At Least Put up a Fight

(photo credit: media.mnn)

The ability to change resides in all humans. However, in chapter 27 of The Handmaid’s Tale, the indifferent and even submissive way in which people have accepted the negative changes which have taken place in their lives results in a lack of efforts to improve life for anyone including themselves.

Most of the people of Gilead have lost homes and loved ones. Now, instead of fighting to regain what they have lost all they can bring themselves to do is “..look at the Wall”(Attwood 207) where the dead are displayed and think about how “Somehow the Wall is even more foreboding when it’s empty like this”(207). It’s incredible if you think about it: Offred’s first thought upon seeing the vacant Wall isn’t “Ohh I’m glad nobody died here today,” but rather “Nobody’s dead yet so it could still be me.” Add to this the fact that when the Eyes jump out of their van and grab someone off the sidewalk everyone watches but not a single person moves or even says a word. Then, when the Eyes leave, “...the traffic on the street resumes as if nothing has happened.” This is because nobody wants to help anyone anymore. All anyone wants is to be left alone to wallow in a pool of their own misery because they are too afraid to challenge the new way things are done in Gilead. It’s also important to consider that Offred and Ofglen look one another in the eyes for the first time in all the time they’ve been together. They speak of believing and of a group of people who don’t believe, yet the “[sudden] risk… in the air between [Offred and Ofglen]”(210) speaks volumes to the level of submission from most people in Gilead. If someone just waltzed into parliament and said “Okay it’s now illegal for lower class people to look anyone else in the eye,” there would be riots. Unless… unless everyone has become so detached from everything around them that they simply cannot bring themselves to fight for anything because they would rather give up than fight a battle they might lose. Moreover, the fact that people can continuously pass by what they’ve lost without batting an eye is astonishing. As Offred passes by the Wall, she remembers what used to be sold in the now-empty storefronts. “Cosmetics? Jewelry? Most of the stores carrying things for men are still open; it’s just the ones dealing in what they call vanities that have been shut down”(208) Essentially this means that there aren’t any real stores for women, but Offred doesn’t get angry or otherwise upset, she simply continues on her walk, completely accepting the loss of all she once had access to.

To summarize, although it may not be the fault of the lower classes that Gilead came to exist, they are a majority but still choose to accept what has befallen them. They can claim to conspire and think differently all they want, but their lack of actions is clear and their adamant fear of fighting for their own well being means that they are doomed to live forever in their new, crummy conditions.