Offred’s narrative is made up of memories which represent important documentary evidence of cultural history in America. This information includes the rise of second wave feminism and the anti feminist backlash of New Right Christian fundamentalism. Importantly, all the women in the novel are survivors of ‘the time before’ and their voices represent a range of traditional feminine and new feminist positions dating back to the Women’s Liberation movement of the late 1960s. Offred’s mother belongs to this early activist group. It campaigns for women’s sexual freedom, its pro – abortion rallies and pornographic book burnings. Atwood challenges feminist attitudes here. She has created a society where women ultimately get what they want as they aren’t wolf whistled at in the street anymore and porn is abolished however, there is no romanticism about sex anymore. All emotion and pleasure is removed. This is a direct contradiction to what the feminists wanted. There are further examples of feminists picking and choosing what they do and don’t want. In Chapter thirty Offred talks about killing the cat before running away. She states “I should have gone out with him, taken that small responsibility.” As a feminist Atwood is illustrating that one can’t just pick and choose what you do. Offred shows she didn’t have the courage to kill the cat or to ask about it afterwards unlike Luke. This leads to the question how can one define feminism? Atwood remarked “Feminist is now one of the all purpose words. It really can mean anything from people who think men should be pushed off cliffs to people who think it’s ok for women to read and write. All those could be called feminist positions. Thinking that it’s ok for women to read and write would be a radically feminist position in Afghanistan. So what do you mean?” Therefore if one is to be a feminist she has to take responsibility for everything and be prepared to do anything. The aunts use cattle prods and violence to control the handmaids. They illustrate that women are just as capable of violence as women. This is a true feminist perspective.
In ‘The Second Sex’ De Beauvoir showed women that their inferior status was not due to their biological weakness but to historical and economic assumptions about femaleness. Friedan placed much more emphasis on women’s bodies and issues relating to female sexuality. During the 1970s the feminist movement rapidly gained strength in the United States. The movement won Congressional endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972 and the Supreme Court decision to make abortion legal in 1973. However, opposition campaigns meant that the Equal Right Amendment failed to be ratified in 1982. This was a bitter defeat for feminism. Offred regrets her own indifference to her mother’s feminist activism and laments the political apathy of so many younger women which contributed to the rise to power of the extreme right wing creating this society and Gilead. She now realises “We lived as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it.” In this case, it is clear that many of the women in Gilead didn’t care about feminism in contemporary society. In this new society Offred understands why her mother and others like her mother were feminists. Offred’s thoughts also demonstrate that it was feminist attitudes that led to the beginning of Gilead. Therefore, Atwood is challenging the belief that feminism is good. If there had been no such feminist movement and no want for abortion the birth rate would not have dropped and therefore this society would never have been needed. The women have condemned themselves to this fate.
In the novel opponents to feminism are represented by the Commander’s Wife and the Aunts. They show that they are more than willing to collaborate with Gilead’s regime to re – educate women back into traditional gender roles. The Handmaids, on the other hand, represent the younger women who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s. In this group of women positions on feminism are varied. Janine for example, accepts the role of a female victim however radicals such as the lesbian feminist Moira highlight the paradoxes and dilemmas within contemporary feminism. Gilead is quick to point out, women’s sexual and economic freedom of choice has brought new anxieties. In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ the dangerous consequences of feminism have been grotesquely distorted discrediting their critiques.
Feminism believes that men and women should be equal. Atwood challenges this attitude by presenting the situation that if men are violent then women should be capable of this too. The aunts and the Particicution are clear examples of this. It is extreme to suggest that women should have to be violent too. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ may be a critique of certain feminist positions but it is clear where its sympathies lie. In addition, Offred’s double vision allows her to evaluate both Gilead and her own lost late twentieth century America. America had not been entirely good but it is obvious that Gilead is undoubtedly worse. Atwood insists that women have never marched under a single banner.
In Chapter forty – two Offred describes the Salvaging. It is at the prospect of violence that all the women come together unified. However, they all have to sit in their separate groups. Gilead has split the women into so many different groups that they are no longer able to be united in order to rebel or form a feminist group. They are willing to do favours for each other though and this is clear when Offred agrees to have sex with Nick so that Serena can have the chance of a baby. The women are not united for a common end as suggested by Aunt Lydia in Chapter twenty – six.
Offred is a witty, sceptical woman who cares about men, mother – daughter relationships and her female friends. It is coincidence therefore that it is she who survives to tell her story. Some critics have viewed this novel as a feminist dystopia but the narrative demonstrates that it is much more complex than that. It’s not just about taking feminist attitudes to the extreme but also taking daily realities to the extreme. The narrative is thus a failed utopia for everyone. Everything is in short supply, from rationing of food and good to the lack of sexual choice for both women and men. With the sharp decline in the birth rate and reproduction assuming primary importance women are reduced to their biological function as childbearers and denied any sexual freedom at all at any age. The national crisis also affects men’s lifestyles as well though. Any male practice which inhibits reproduction is severely punished, so that male doctors who formerly practised abortion or are homosexuals are all executed and their bodies are hung on the wall as a message to everyone. Feminists receive what they wish in Gilead because pornography, sexual violence and infidelity are outlawed but so is falling in love. That is something the feminists never wished to abolish. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale challenges state tyranny and social engineering which rules out any dimension of choice, emotion or free will for women as well as for most men. Hence, the novel should be seen as being more comprehensive than just a feminist dystopia for its concerns extend to include gender politics and basic human rights.
Therefore, Atwood reduces the women’s role in this society to the biological function of producing babies and becoming traditional housewives in order to help the men. Atwood’s perspectives give us a clear indication that Atwood is challenging feminist attitudes. They wanted sexual freedom and to abolish pornography. They got what they wanted but more. There is no in between in the eyes of Atwood. Everything is to the extreme and this is how Atwood effectively challenges feminist attitudes.
