No Power, No Control

“You don’t know what it’s like” (179). In The Handmaid’s Tale, through Offred’s thoughts, it is revealed how the world before Gilead started to change into what it is today which in the least is unjust. When I first began reading this book, I didn’t expect to be so confused and trying to find the meaning behind multiple phrases, actions, and events enacted by characters in this novel, but Margaret Atwood has made that impossible. Further, in The Handmaid’s Tale, there are particular sections I could grasp and have strong emotions towards.

In chapter 28, Atwood reveals through the narration of Offred, how before Gilead, the government began to change by stripping women of holding something of value they can depend on to live. I want to specifically concentrate on the event when Offred and the other women at her job were dismissed from their positions, and then when Offred talks to Luke about what was happening. Atwood writes, “I’m sorry, he said, but it’s the law. I really am sorry…I have to let you go, he said. It’s the law, I have to. I have to let you all go. He said this almost gently, as if we were wild animals, frogs he’d caught, in a jar, as if he were being humane…Not fired, ” he said. Let go. You can’t work here anymore, it’s the law. He ran his hands through his hair and I thought, He’s gone crazy. The strain has been too much for him and he’s blown his wiring” (176). In this quote, Offred describes how the director of where she worked came into the women’s workspace to announce that they had to leave because the law demanded it, followed by how Offred describes his tone and what she believes might have been the reason for him saying this.

After reading this section, I felt confused and angry. I couldn’t comprehend why the women were being stripped away from their jobs without an explanation just because the law demanded it, and I knew Offred felt the same. I must admit, I’ve never had a job. Even so, I can comprehend how unfair and frustrating it can be to be demanded, as a woman, to leave a duty where we come to earn an income that helps maintain our lives, and at the same time be treated like we don’t deserve it, but still have to respond to such judgment, made by someone else’s demands, implied to be from the government: a law. Furthermore, I’ve seen first-hand how hard my mother works to provide for me and my other two younger brothers, a well-living home due to her hard efforts to keep working, even though every time I see her, she looks exhausted trying to keep up. Moreover, I can positively say it would be a frustrating and complicated time for her if she were to lose her job like those women did.

Additionally, after going home, Offred talks with Moira and Luke about the situation at hand. Moira informed, “Women can’t hold property anymore…it’s a new law” (178). Offred continues to narrate, “…We’ll get through it, he said, hugging me. You don’t know what it’s like, I said. I feel as if somebody cut off my feet. I wasn’t crying. Also, I couldn’t put my arms around him…Hush, he said. He was still kneeling on the floor. You know I’ll always take care of you. I thought, already he’s starting to patronize me. Then I thought, already you’re starting to get paranoid” (179). In these quotes, the reader is made aware of what the law is demanding; how Luke attempts to comfort Offred with words but proves to be useless while seeing how she feels misunderstood, defeated by how her body refuses to show affection, degrading herself for how she is feeling and what she’s thinking about. I empathize with Offred’s reaction. If I were in her place, talking about something I have strong emotions towards with a person close to me, and felt that they were trying to comfort me instead of attempting to understand and listen to what’s at stake, I would feel as if they didn’t care about what I was telling them and that they just wanted to get rid of me. Like Offred, I, too, wouldn’t have been able to hug someone after they indirectly showed me they were in denial of my concerns. From how Atwood shaped each character’s response and their reactions, it made me feel as if I were experiencing the moment. How she uses words and their meanings, the tone of her writing, and how she shapes each conversation make me curious and immersed in her writing.

There are multiple chapters in The Handmaid’s Tale where Atwood wrote moments that trigger one’s emotions towards the novel and raise questions about moments, persuading the reader to continue reading, even if they deem the story a lost cause. In a way, this is how I feel. Yet, for that sole reason, I want to see the end of this novel and see what will be of Offred and those around her that continue to alter her life. What’s more, as far as I’ve reached in the novel, Atwood has shown a mixture of vocabulary, integration of invented words, dialogue, character development in odd ways but understandable on multiple occasions, and the integration of how life takes its course in a corrupted society, led by grim regimes. Taking into account these factors, it raises specific emotions and connections that we see in our world, showing us how power can control those without it; the reason why I choose this option for my second lit log.