Handmaid's Tale Identity Essay

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Margaret Atwood’s gruesome conception of a utopian society was arduous to comprehend at the beginning of book club, but as the discussion went deeper we discovered the reality of how similar her gruesome conception is to our reality. Over this past book club, I chose to read and discuss Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale. The book began with Atwood describing a harsh, unjust, gruesome, society but as the book progressed it revealed many similarities to our society today. Going through the book club process has definitely help me acquire a deeper understanding of Atwood's message. Atwood’s provoking and brutal story about the idea of pain, suffering and what it means to be part of society, is bloody yet powerful. Atwood does provoke the thought …show more content…
Handmaids wore red. After discussion, we concluded that red symbolized the handmaid’s fertility because of the menstrual cycle. Wives wore blue. We concluded that blue symbolizes loyalty of the wives to the commanders. Marthas wore green, deducing that green symbolizes healing and helping. The way people were recognized and judge in this society by the color they wore. After discussing the topic of identity during book club we realized the similarities between identity in Gilead and society today. Today we are constantly judged and stereotyped because of the color of our skin. The idea in Gilead seems so unjust and unfair but it is no similar to how people are judged and viewed in society today. After reading and discussing Handmaid’s Tale my eyes have been opened to a lot of harsh realities in our society that compare to Gilead's grim and unjust society. Atwood’s grim and unfair ideas of the future are what makes Handmaid’s Tale relevant during 21rst century Zeitgeist. The reason being it is important that these infractions in our society are recognized and spoken about so we can proceed to prevent the continuation of these practices in the future. Overall, I am glad I had the opportunity to read and discuss Handmaid’s Tale because it allowed me to look at our world and society in a whole new
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