The Handmaid’s Tale is an interesting novel about many societal aspects that can be reflected upon in real life. However, one very interesting aspect, yet exaggerated, is gender and social inequalities that prevail in this dystopian republic. The novel describes a situation where a democratic state is taken over by religious powers who, in their turn, change the prevailing democratic system into a religious dictatorship. A totalitarian and theocratic regime emerges in the area and consequently, a new social structure is being built following the new totalitarian state, the Republic of Gilead. The new emerging system in the new republic of Gilead results in several societal aspects and injustice in society, mainly for women. It is rather interesting to understand the new social structure that is illustrated in the novel.
The new social structure that emerges in the republic of Gilead is a suppressive one and based on strict division among different social classes. However, the division is mainly among women who are divided into six different social groups. Those groups are the handmaids, wives, Marthas, econowives, and unwomen. This division among women reveals a deeper division in the social structure of the dystopian republic. For example, handmaids have no names and mainly no rights rather than serving the commanders that they are working for. Handmaids’ main objective is a reproductive objective to contribute to declining birth and population rates in Gilead. On the other hand, wives are married to high-ranked men and supervise the ceremony of reproduction between the handmaids and the commanders whilst econowives are women married to men of lower ranks in the new society. The Marthas are low-ranking and infertile women whose main objective is to function as domestic servants for the wives. The most powerful women in Gilead are the aunts and their objective is to indoctrinate fertile women into the new system.
This division of people in the totalitarian Republic of Gilead influences relationships among members of this society and concretely, the hierarchy according to the new social structure. That is, Gilead is a masculine republic and at the same time is oppressive to women who live in it. Furthermore, ideas such as equality, social justice, and other ideas that are perceived as essential for the modern world are challenged in the new social structure. That is, it becomes normal for women to not have the right to a name or to be sexually objectified or used as a sexual object. On the other hand, those who show resistance to the new system are marginalized and punished, mainly by other members of the dystopian society of Gilead. Moreover, men are centralized in this society and it becomes more of a norm that the wife should help out her husband, the commander, during the ceremony as Serena Joy did when the commander slept with Offred.
The fact is that the social classes and events in The Handmaid’s Tale, despite being exaggerated, can be applied to real-life social classes in terms of how societies function. That is, men in real life have an advantageous position over women who are discriminated against in different ways. Furthermore, there is a fact in our modern world that women still are to an extent objectified as sexual objects for reproduction purposes. The role of women in Gilead as wives and handmaids is still, to an extent, socially acceptable in real life and there still are societies in our world that have this view on women and their role. The most interesting aspect that can be reflected upon in real life is the Eyes and the Spies in Gilead. Eyes are the secret police in Gilead while the Spies are citizens who, based on their initiative, encounter any matter of rebellion in the new society despite being as oppressed as any other member in Gilead. This is very symbolic because this reminds the reader of the idea of Big Brother societies and how women are controlled.
Finally, The Handmaid’s Tale is an interesting novel that raises several questions that apply to real-life events. The novel presents the events and the characters in such an unrealistic way but still has a dimension that can be reflected upon in real life. Inequalities in Gilead are not occasional but rather a norm that is followed by a wide pattern of society members and to an extent accepted by people, whether frankly or through not resisting it. The social division is illustrated in such a way that shows everyone is oppressed but not the commanders which contributes to the relationships that emerge among people in Gilead.