Freedom and safety

Freedom and safety

1. Utopias are created for this reason; they present an “imaginary, yet positive” environment in which characters are free to express themselves, share their opinions, and stand out as individuals

2. freedoms are curtailed in order to protect its citizens from imagined future terrible events

   • the logic of Gilead is that the dynamic freedom, in other words the freedom to actively do what you like, might not have been something entirely bad, but the consequences were too severe
   • This freedom was the cause of men’s violence towards women and since the logic is that men cannot be responsible for their actions, women’s freedom must be taken away
     • Feuer discusses this as “the choice-between happiness without freedom or freedom without happiness-is presented […] by Atwood’s Aunt Lydia, trainer of handmaids and explicator of the regime’s rationale for its oppression”
     • Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles.

3. Freedom to

   • individual to do what he or she wants, which may seem desirable but can lead to anarchy
     • irony of this is, of course, that although women did not abuse their dynamic freedom as men did, they still get the severest restrictions of their freedom.
   • description of the Handmaid’s situation as happiness or pre-Gilead women’s situation as totally lacking happiness
   • Offred’s flashbacks show very clearly that the society “before” is not a place she wishes to return to
     • Ironically, it took such a drastic change as this for her to notice the flaws of the past.
       • Ironically, it took such a drastic change as this for her to notice the flaws of the past.
     • Neuman annihilates any claim that Atwood’s description of the “time before” would be any kind of ideal freedom state: “Here some readers of The Handmaid’s Tale […] have misread the novel by conflating Offred’s desire to have everything back, the way it was”
     • Women were not free from the oppression of men in the past either. It was a different kind of oppression, but oppression nonetheless.
     • She hungers for the freedom she sees expressed by the Japanese tourists, saying, ~The smell of nail polish has made me hungry" (
       • Enjoying a taste of freedom while playing Scrabble, she says, "I hold the glossy counters with their smooth edges, finger the letters. The feeling is voluptuous. This is freedom, an eyeblink of it"
       • Offred remembers, "I used to dress like that. That was freedom"
       • When the Commander wishes to take Offred "out," she reflects on her complete lack of freedom, thinking, "It's an archaic phrase.

4. Freedom from

   • where rules and restrictions protect individuals from the results of amoral or anarchic behaviour.
     • The severe restriction of individual liberty and freedom of speech in such repressive régimes as the USSR
       • Karen Stein in her book Margaret Atwood Revisited states that the role of Aunt Lydia [and the other Aunts] is to control “women’s appetites for freedom and knowledge, slimming down their minds and behaviors to be acceptable to Gilead’s social standards”
     • She may be able to walk the streets in safety but she has paid dearly for this – she has lost individual freedom
       • loss of freedom is huge
         • they are the state’s property. They are owned by the Commanders and their wives – they are Of-Fred or Of-Warren.
         • They are spied on, monitored, restricted by The Eyes, The Angels and The Guardians
         • The Handmaids even spy on one another, “The truth is that she is my spy, as I am hers.”
         • andmaids don’t have personal belongings and their rooms are like cells
         • They are not allowed to speak freely and group together.
       • “Freedom, like everything, is relative.”
       • the need of always having to take measures not to be attacked is a type of restricted freedom as well.
       • Offred realizes that everything that has ever mattered to her, her freedom to love, have sex, dress, travel, and feel the way she wants to have been taken away from her
       • freedom is the ability to say "2+2=4
         • If Winston has the right to insist on his version of the truth—which is a truth that stands independent of ideology—then he can hold on some vestige of being human and determine at least that much of his life for himself.
         • . He believes that true freedom lies in the ability to interpret reality as one perceives it
   • women now have static freedom
     • they have the freedom not to be negatively affected by men’s dynamic freedom
     • He claims that now it is better since “this way they all get a man”
       • Instead of mouthing the propaganda spoken by the Aunts, that this society benefits all of its members, the · Commander speaks honestly and acknowledges that in order for some to enjoy this new life, some also must suffer. And those who suffer are the women.
     • d. “Money was the only measure of worth, for everyone, they got no respect as mothers. No wonder they were giving up on the whole business (of making children). This way they’re protected, they can fulfil their biological destinies in peace. With full support and encouragement”
     • Physical barriers such as soldiers and barricades prevent free movement from place to place.
       • Winston Smith was limited in his ability to freely speak and move about in Oceania.
   • Big Brother goes to extraordinary lengths to denying any notion of individual expression.

5. The Handmaids are told stories about these conditions to justify their situation.

   • “[m]en are sex machines […] and not much more. They only want one thing” (
     • According to the Commander, the society “before” was a place of ruthless competition which women could not handle
       • "To die hating them, that was freedom"
     • I remember the rules that were never spelled out but that every woman knew: don’t open your door to a stranger, even if he says he is the police. Make him slide his ID under the door. Don’t stop on the road to help a motorist pretending to be in trouble.Keep the locks on and keep going. If anyone whistles, don’t turn to look. Don’t go into a laundromat, by yourself, at night.
       • Gilead society, then, has used protection from these dangers as a "trade off" for the freedoms these women are expected to surrender. A
   • In addition, the ‘Aunts’ describe the conditions of Gilead as a different kind of freedom
     • “There is more than one kind of freedom said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of the anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are given freedom from. Don’t underrate it” (34).
   • The Handmaids are supposed to see themselves, not as objects, but as part of a sisterhood, which is something the ‘Aunts’ try to indoctrinate
     • The discourse here disguises the values men have about women, by claiming that female equality exists officially
     • the ‘Aunts’ justify Gilead by referring to the problems with violence and birth rates in the past
       • Offred’s private encounters he tries to justify things to her and claims that “the problem wasn’t only with the women, he says. The main problem was with the men. There was nothing for them anymore […] the sex was too easy, anyone could just buy it. There was nothing to work for, nothing to fight for.
         • 1). Barbé Hammer explains that the Commander “calmly justifies the oppressive regime which he partly masterminded with the observation that in the old society men felt they were no longer needed by women; he thereby suggests that women's liberation forced American men to take this drastic action; ergo the present regime is ultimately the women's ‘fault’ “
         • women had gained too much influence in society. They were no longer dependent on men in the same way they had been before.
           • Since women were able to decide themselves who to marry and to be with, some men would use force to compensate for the fact that they were no longer in a position of control of women.
         • The “nothing for them” the Commander talks about is most likely one of the explanations to the increased sexual violence against women in the society “before”.
         • the lack of moral values, like prostitution, had made men lose their “ability to feel”.
           • Sex had become trivialized, which would mean that sexual violence had become less serious as the seriousness of sex had subsided
         • Obviously, then, the lack of language and freedom of expression have enabled the Republic of Gilead to set up, and maintain, shop. People are terrified to communicate openly or even communicate honestly with themselves
       • Offred watches a film with no soundtrack in which the signs, "TAKE BACK THE NIGHT, FREEDOM TO CHOOSE,EVERYBABY A WANTEDBABY,RECAPrURE OUR BODIES,and DO YOU BELIEVE A WOMAN'S PLACE IS ON THE KITCHEN TABLE
         • Offred suggests that rather than being overlooked, these signs were provided "to remind us of the old days of ·no safety"
         • o remind the handmaids of the destructive behaviors of the selfish women who came before them that have led to the current emergency measures for creating children.
     • The language of Gilead makes it sound like they are only doing what they do for the women’s own good.
       • The Commander describes the society “before” as a place where only money mattered and people did not, and that in Gilead the worth of women is appreciated

6. I didn't want to live my life on her terms.

   • lack of passion and commitment to her own freedom and dignity

7. In each of these passages, then, the images of flowers, dying and used up, replace the actual blossoms. These images point to the lack of freedom, passion, and organic life in Gilead.

8. while proles can be allowed intellectual freedom because they lack intellect

   • , relatively free of Party monitoring

9. Party lack freedom of speech.

   • The "upperclass" has less freedom of speech and power in comparison to the lower class.
   • lack the awareness to use or appreciate that freedom

10. The effort Winston puts into his attempt to achieve freedom and independence ultimately underscores the Party’s devastating power.

    • Winston seems to understand that he might be happier if he were free
    • Orwell emphasizes the fact that, in the world of Airstrip One, freedom is a shocking and alien notion:
    • It illustrates Winston’s desire, however slight, to break free of the Party’s total control
    • Winston’s grasping at freedom illustrates the terrifying extent to which citizens are not in control of their own minds
    • He then dreams of a place called The Golden Country, where the dark-haired girl takes off her clothes and runs toward him in an act of freedom that annihilates the whole Party

11. “Freedom is slavery,”

    • to believe in the false versions of the records that they themselves have altered

12. the picture

    • Like the paperweight, an important symbol of Winston’s dreams of freedom
    • represents Winston’s desire to make a connection with a past that the Party has suppressed
    • he hopes he can make their relationship resemble one from an earlier, freer time.
    • paperweight,
      • imagining a world outside of time inside it, where he and Julia could float, free from the Party

13. Believing that he is free of the Party’s observation, Winston boldly declares that he and Julia are enemies of the Party and wish to join the Brotherhood

14. Winston, now free, sits at the Chestnut Tree Café, where dismissed Party members go to drink

    • Winston’s character is his fatalism, that he rebels against the Party not because he desires freedom, but because he wants the Party to kill him.