Handmaid's Tale: Etymology

The way characters are named in the society of The Handmaid's Tale tells a great deal about the characters' places in that society. The Martha's, the commanders, the Wives, the handmaids, the guardians, and the eyes are all symbolic of the roles each person under that name serves. The majority of the names are derived from biblical stories.

For example, Martha in the bible was a domestic woman who served Jesus while her sister Mary sat by idly. It's not a coincidence that Martha is also the name of the domestic servants in Gilead, who do all the work while the Wives pass the time with gossip and little exertion or effort. Cora and Rita, the Martha's in Offred's house, are required to do all the cooking and cleaning for a household full of capable people that just sit around.

Even the name of the society, Gilead, comes from a biblical passage. The passage is, ironically, referring to the place a man flees with his two wives and his two handmaids.

Another name meant to show ones place in Gilead was Aunt. The term aunt generally brings a person a familial happiness or at least a sense of security. However, the Aunts in Gilead were not a secure, safe group but rather the group that was meant to maintain security.

Obviously, Commanders are named so because they are meant to be in charge. Commander's Wives are simply supposed to be wives and nothing more. Handmaids aren't anything other than of their commanders, because that's their sole purpose in life. Guardians guard. Eyes watch. Un-women/babies/etc are meant not to exist. Jezebels are meant to emulate the evil temptress from the bible.

However, this creation of names based on positions in society almost backfired on Gilead. The handmaids get curious as to the real names of others. "We learned to whisper almost without sound. In the semi-darkness we could stretch our arms, when the aunts weren't looking, and touch each others' hands across space. We learned to lipread, our heads flat on the beds, turned sideways watching each other's mouths. In this way we exchanged names from bed to bed: Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June"(Atwood 4). This passage, along with a few others, shows the curiousity induced in the women of Gilead by being denied the names of others. The lack of ability to identify oneself as an actual given name, and not the names of the commanders, forces secrecy amongst the unnamed women.

The Handmaid's Tale was my favorite read so far this year. The satirical writing, along with the varied allusions that one must be quick to pick up on, reeled me in from page one and kept me interested through the historical notes. The ending was especially well written and creative, finishing with an open ended possibilty. The historical notes at the end were something I've never read in a book before, and it added a touch that made it all the more realistic.

We: Society's ability to convince

The society in Zamyatin's We is one that holds a great power over the people who reside in it. It holds the power to convince its people of things that are far from true. One quote that illustrates this ability is when D-503 is talking about faith, and describes it as "knowledge that is absolutely sure it's infallible"(Zamyatin 49). This quote, which completely contradicts the definition of faith in our society, demonstrates how the power of persuasion can convince anybody of anything. In this society, enough people believed that what they were told was true, and as a result everyone was forced to believe it in order to keep themselves from being prosecuted.

Going with the flow is a very popular theme of D's society, although some people do stray from the crowd. However, the moment they disobey the standards they are expected to live up to, they are publically executed in a grotesque manner. The threat of being obliterated is also a very powerful tool when trying to convince members of society that following the rules and believing what they are told and sticking to their timetable is the best bet.

While first reading We, I found myself very turned off by the ranting style of the writing and the protagonist's lack of questioning his society for a decent amount of time. However, looking back the way Zamyatin wrote his dystopic piece from such a way that differs from many other novels of the same genre was very interesting. Zamyatin chose to create a character who was very unrelatable and unlikeable in many ways, but somehow in the end I was still pulling for D-503 to rebel and stand up to the Benefactor and society. Even when everything was going so wrong, from the election to his meeting with the Benefactor, I still hoped that he would find a way to escape from the singleminded society he lived in. The ending, all though some what disappointing because of his completely unchanged life, was almost more satisfactory in a way then many other novels with standard hollywood happy endings.

Anthem: Those Who Abandon the "Utopia"

Within Anthem , very few people disobey the rules set by the society to keep everyone "equal". Those who do, such as Equality, are treated in such ways that keep others in line.

When Equality was young and saw the Transgressor of the Unspeakable Word executed, he didn't react in the fearful way most in the society would. Instead of looking at the man and hating him, or even pitying him, he just noticed the look in his eyes. "There was no pain in their eyes and no knowledge of the agony of their body. There was only joy in them, and pride, a pride holier than it is fit for human pride to be"(Rand, 17). Their refers to the Transgressor.

This event was a foreshadowing of Equality's future, showing how already as a young child seeing an execution of a society violator could be of an almost opposite effect than the society hopes it to be. Generally, public executions such as the one seen in the beginning of Anthem, are meant as a deterrent to others thinking of breaking the laws a society sets forth. However, with Equality, he found an inspiration in the dying man's eyes to look for the Unspeakable Word, "I".

Through out the rest of the novel, the law breaking acts of people are for the most part non-existent, until Equality himself decides he is ready to venture out and find the true meaning of being an individual, rather then one piece to a large machine that could easily function without him. Equality goes against society by again not falling for the scare tactics they use to keep people from leaving their society. He ventures into the Uncharted Forest. The Uncharted Forest is used just as the public executions in order to create a fear that binds people to the society which suppresses their individuality. However, Equality overcomes the fear with a need for knowledge and freedom and independence. He discovers the word "I" despite the obstacles his society puts in everyone's way to stop them from questioning it's effectiveness.

Anthem was a very enjoyable book. The writing style was interesting, especially with the manipulation of plural pronouns to express singular people. The fact that "I", one of the most common words in the majority of novels, was not used until the near end was an exciting usage of language on Rand's part. However, I disliked some of the characters. In particular, I felt that Golden One did not really grow into an individual person or allow Equality to grow into his own person because of her codependence towards him. She was portrayed in a very needy way, and by doing that Rand created less potential for growth from both characters.

U2 - "Acrobat" and connection to "Handmaid's Tale"

The lyrics to U2's song Acrobat hold surprising similarity to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. A strong theme of the book is symbolized by the latin phrase Offred continuously quotes, a phrase that means "Don't let the bastards grind you down." The song by U2 also carries this theme, even quoting the phrase in the song. Acrobat is all about trying to get out of something but not really being aware as to how. Offred experiences the same issues in The Handmaid's Tale when she is forced to leave her husband and child and brought into a society where women have little freedoms. Offred, like the narrator of this song, was not aware of a way to escape from everything that was bringing her down.

451 : The Montags

Guy and Mildred Montag from Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 are not the typical married couple. Normally in novels, the author tries to incorporate a protagonist's significant other in a more involved way, whether that involvement be beneficial or detrimental to the main character. However, in 451 Bradbury chooses to create Mildred as a distant character that one would hardly guess to be Montag's wife if they did not live together.

The character of Mildred is very complex in her seemingly undeveloped role as Montag's wife. She was vacant most of the time, but aware enough to know that she was unhappy, resulting in her attempt at suicide. However, following the attempt she simply fell back into a state of complacency, forgetting about the fact that she tried to end her life.

The marriage between Mildred and Montag is not one of love and affection, but one based solely on convenience. The relationship Mildred has with the tv family is much more substantial, despite the fact that the soap opera family does not really intimately exist to Mildred. The marraige was unimportant enough that Mildred turned her husband in for owning books.

Overall, I enjoyed Farhenheit 451. All though none of the characters were very relatable or likeable, I still found myself pulling for various characters through out the novel. The fact that it was a dystopia novel turned me off at first, because I've read many and they all have very similiar, predictable plots. However, the characters in Farhenheit 451 were complex and varied enough to keep the novel exciting through out, and keep me guessing till the end.