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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.
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.
Interesting observations on the colour red! I noticed that too.
ReplyDeletecool, i like how you brought back the color red idea, like we all did in class the other day; and the idea it's shows male domination over women in this novel, that does make alot of sense since the only other color i can think of that were mentioned was white.
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