The Handmaid's Tale

 This book gave me a lot to think about but I'm choosing to go deeper. Now on the surface this is about women's rights. I'm not here to diminish that  and I'm not here to argue that. The main focus are women's rights. These are just things I'm noticing beyond that. This is with from my phone

I haven't really watched the show so I'm basing everything from the book. 

The first scene that really got to me is Luke. He's well intentional, and don't get me wrong, he still ran with our MC. But when she lost her job, she was devastated and scared. When she told him what happened, I felt like him optimism was was blind to her needs. He kept saying "We'll be okay", "This sucks but we'll get through it," and the statement that take got to me was this: "You know I'll take care of you both," I wanted to say that's not the point. She doesn't want that, she wanted her independence back. It just got me thinking that our partners can be perfectly well intentional and still be blind to our needs and feelings. It may not have been that big of a deal to Luke because he still had his job. So everything was okay as far as he was concerned. He did comfort her but I don't think he could understand quite how at a loss she actually was. It sucks being dependent on someone. We've all to go through it. And yes, it's amazing he was willing to take that on, however, I think he just completed missed the point and added salt to the wound.

How many people do this without realizing it? How often are we blind to our partners when shit really hits the fan? Maybe I analyzed this too closely or maybe that was the books' point. Should we start communicating more to our partners about the things they're really missing or should they take the initiative and see what's going on for themselves? I'm not saying they have to be mind readers, but I'm saying they need to see beyond the surface to get the whole scope. She wasn't scared about if she was gonna be taken care of. She just lost her independence from losing her job and not only did she not know why but the men got to keep theirs. I definitely felt like he brushed her off without meaning to and I just wonder how many times in real life that actually happens?

This perfectly goes into the next character I wanna talk out. The Commander. During their secret meetings, when he's offering to share things with her, he's genuinely surprised when she tells him she couldn't even hide them. Now that I think about it, maybe the Commanders aren't just blind. Maybe he just acted shocked to manipulate her, or he doesn't know the full lockdown of the Handmaids. Either way, if he wasn't aware, that mirrors the way men see women in todays world. If it doesn't affect them, they have no reason to look into things. I'm not just talking about women's rights, but just the world in general. I'm from Colorado. We've had a horrible fire recently called the Aspen Acres Fire. Someone told me they didn't even know there was a fire. And this has been all over the news, smoke was in the air, etc. This isn't a flex to not know what's going on around you. You're remaining willfully ignorant. I think a lot of men are susceptible to this especially in relationships. Even his notorious statement of: "Better doesn't necessarily mean better for everyone." He acknowledged the sufferings but acted shocked by how strict they ran the handmaids? And in a place of privilege like a lot of people are, just... choosing to remain willfully ignorant. And there's where a lot of arguments about women's rights come in. 

We all know about the notorious wall. Where if you break their rules, you get hung and publicly displayed. One of those people was a gay man. It got me thinking. They want fertile people right? That's half their spiel. The birth rate was declining so they rounded up all of the fertile people, and it didn't stop with the women. Gay men especially are fertile because they just don't need the sperm. Now this happens in other countries. I'm not saying it doesn't. Many men have to live this way so in the context of what I'm saying here: how many men had to live in hiding due to them just wanting to survive? This is why Gilead was going to fall eventually. Humans can be great at acting. How many gay men were Commanders who had wives? They had to be subjected to that monthly ritual as well. How many of them were living in fear even at home because they were scared of their wives turning them in? Were some of them part of Mayday? I can't imagine they weren't. I wonder how many of them were able to get out. How many more had lovers just on the other side? Who is Mayday in our world?

Almost all dystopian books had their own way of acknowledging human emotions. Almost every single ones answer to this was to try and control it but failing because humans just don't work like that. The only book I've come across that does it successfully is 1984 but that's another rant for a different day. The commander was so lonely because he couldn't connect with his wife anymore due to these strict rules and boundaries. He needed human connection and therefore, used Offfred to do this without regards to his own life. Is this a good example of irony? 

If I think of North Korea and their world, they have to fake human emotion everyday. But that's out in public. What do they think at home? Probably how to live and survive but there always comes a point where they think they may take that dare... 

Now here is my warm take, I didn't really like the MC. She was too... submissive. She could have done more. She resists in her own ways but often, it's not enough. We always think we'd be the hero but who are we really? I understand that's the point of the book, to see the world like that, therefore she HAS to be that way. I understand it, doesn't mean I have to like it. Her friend resisted very well. Her friend was a fighter. 

That's how I see this book. I'm not here to sway anybody, these are just my ramblings. 

This blog sees another day. Will it tomorrow? 

09/05/2026 1550