Resistance and Rebellion in an Inescapable World
In a totalitarian, dystopian society, rebellion is nearly impossible. The hint of an uprising was cause for hangings and banishments in Gilead, the society created in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Even so, resistance did form. For some it was more overt; for others it was more if an internal rebellion, a personal veiled refusal to be corrupted or changed by Gilead and its methods. The intensity of Offred’s resistance slowly grew over time, from simply recognizing that the rhetoric that she was constantly exposed to was wrong, to having a dangerous and illegal relationship with a man she should hardly even talk to. Few in Gilead were as strong minded and strong willed. Offred’s background and previous life, the characters and events it entailed, made her capable of resisting the transformation of society. Offred was lucky in her life experiences. They allowed her to remain herself and cling to her past life and hope for a better future.
Offred grew up with an active feminist for a mother and roomed with the very confident Moira in college. Thus, she was exposed to powerful women for all her life up to her adulthood. Her background in feminism, self-sufficiency, and education, kept her from getting swept away by the rhetoric and negative reinforcement of the Aunts and Gilead. She could see through their twisted bible verses and graphic videos, recognizing their lies for propaganda. “Blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed be the meek. Blessed are the silent. I knew they made that up, I knew it was wrong, and they left things out too, but there was no way of checking” (Atwood 89). Gilead twisted Bible verses to support their cause and encourage their followers, but Offred recognizes the changes and is not convinced. As someone exposed to feminism and the idea of equality for genders, she is naturally inclined to disagree with what the Aunts...