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Identity and the Body in The Handmaid's Tale
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Identity and the Body in "The Handmaid's Tale"
Anna Johnson
Identity:
- The characteristics which define someone, make them who they are, and distinguish them from others.
- Controlling identity means limiting personal understanding and expression.
Why the body is significant in Gilead:
- Fertility crisis- controlling reproduction.
- Desire to control individuality- controlling physical expression.
Understanding Gilead through Offred's thoughts
- Why are bodies important in determining identity?
- How does Gilead control identity through the body?
- How does this control affect the Handmaids' perception of themselves?
Significance of the body- What is its role in determining identity?
“I avoid looking down at my body (...) because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.”
Two meanings- physical and societal
How do bodies physically “determine” us?
- They are a proof of reality.
- They are the concrete representation of our mental selves.
“I avoid looking down at my body (...) because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.”
How does Gilead use the Handmaids' bodies to to control them?
- They are equated with their bodies.
- Loss of control over the body leads to a disconnect between body and person- they feel like their bodies are working against them.
- They are made to want to escape their bodies and lose the identity they give them.
Role of the body- what is its purpose and who determines this?
- Our environment makes us focus on certain aspects of our bodies.
- Attitudes towards identity can be altered through the body.
- We are often told that our bodies are important because of how they look.
- Offred is told that her body is important because she can have children.
Her body was a tool, present for her own benefit.
Her body and mind were unified.
“I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run, push buttons, of one sort or another, make things happen. There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me./ Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.”
Her body now barely seems to exist.
Her ability to reproduce is her core identity.
“I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run, push buttons, of one sort or another, make things happen. There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me./ Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.”
- Fertility is made the primary indicator of identity.
- The mind and remainder of body appear useless in comparison and personal identity is lost.
- Lack of physical body is linked to lack of identity.
- Limiting the ways the Handmaids can use their bodies diminishes their ability to determine their identities themselves.
Value and the body- how are we affected by what we’re told about our importance?
Value- Insubstantial, only exists because we say so.
“I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable.”
Value is usually based on what something can provide for someone, not on its innate qualities.
“I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable.”
Offred is valued as an object, not a person:
- Her ability to bear children is what makes her important, nothing else.
- Without fertility, she and her body would be worth nothing to others.
- She is forbidden from expressing anything else of her identity.
“There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us (...) We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.”
Containers- The Handmaids are seen as empty without children inside them.
Religious language makes the Handmaids seem other than human- This appears positive but has negative effects.
“There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us (...) We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.”
How dehumanisation allows Gilead to control the Handmaids:
- Altering personal perception- The Handmaids face an internal conflict of identity due to being set apart from other people but lacking power.
- Altering societal perception- Groups of people are divided through ideas about other’s roles and privileges. Handmaids are estranged externally by society.
How the Handmaids are oppressed through the use of body and identity:
- Basing identity on the body.
- Assigning importance to their bodies' roles in society above all else.
- Dehumanising them and reducing them to their fertility.
Sources
Sources
- "The Handmaid's Tale", Margaret Atwood
Images:
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-handmaids-tale#
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