Members of our society take for granted the importance of a name. Your name is unique; it makes you, you. Names define an individual . However, in The Handmaid’s Tale, the handmaids do not have this privilege. Each woman’s name is stripped away, and she is instead viewed as an empty, soulless possession.
The handmaids are called “Of”(the Commander). This makes them nothing more than a possession of a man. They belong to the Commanders, available for their purposes at their disposal. In this society, the purpose is reproduction. Offred says, “We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (Atwood 136). In the society, they are empty containers; their sole purpose in life is to be “filled” by the Commander. By describing the handmaid’s as “vessels” and “chalices,” Offred is suggesting that they are inanimate. Not having a personal name only intensifies this inhuman image. Just as one would not name his chalice, the society does not name the handmaids. They are merely “of” a man.
One part in particular where the names really got to me was when Offred met the “new” Ofglen. When Offred asks the woman if Ofglen had been transferred, she simply replies, “I am Ofglen” (283). Offred thinks, “And of course she is, the new one, and Ofglen, wherever she is, is no longer Ofglen. I never did know her real name” (283). The handmaid had been replaced. If each handmaid of each Commander serves the same purpose, why shouldn’t they have the same name? Knowing Ofglen’s actual name would have made her seem more like an alive, real, individual person. Giving the same name demonstrates the woman are anything but individuals. The society wants the handmaids to feel that there is nothing unique or special about them. They want them to feel exactly the same, because they all exist for the same thing.
It is apparent that names are of great importance to Offred. She feels that her real name symbolizes the individual human she used to be in the old society. She says, “I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me” (97). To her, her name made her not “valuable,” like a possession, but able to be valued, like a person. Her name gave her a sense of power that is most certainly lacking in this society.
My favorite line in the novel relates to how the women are viewed. Because of the after-dark Scrabble sessions, Offred feels a difference in the relationship between her and the Commander. She says, “To him I’m no longer merely a usable body. To him I’m not just a boat with no cargo, a chalice with no wine in it, an oven—to be crude—minus the bun. To him I’m not merely empty” (163). I think everyone, no matter what society, longs for this feeling. Everyone wants to feel like, to at least someone, they are somebody. The Scrabble games with the Commander are so important to Offred because they are the only things that give her this feeling. The Commander, (as much as I do not like him) makes her feel like a living individual instead of an empty possession waiting to be filled. The comparison to an oven in particular holds a lot of importance. It illustrates how the Commander is able to see her as something other than device for reproduction, which is how society wants her to feel.
This novel was a great new perspective of dystopian societies. Because Offred had once lived in society as we know it, it made it so easy to relate to her. All of the characters had very distinct personalities, and (unlike other utopian/dystopian novels) I could find many similarities between the thoughts of them and myself. In addition, Atwood was able to take problems and opinions from our own world and use extremist techniques to make readers think about their own beliefs. I loved seeing everything from this skewed perspective, and I would definitely call it one of the best novels I have ever read.
dear baby turkey, I found it interesting that you find that a soul resides in a name. I think in any other situation it would be different. For example if you changed my name to something else i would be me. Its a classic example of the shakespearian a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But like you said it made them possessions which defines the difference. very insight full blog post
ReplyDeleteI really liked your take on the lack of names in the society of Gilead. I agree with what you say. Your name really is an important part of you and to be robbed not only of your name, but of any real name entirely is to be robbed of a piece of yourself. The issue of the "new" Ofglen also effected me. The idea that a person could be so easily replaced because their place in the world is nothing more than being owned by someone else is haunting. I thought your analysis was very in depth and interesting, and I have to say that I concur.
ReplyDelete