The Handmaid's Tale: the Exposition

 

The Exposition

In the very first chapter of the novel, the main character relives one of her memories of the Red Center. The Red Center, as we can understand it, is a prison-like holding location for women of Gilead. The Center consisted of dormitories “in what had once been [a] gymnasium.” (p. 3) And of a football field enclosed with barbed wire. They are granted “walks, twice daily, two by two” (p.4). We understand quickly that this center is funded by the government because they are given “army cots” (p.4) and “army-issue blankets” (p.4). The girls are constantly being monitored whether it be by the Aunts inside or by the guards outside. A hierarchy among the supervisors is quickly established. Gender defines the role and the responsibilities that you possess in Gilead. Although the Aunts have power over the inmates, they are seen as less important than their male colleagues. As a matter of fact, “even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards, specially picked from the Angels” (p.4). All greater positions are occupied by men. If you have not caught on yet, it is clear to see that all women of Gilead are seen as inferior to men whatever their role in society might be.  The women who are kept in the Center have their identities taken away; they are forced to whisper their names as if it were problematic to say it out loud: “Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June.” (p.4). They sleep in “flannelette sheets, like children's” (p.4) and “electric cattle prods” (p.4) are kept near the women as if they were animals needing to be tamed. The combination of all these circumstances and characteristics of the Center gives us a quick understanding of how society functions in Gilead.

However, the author focuses our attention on the women and the way they are treated. Knowing women’s rights were a big issue at the time she wrote this book, she must have known women would relate to the mistreatment of the characters in chapter one. This book enhances fears feminists used to possess, and still do, about women’s rights being reversed. I believe it is why so many people were enticed to read this best-seller. It is also why I too felt appealed to continue reading the story of Gileadean women.

In the first chapter alone, it is possible to draw many conclusions from the details provided by the novelist. There is a conflict between the women and their captors as well as with the life that has been imposed upon them. After all the harsh realities these people are put against, no wonder they lose touch with who they used to be. It is only through memories of the past that they can oversee the future. The women are forced to whisper each other's names and touch each other’s hands while the Aunts look away in order to feel human again. Everything has been taken from them except for their bodies. Even then, without their fertile bodies, they would be sent away to the Colonies like the other women where a lifetime of suffering would await them.  Their bodies have become their only source of importance and their only chance of escaping their realities. Talking of the guards, the main character explains: “They were objects of fear to us, but of something else as well. (…) fantasy.” (p.4); “If only they would look. If only we could talk to them (…) we thought” (p.4). The government knows seduction could potentially be an issue. It is why the guards must look away from the women and are forbidden to interact with them. That single glimmer of hope is what fuels the women who can bear children. It is what motivates them to deal with the lives they have been appointed.

It would be a tragedy if anyone were to relate to the women of the book. However, I know that women are subdued into similar inferiority across the globe. I have not experienced first-hand any similar events, thankfully. It is because I live in a modern equality-based country with laws to enforce such equality. In Canada, the fight still lives, but women generally have control over their own bodies. Sadly, in other countries, women do not have such rights.