Thursday, July 29, 2010 . 7:45 AM
THE HANDMAID'S TALEThe Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future, where war rages across the fictional Republic of Gilead and pollution has rendered 99 percent of the female population sterile. In the opening scenes of the movie, Kate, the protagonist of the story, sees her husband killed and her daughter kidnapped while trying to escape across the border to Canada. She is then forced into being a Handmaid a concubine for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country as she is not sterile. Although she resists being indoctrinated into this bizarre cult, Kate obeys the orders in order to survive.
After watching a part of The Handmaid's Tale in class, I felt extremely traumatised, and I think many of my classmates were too. It came as quite shock, as I was not used to the drastic-ness of how morbid and unfair the Republic of Gilead was, in comparison to The Giver. After watching the film, society in The Giver, while still an appalling one, seems mild. The amount of violence as well as how merciless the dictators were in classifying the people of Gilead into castes were what agitated and frightened me the most.
Even in the opening scenes of the movie, a man was shot because he tried to escape from this country by not one, but multiple machine guns to make sure he was dead.
The degree of violence in that scene really disgusted me. I felt very sorry for the man as it was a 'lose-lose' situation. If he went back, he would have probably been sent for execution for disobeying the law and he absolutely did not stand a chance when he ran forward, trying to cross the border anyway.
Right after, we saw how the women were taken to a facility where racial and sterile/not sterile segregation took place. Those who were not "ideal" handmaid candidates were either executed or sent away to carry out manual labour.
As the movie went on, we watched how handmaids lived and were treated. Hundreds of them slept together in a huge room, in their own sleeping-bag-like beds, which were arranged neatly and orderly.
I still shiver at the thought of such a controlled and dictatorial society and I cannot imagine how I could stay alive in such a morbid and bizzare place.
Disobedience was not tolerated and those who disregarded the rules were punished by getting their feet beaten and whipped, probably because this method of punishment did not affect their ability to reproduce.
Abortion was also frowned upon. One of the handmaids in training told the rest of the her counterparts and their trainers that she had been raped in the past and aborted the baby as she was not ready to handle it. They all chanted negative words and even used curse words which were directed at her, instead of the people who raped her.
I feel that the punishment is extremely cruel. They abused the people who they expected help from and extorted them to the highest level. I also think that the brainwashing done by the handmaid trainers was very inhumane. I feel that they should have a choice to abort their child if they were not able to provide for it and they were not able to handle it at that point of their lives. Of course, there is always the option of putting the baby up for adoption. Still, I feel that freedom of choice is a human right.
Kate was sent to be a handmaid in the Commander(Fred) and his wife's(Serena Joy's) home. Her name was no longer Kate and was "Offred"(of Fred) instead, which made her a possession of the Commander.
After her first encounter with what her job really required her to do, she was so distressed that she threw a glass of milk across her own room. I cannot believe she managed to live through that chapter of her life. I really admire her bravery and her determination which enabled her to survive.