Handmaid's Tale

I have really enjoyed reading this novel by Margaret Atwood, and while the subject matter is something we hope never to have to experience, the themes are present in our own society today, though in a much less extreme fashion. This world of Gilead is one in which women are not women, they are merely walking fertility banks, only valued if their ovaries are functional and fertile. And even being "valued" in this society still means being a commodity. "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze," this quote exemplifies the false sense of freedom that these handmaid's have. They are told how lucky they are, and how sacred they are but none of this is actually held true. Any shred of so called freedom is expressed by the superiors of this rigid society as an immense gift and priviledge. Part of what I love about this book is how Atwood parallels this very strict, linear, and caste system with a structure that is very free and a bit all over the place. It allows for a sort of chaos among the uniformity. Offred jumps back and forth between present circumstances and anecdotes of the past with no warning. But I like to allow her this freedom, this freedom of the mind, the only freedom she is allowed, the only thing that she, and only she, is in control of. This "jumpy" format is the only way in which I think Offred can stay somewhat sane, she needs to be able to cope with her present, horrible situation by any means possible. In today's society there are many "restricted freedoms", which seems oxymoronic but is just reality. We are told that we have freedom of this, freedom of that but nothing is without regulation and guidelines. There is no free freedom. There is always going to be a line that can't be crossed or a rule that can't be broken, and therefore we will always be, atleast minorly, controlled by the authority of our soceity. Like Offred, I don't know if I or anyone really will ever experience bound-less freedom in which there are no forces holding me down or back.