The Handmaid's Tale Journal 1

Handmaid's Tale

"There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you re being given freedom from. Don't underrate it." (Atwood 24)

In a sense, these freedoms are just opposites of each other. The freedom to "smell . . . the turned earth, the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands . . ." (Atwood 12) are things that she enjoyed once upon a time, but with this new life, she is restricted to the building except for their walks. Another thing that fits this juxtaposition is the white wings that all Handmaids must wear on their heads. These are "to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen" (Atwood 8) They lose the freedom of being seen and appreciated and gain the freedom from being critiqued, just on superficial terms.

To further the gain and loss of freedoms, women of this society lose choice inside of their homes, but outside of them, they gain them, which is opposite of what most societies today follow. Inside the homes, like with the Commander and his wife's sex with Offred, choice is made for each person without input. At the market, Offred and Ofglen always have the choice to take a different route. However, they always take the same one, and through this, Atwood suggests that choice takes a backseat when conditions are strange enough.

Their ultimate lack of choice is being the carrier of the Commander's baby. When they have sex, Offred is turned from an ignored woman to a very necessary tool. Just a tool. She, Offred, however, describes the sexual encounter as not rape, not "Making love", nor copulating, because of her "choice".

These passages, by showing the false gains in freedom and the loss of certain choices shows the society as becoming one that values not the individual choice, but the structure of the society. Like in the doctor scene, everything they do must somehow fit into the structure of the society. With the "signed up" for sex, the commander and his wife rule the Handmaid that they deem necessary. Society in The Handmaid's Tale is becoming frenzied with the order of things, not the things that are being done.