Red. Tulip Red.

       Hello World,

          In my last blog entry I started discussing the colour red in The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, as well as the lack of freedom and the suppressing and male-dominated world the main character, Offred, finds herself in.
        The next symbol that red serves as is that of the past. Before the major transition, the world seemed to be like the one we now live in. Offred often dreams of the past, of Luke, and of her daughter. Regarding red. In the early chapters of the novel, Offred and Ofglen go on a shopping excursion and at one moment walk by some people, hung dead, with white bags over their heads, and displayed as examples of some sort of treason. One of the dead men's blood "has seeped through the white cloth, where the mouth must have been. It makes another mouth, a small red one, like the mouths painted with thick paintbrushes by kindergarten children." This graphic quote really stood out to me because they were hung for treason, most likely committing something that was acceptable in the past, or revolting against unwanted change. In my opinion, the red smile represents the past, and the happiness consisted of. 
         In fact, in the page across it, Offred says that "the red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden" (43). This is interesting because it undoubtedly symbolises the change of society and how current authority is bittersweet. The tulips and the garden symbolise the power and opportunity that the Commander's wife has however, since the red is the past, the "oh-so perfect present" is in fact a snake underneath the innocent flower (Macbeth).
         Red also seems to be a symbol of the main aim, the function, even the goal of women or as the back cover puts it: "The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one option: to breed". Due to a decrease in population, extreme measures have been taken in order to provide an optimal (most importantly safe) world in order to facilitate childbirth. Women participate in a routine "Ceremony" which "goes on as usual", involving the Commander attempting to impregnate a Handmaid (104-105). This graphic scene demonstrates the importance of childbirth, encoded within the Handmaid's beliefs. She believes that getting pregnant is "a way out, a salvation"(71) and her period, a sign that she indeed hasn't conceived yet, is extremely undesirable: "Each month i watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes, it means failure." (83).
         Overall, so far, red has symbolised constraint, the past world Offred used to live in, and the purpose of women in this new society: to procreate.
        I now conclude my sequence upon discussing the colour and what it symbolises.

Red. Blood Red.

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          Red. In the first few chapters of The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the colour red is clearly introduced as a primary and significant symbol and/or theme. Even Handmaids (notice the capital 'H'), the category of women that the narrator belongs to, are uniformly dressed in a red gown with white "wings" (some sort of head-wear). The character's name, as stated on the back cover is Offred. Although, it most likely means of-fred, fred being her Commander or her father. However, I think the spelling also flashed the colour itself. Off-RED! In the second chapter, the first real chapter of the story, the main character puts on her "red shoes" and her "red gloves[...] finger by finger (18). She then says: "Everything except the wings around my face is red: the colour of blood, defines us," (18).
          As readers, in the beginning, we are literally bombarded with the colour red. You know, I've realised, whenever a colour stands out as a symbol in an English-class novel, it's always red. Last semester, I read a book called The Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, in which red also played a big part. In that novel, red symbolises love, offence, violence, and male supremacy and I wanted to not only to investigate what the colour red symbolised in The Handmaid's Tale, but also any additional thoughts regarding the themes that "red" highlights. 
         Firstly and most importantly, I think red symbolises the loss of freedom of women, in the transition from their 'old world' to the current one. As I have mentioned before, the uniforms they are bound to, are almost entirely red, clothing that they would have never been forced to wear before. Offred expresses her suppressed discontent (wow, that's a mouthful) by telling us that she "never looked good in red, it's not [her] colour" (18). It seems the gowns are a symbol of the control and authority of a higher power (most likely male), and that the women, especially in the beginning phases of this new world, feel like they have loss control over their lives and are forced to do things they don't want to. This is the beginning of an extensive list of do's and do not's that suppress women freedom.
            In fact, regarding freedom, I think the political view of women's rights and female power can be summarised by Aunt Lydia's lines" There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from." (24). I think, that not only is it true that there has been an evident change, but there is a scary shift in women's thoughts. The world has changed in order to 'help' women and to increase security, but so far it seems to cost a heavy price of happiness and independence. Although all I can really do right now is speculate, it seems that the higher-power women are the ones that are more brain-washed and abiding and enforce the new concepts of male supremacy. Aunt Lydia for example also tells Offred that "this is not a prison but a privilege". 
          Personally, that line really angers me. It's as if we are forced to be grateful for something we despise, a living hell. I think that this tension, this anxiety, this intensity is exactly what she wants the reader to feel, and my God is she doing a good job! 
            Okay, I will continue to discuss the symbolism of the colour red in the novel in my next blog post, but right now it is getting late and to be honest, I am rather excited that I've started a sequence! Goodnight, world.

FBI - Female Bird Investigator

      

         In a Jury of Her Peers (1916), by Susan Glaspell, a pair of adult women secretly investigate the death of John Wright, Mrs. Wright's/Minnie Foster husband, who was strangled to death. The women must work secretly because the men are the detectives and the sheriffs and the women weren't meant to do anything unless they stumbled on evidence. I think this short story is one clearly to promote female capability in masculine shoes. In fact, they do a better job! Martha Hale and Mrs. Peters discover all the evidence ("dirty pans", "half-sifted flour", a "shabby black shirt", "a bird-cage", and "a dead bird") that the sheriffs couldn't find and end up discovering both the correct suspect and the motive.

         I think the most important aspect of the story is that concept of reversal of roles. Men, especially in that time period, are the only people with high and powerful positions leaving the women to do domestic work. However, similar to the movie Legally Blonde the women use their so called ‘ridiculous’ activities and habits in order to perform a better job than the men would even with their high intelligence and supremacy. In fact, if you think about it, every evidence and clue necessary in order to discover the truth about the case was an example and symbol of female domestic work, such as the “half-sifted flour”, “the dirty pans”, “the dirty dish towel” and “the broken oven”. Most importantly, using female activities was the only way the supposedly “only possibly solved by men” case could have been solved. The women were able to relate to Minnie Foster, her work, and the poor environment she lived in and could therefore discover not only the true suspect but also the motive for her husband’s murder.

         This concept is also enforced by the men’s attitudes about the women’s careful attention to the subtle housework evidence. The men glance shamefully at any poor housework and express their opinion by commenting and purposefully harming the examples of poor housework such as when the “county attorney deranged the dirty pans under the sink with a disdainful push of the foot”. In fact, even when the women discover the motive and the evidence, the men continue to tease the women about their domestic activities which represents the men’s ignorance and that the women are just as, if not more capable in doing a “exclusively male” job.

         Finally, the women don't notify the authorities of Minnie Foster's death. Being women in the early 1900s, they are constantly degraded and oppressed and therefore, whenever they can, they group up and collaborate. In this story, this is symbolically shown through routine and repetitive eye-contact between Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters: "In a covert way, Mrs. Hale looked at Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Peters was looking at her". In addition, even when the two women discover all the evidence they need, yet whenever the men come back to the kitchen, they hide it away from the men in order not to betray Minnie Foster.  "Mrs. Hale slipped the box under the quilt pieces in the basket, and sank into the chair before it".

         I think this story was just an expression of Glaspell’s opinion regarding female equality and opportunity within the working world and showing a severe discontent with not the only the domestic housework a female is enslaved to do but also the discard of their talent and capabilities.