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wingedbeastLike most of the chapters so far, this chapter is ritual and memory back to before Gillead. So far, the memories have been about contrast. This time, the memories are starting to be about comparison.
The action of this chapter is Offred takes a bath. That's it. There's a lot of that, so far, such that, if you were looking at just the quick synopsis of the action of any one chapter, you might not bother reading it. But, it remains readable such that I have to resist pushing on.
Offred gets naked, a rare event where her hair's not bound up.
The smell of the bath brings her the memory of her daughter. By the text, the daughter was taken away from her and given to someone else when she was five years old. She'd be eight at this point, meaning that we're actually quite soon after whatever revolution happened.
Pre-revolution, there was that moment a woman stole her daughter right out the kiddie-seat of a grocery cart. In the memory, she's caught quickly, held by the grocery store until the police came, and passed off, by then-not-Offred's then-husband as crazy. The attempted kidnapper said that the baby was her own, that God had given the baby to her.
And, considering the context, it's hard, at least within the story, to pass that off so easily. It's especially hard, considering that everything Atwood put into this story was something with a real-world precedent. It's even harder considering today's American context.
Firstly, there's the use of God to justify one's own desires. The attempted kidnapper in the memory may well have had a mental illness of some sort... or not. But, we live in a political world where voting in the candidate that one prefers on purely tribal grounds gets called good and Godly.
Seconldy, how easily this is passed off. The attempted kidnapper was called crazy. This was supposed to make her less of a threat, explained away. But, the explanation isn't necessarily true. This could have been a woman who A. wanted a baby, B. had internalized religious values that locked her own value as a person to her being a mother, and C. had a religious tradition that encouraged viewing God as deciding such things.
That last one has power.
The other memory that strikes out at me is a quick one. Luke, Then-Not-Offred's then husband, talking about how men need more meat than women, because of studies. The studies aren't specified. It's the same basic idea behind why Offred isn't allowed coffee, tea, or alcohol. "Studies have been done." How easily that's used to justify anything.
All of that says that what's happening in Gillead, to Offred, isn't new. Gillead isn't about a brand new thing that was completely strange. It was about an old thing with longstanding precedent simply taking what it felt to be its rightful power... because God gave it that power. Or, at the very least, we let them take the power, claiming that God had gave it.
And, that leads into the point of all this. The point of the bath, the point of a meal that was well planned out, the point of all this is... well, even if I came to this story blind, I'd be able to tell what one level of the point was. We have a sense of where this is going. But, in order for it to go there...
The action of this chapter is Offred takes a bath. That's it. There's a lot of that, so far, such that, if you were looking at just the quick synopsis of the action of any one chapter, you might not bother reading it. But, it remains readable such that I have to resist pushing on.
Offred gets naked, a rare event where her hair's not bound up.
The smell of the bath brings her the memory of her daughter. By the text, the daughter was taken away from her and given to someone else when she was five years old. She'd be eight at this point, meaning that we're actually quite soon after whatever revolution happened.
Pre-revolution, there was that moment a woman stole her daughter right out the kiddie-seat of a grocery cart. In the memory, she's caught quickly, held by the grocery store until the police came, and passed off, by then-not-Offred's then-husband as crazy. The attempted kidnapper said that the baby was her own, that God had given the baby to her.
And, considering the context, it's hard, at least within the story, to pass that off so easily. It's especially hard, considering that everything Atwood put into this story was something with a real-world precedent. It's even harder considering today's American context.
Firstly, there's the use of God to justify one's own desires. The attempted kidnapper in the memory may well have had a mental illness of some sort... or not. But, we live in a political world where voting in the candidate that one prefers on purely tribal grounds gets called good and Godly.
Seconldy, how easily this is passed off. The attempted kidnapper was called crazy. This was supposed to make her less of a threat, explained away. But, the explanation isn't necessarily true. This could have been a woman who A. wanted a baby, B. had internalized religious values that locked her own value as a person to her being a mother, and C. had a religious tradition that encouraged viewing God as deciding such things.
That last one has power.
The other memory that strikes out at me is a quick one. Luke, Then-Not-Offred's then husband, talking about how men need more meat than women, because of studies. The studies aren't specified. It's the same basic idea behind why Offred isn't allowed coffee, tea, or alcohol. "Studies have been done." How easily that's used to justify anything.
All of that says that what's happening in Gillead, to Offred, isn't new. Gillead isn't about a brand new thing that was completely strange. It was about an old thing with longstanding precedent simply taking what it felt to be its rightful power... because God gave it that power. Or, at the very least, we let them take the power, claiming that God had gave it.
And, that leads into the point of all this. The point of the bath, the point of a meal that was well planned out, the point of all this is... well, even if I came to this story blind, I'd be able to tell what one level of the point was. We have a sense of where this is going. But, in order for it to go there...
I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a thing made, not something born.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-19 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-03-21 12:59 am (UTC)After they didn't much care about character when it came to the peace-making, Evangelical Jimmie Carter.
no subject
Date: 2018-03-21 02:55 pm (UTC)