handmaids want freedom that the other women have. The Marthas and Wives need children to feel fulfilled and resent the Handmaids for being able to reproduce when they can’t. This hatred creates a divide that diverts hostility from the commanders oppressing them all to eachother. The freedom of the Wives and the Aunts seem significant, but they’re causing harm for power they’ll never really feel, because the subjugation of one woman is the subjugation of them all. 

II. divide and conquer

Welcome to 2025, where Donald “grab ‘em by the pussy” Trump’s press secretary is a woman. Karoline Leavitt, with her freshly done roots, ostentatious cross necklace, and big ol’ grin, is the proud public mouthpiece for Trump’s horrible agenda. 

perfect all american.....

Or maybe we could look at Alice Weidel, the co-leader of Germany’s neo-Nazi AfD party, the lesbian (?? she tries to deny it but she’s married to a woman) politician who ran for Chancellor of Germany (with the slogan Alice für Deutschland - eerily similar to Alles für Deutschland, a banned slogan that Hitler used) promising… traditional family values? Okay, Alice. 

the women may try to deny it, but they’re being used to present a more palatable image. They can try clamber to the top and push down minority groups for the scraps of power they are thrown, but it’s all for control they will never truly possess. Leavitt has to look after her infant child on top of being press secretary, because her husband could never. Weidel exists to present a veneer of 'regular' conservatism, while neo-Nazi men run the party behind closed doors. 

These women sow seeds of hate for movements that use and do not truly value them. It'd be sad if it wasn't so harmful. Division is a tactic commonly employed by fascist leaders - separation creates mistrust, which makes fear spread quicker. It’s what happened in The Handmaids tale, and it damn well seems to be happening now.

III. night

One thing fascist regimes always try to do is disintegrate organisations that will empower people – think doctors, justice, and knowledge. Gilead is demonstrative of what would happen if they succeeded.

alexis bledel and elisabeth moss as ofglen and offred

Offred and Ofglen walk past the Wall often whilst on their shopping trips. The Wall displays victims of Salvagings (public executions). The Gileadean Commanders flaunt the bodies as examples of how non-compliance with the regime’s ideologies will not be tolerated, conditioning society through fear.

 

Doctors who had performed abortions, lawyers (because justice isn’t an option in a dystopia), and non-Puritan Christians are all hung. Offred describes the heads of the victims as “heads of snowmen, with coal eyes and the carrot noses fallen out. The heads are melting” all in simple terms, matter-of-factly. Such matter-of-fact language describing such a gruesome scene demonstrates how people grow numb to violence in fascist regimes. People grow disillusioned and the leaders can ramp up the violence

The Wall on which the bodies are hung is actually Johnston Gate, the entrance to Harvard University. Offred sees the “fairytale turrets” and “old dormitories” of Harvard, however entering the once prestigious and coveted building is something “no one [does] willingly”. This seismic shift in how Harvard is viewed is emblematic of the perception of education in Gilead – it has been co-opted by the ruling class and used for power. 

IV. exec order 14242

Whatever does this real-life executive order do? Why, shutter the department of education, of course! We are seeing disintegration of these vital organisations in real time, like in Gilead. Just as Gilead had one radio channel, our good friend Karoline Leavitt announced that the Trump administration would “take control over which news organisations and reporters are allowed into the presidential press pool”. It’s a blatant attempt to control mass media – another one characteristic of fascist regimes. In the big US of A.

The executions in the Handmaids Tale were chilling because they don’t feel totally impossible. The US government is trying to control the operation of essential services. Judges who don't fall to the whim of the government are getting arrested . Doctors could face life in prison for performing abortions, so many deny this medical care to protect themselves.

And that’s it, isn’t it? It’s only ever about control.

Conclusion

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‪The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day

Gloria Steinman 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atwood uses the dystopian genre to construct Gilead. All Gilead does is accentuate the worst parts of existing institutions and technologies. It seems unfeasible, but isn’t, really. She taps into the fear of losing autonomy that existed forty years ago and persists today. However, we, primarily women, are beginning to lose agency. Maybe not in Australia, but women, and people, all over the world are. Again, the subjugation of one woman is the subjugation of us all.

There’s so much to say with a text like the Handmaids Tale. So many things I haven’t even mentioned, because I couldn’t look away from the glaring similarities of Gilead, pre-Gilead, and 2025. Who’s to say this isn’t where it begins for us? It starts with some women in some states having their right to bodily autonomy restricted the same way the women in The Handmaid’s Tale slowly weren’t able to pay independently. Then work. Then exist autonomously.

It'll start slowly, gradually and then happen all at once. 

But for now, nolite te bastardes carborundorum

Word Count: 1319

not including pull quotes, captions