After exploring The Handmaid’s Tale one can see that Offred and the other characters in the novel are restricted in every single aspect of their lives. For example, when Offred goes shopping, she acknowledges the fact that, even here, the only time that she is allowed to leave the house, she is restricted. “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays in the maze” The rat is a metaphor representing Offred, while the maze represents Gilead. Although Offred claims that “now and again we vary our routes”, she must “stay inside the barriers”. Offred is able to go wherever she wishes, as long as it is within Gilead’s approval.
Restricted movement is displayed throughout the entire novel. On “Birth day”, Offred exclaims “on this day we can do anything we want”. As The Handmaid’s Tale is written in a first person narrative, the reader is able to relate to Offred and share her thoughts and feelings. The reader feels a sense of happiness for Offred as she finally receives some form of freedom. Atwood also helps the reader to glimpse at the most important aspects of Gilead through this chapter. “Birth day” is placed in the middle of the novel. This was done to show that the Handmaids and the entire Gileadean society are based on conceiving and giving birth and to allow women to “…fulfil their biological destinies in peace”. However Offred then goes on to say “I revise that: within limits” All sense of freedom is lost when Offred says this, as it shows that she never had any freedom. Offred’s imprisonment is also shown through the types of nouns Atwood uses. Whilst on her shopping trip Offred describes her surroundings. Atwood’s use of words, such as “barbed wire” “searchlights” and “hooks” illustrate the kind of world Offred is living in; she is constantly surrounded by objects which make it practically impossible for her to resist the rules Gilead have imposed upon her.
Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-four is also restricted; however it is in quite a different manner. Winston is able to leave his home, attend work etc, whereas Offred must not even leave her room unless “summoned”. However, both characters are still experiencing restricted movement. Winston experiences such rules when he visits places which “Party members were supposed not to go.” There are no laws against going wherever a person wants, however if a party member went somewhere solely for pleasure, it would be regarded as suspicious. This is evident when Winston enters Mr Charringtons shop; he comprehends that it was a “suicidal impulse” that led him to enter the shop, because if he was caught he would most definitely be denounced to the thought police.
Oppression also appears in the form of dress. Both novels have a strict and specific dress code according to an individual’s status in society. Gilead is very much based on a hierarchy and therefore Atwood explores uniform in The Handmaid’s Tale by allocating characters of different positions, with different colours. “…dull green of the marthas… stripped dresses, red and blue and green and cheap and skimpy” Not only does this show that colour symbolises status, but it shows that quality of dress also shows status, as the “econowives”, who are seen as very low in society, dress in “cheap and skimpy” clothes. The striped dresses also symbolise the fact that “econowives” must do everything themselves. They have a mixture of all the colours in their dress, “…red and blue and green”, therefore implying that they must do the work of the Marthas and Handmaids. “These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything” This contradicts the values of Gilead as they claim to be a state where everyone is equal and where eventually nobody will “…want things they can’t have.” However, here they are showing discrimination to the people of a lower class. As for the Handmaids, Atwood may have chosen a red colour of dress in order to symbolise birth and fertility, which is their main function in the novel.
George Orwell also explores uniform in Nineteen Eighty-four. Similar to The Handmaid’s Tale, uniform also symbolises status. Nineteen Eighty-four is also based on a hierarchy. Characters in different positions wear different colours to symbolise their status. Winston must wear “blue overalls which were the uniform of the party” while O’Brien wears the “black overalls of an inner party member.” Julia, Winston’s secret lover, also wears “blue overalls” however she also wears “A narrow scarlet sash, emblem of the Junior Anti-Sex League” around her waist.
The junior anti-sex league is one of the many committees set up by Big Brother in order to control its subjects. “Processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks…” are just some of the many events party members indulge in, in order to express their love and devotion to Big Brother. Julia also encourages Winston to enrol for events such as “munition-work” to show his dedication to the party. Julia believed that by enrolling in such events “It paid…it was camouflage”, therefore it is highly unlikely anyone will ever suspect such a zealous party member as secretly disobeying Big Brother. Phillip Pullman, one of the many critics of Orwell’s novel suggests: “…if they don’t stand up and wave a flag and shout slogans, they’re invisible, and hence suspect”
Restricted speech is also common throughout The Handmaid’s Tale. Characters in this novel must follow a strict and certain criterion. When attending shopping trips, Offred and Ofglen must speak using certain terminology such as “praise be” and “blessed be the fruit”. Not only do these phrases show restricted speech but they also inform the reader about Gileadean societies. By using phrases such as “praise be” the reader is aware that Gilead is a (Christian) theocracy, where phrases from the Bible are used in everyday life and speech. Restricted speech also appears on Birth day, where Handmaid’s are trained to repeat specific terms as a fellow a Handmaid is giving birth. “Breathe, breathe…hold, hold. Expel, expel” are chanted repeatedly. This chanting also shows loss of identity as all handmaids are now seen as one and the same person.
Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four also examines the theme of restricted speech. Although Winston speaks in “Oldspeak” which is Standard English, “Newspeak” will soon become the official language of Oceania. “Newspeak” has been devised in order to restrict speech as well as thought. The process of creating newspeak involves destroying hundreds of words. “…the whole aim of newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” this is in order to make “Thoughtcrime” impossible. Thought-crime was “the essential crime that contained all others in itself”. Not only has all freedom been stripped from him, but now Big Brother is aiming to control all manners of thought processes as well. As Margaret Atwood says of Nineteen Eighty-four:
“…the rulers of Airstrip One wish to make it literally impossible for people to think straight.”
Both Offred and Winston experience a restriction of self expression. Offred is not allowed to read or write, even unnecessary speech is illegal. When Offred is in the Commander’s office, he gives her a magazine. On seeing the magazine, Offred is shocked “I thought such magazines had been distorted” this signifies the fact that reading such material had now become forbidden, and so “even [reading] the name of shops were too tempting for us”. When Offred first entered the Commander’s office her immediate reaction is “it’s an oasis of the forbidden”. The forbidden here, refers to the bookcases all around the wall, reading is prohibited as books also represent knowledge; Gilead has banned books as they are forms of education, and thus a threat to Gilead. This is why the “universities are closed” Even reading the bible, a book which is at the centre of the Gileadian society, is forbidden “we can be read from it, by him, but we cannot read it”. Again this shows Gilead is a patriarchal society as the commander is the only member of the household who is allowed to read. Offred also finds an engraving made in her cupboard by her predecessor “it was in writing, forbidden by that very fact” again this shows that not only reading, but writing is also forbidden. The inhabitants of Gilead have been oppressed to such an extent that little things such as holding a pen is a pleasurable act; “The pen between my fingers is sensuous, alive almost”
Winston Smith also experiences a restriction of expression. Although he is able to read and write on a daily basis, he can only do so if it concerns the affairs of the party. Reading and writing for oneself and as an act of pleasure is forbidden. Winston however is not allowed to express his thoughts and feelings; he must take constant care over his body movements and facial expression so he does not wish to give anything away “his face remained inscrutable…A single flicker of the eyes could give you away.” If Winston does not learn to control his expression he will most certainly be caught by the Thought Police and “vaporised”.
Gilead and Big Brother oppress their subjects in many different ways. Not only do they try to restrict an individual’s movement and thought, they also aim to restrict the whole of society. This is shown through economic control. In The Handmaid’s Tale, when Offred goes shopping she is given “tokens”, this shows “…there is no real money any more”, not only are the Handmaids oppressed to such an extant where they cannot use real money but the Commanders are also oppressed as they too cannot access money. However, Gilead is defied and particular items are obtained through the “black market” where “There’s always something that can be exchanged”.
The Commanders in many respects are as oppressed as the other characters. Even though they are the founders of the regime and have the highest status, they too break the rules. When Offred first enters the Commander’s office he wishes “…to play a game of scrabble” this shows the Commander has a day to day lack of personal freedom and companionship. Playing Scrabble is also very symbolic. Throughout the novel Offred often plays and experiments with various words. Playing around with words and letters gives Offred a sense of freedom. Whilst playing Scrabble she often spells words such as “Zygote”, a fertilised egg, which relates to her present situation, showing the reader that although she is breaking rules and going against Gilead, she is still aware of her position. The Commander is also sexually oppressed, this is shown when the Commander is looking at a woman’s face on a magazine of the pre-Gilead times, Offred observes the actions of the commander “It was a look you’d give to an almost extinct animal”.
Nineteen Eighty-four also explores economic control. Items are allocated by rationing, and the party has complete control over what is distributed to their subjects, as often “the chocolate ration would be reduced”. Rationing is not the only form of control Big Brother uses. Members of the outer party “received only three thousand clothing coupons annually” this is in order to ensure that party members would not purchase anything unnecessarily or for personal pleasure.
Both novels also explore forms of oppression that were in place before the regime, as a means to justify it. The republic of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale claims they are giving their citizens a better way of life, “we’ve given them more then we’ve taken away” as before the regime “…there was a terrible gap between the ones who could get a man easily and the ones who couldn’t”. As Margaret Atwood says “The fact is that any totalitarianism will always come in by saying it’s going to give you a better thing than what you have” This is exactly the case in The Handmaid’s Tale as Gilead is claiming they have given the citizens of Gilead a better way of life. Oppression is also hinted at when Atwood uses flashbacks as a way of making the reader aware of the kind of life Offred and the others led before the regime. This is shown when Moira talks about “Date Rape”. This hints women were not safe “in the time before” as they were being taken advantage of and oppressed. However such forms of oppression are still taking place. Atwood further develops the theme of rape when Offred visits the doctor. Although she is not physically raped the doctor has all the power to do so, as “he could fake the tests”, therefore putting Offred in a no win situation as then she would be “shipped off to the colonies”. Atwood’s style of language is also very significant in this scenario. The doctor, in his speech, is more relaxed and colloquial “it’d only take a minute, honey” because his position in society gives him freedom. Offred on the other hand is terrified; “help me”. This is ironic in Gileadian society as they claim that “women were not protected then”. As one can see, they are equally, if not more vulnerable to men of power now, then ever before.
Orwell too uses flashbacks to show the reader what Winston’s life was like before the regime. “…there had never been quite enough to eat, one had never had socks or underclothes that were not full of holes” Although Winston defies the party it seems that he is almost accepting the party’s rules and trying to defend their actions. This may have been a foreshadowing of Winston’s fate at the end of the novel as “…he loved Big Brother”
The idea of any system of government being implemented is to claim they are giving their citizens a better way of life. This is parallel to the ideas of Stalin in 1936. In fact many of Orwell’s ideas are said to be based upon Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. As Margaret Atwood says of Nineteen Eighty-four:
“Orwell was writing a satire about Stalin’s Soviet Union”
The ideas of the party and Big Brother are very much similar to Stalin’s Russia. Russia was a communist country and therefore the citizens did not have a vote. At the time Russia was an oligarchy; as it was ruled by only a few people. The sudden arrests by the thought police were familiar features of the 1930s, especially in Soviet Russia. In 1936, the dictator Stalin held trials were victims confessed to treachery (similar to Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford), and they often claimed that they had worked for a secret movement like the brotherhood.
In conclusion, after analysing both novels it is evident that the theme of Oppression runs constantly throughout. Most, if not all the characters are oppressed. Lack of personal freedom, restricted movement, restricted thought and restricted language is experienced by many characters. Oppression is not only shown through actions but by dress and economic control. Both The Handmaid’s Tale and Nineteen Eighty-four are visions of the future based on events of the present and the past.
Word count: 3,198
Bibliography
Primary:
Atwood, M, The Handmaids Tale (London: Virago Press Limited, 1987)
Orwell, G, Nineteen Eighty Four (London: Penguin Books Limited, 1990)
Secondary:
Atwood, M, Orwell and Me (The Guardian, 16 June, 2003)
Interview with Margaret Atwood by Jeri Johnson, The English Review
Pullman, P, Does God love Democracy? (Extract from Index on Censorship, Vol. 33, November 9th 2004)
Phillip Pullman; Extract from Index on Censorship vol 33 Does God love Democracy? (published: 9/11/04)
Orwell and Me By Margaret Atwood. The Guardian 16 June, 2003
English Review; Interview with Margaret Atwood by Jeri Johnson
Orwell and Me By Margaret Atwood. The Guardian 16 June, 2003