Political, Social, and Civil Rights as They

¶ … political, social, and civil rights as they are, the notion of possible futures haunts nearly everyone. Potential political realities in the present and not-so-distant future are examined in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time. These novels have become modern classics precisely because of their poignant relevance to real-world social and political affairs. Although both Atwood's and Piercy's novels are at least in part set in future times, both tales are devoid of any significant characteristics that distinguish them from the present day reality. Thus, both The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time eerily depict life in modern-day America even as they bridge gaps in time. In particular, issues related to gender and to political power are salient in both books. Through the core elements of their narratives, The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time reveal that male-dominated social structures are potentially devastating and that females are in a unique position to forge more positive futures.

In Woman on the Edge of Time, the protagonist has been systematically beaten down by her family, by her society, and most importantly, by the social and political structures and institutions that are designed to help people. Connie Ramos' own child has been wrested from her arms, and while her poor choices are partly to blame for some of her unsavory circumstances, Connie is not permitted the opportunity to properly redeem herself. Instead, she is labeled a deviant and placed into mental institutions that harm more than they heal. The hospitals are paternalistic, much as they are in the real world, and therefore one of the main messages in Woman on the Edge of Time is that medical care has become a political matter. Through invasive procedures and drugs, doctors can will their patients into submissiveness. Male doctors advise female patients on matters of which they have absolutely no personal experiences. By wresting from them their will to choose and forcing upon them their authority, doctors commit acts of political oppression. Women and other oppressed groups of people are particularly at risk for being victimized by such a system.

The Handmaid's Tale presents a similar scenario and similar themes. The protagonist, handmaiden Offred, has also been beaten down by external circumstances and like Connie Ramos, her child has been wrested from her life too. Moreover, because of their circumstances, both Connie and Offred must live without any genuine intimacy and both women remain powerfully alone. Their aloneness underscores the pervasiveness of patriarchal political systems: their ability to bore into the psychic realities of all women. Like Connie, Offred has been labeled, her individuality suppressed. Offred is not exactly in a mental institution but she is semi-imprisoned, unable to do anything without permission. Both their lives are absolutely restricted and both women are portrayed as tools of male-dominated and oppressive societies. Women might be participants in the social structures within the patriarchal society but they are not the root cause of it. Both of these novels address the ability of patriarchal systems to depress the minds and the bodies of women.

Furthermore, both Connie and Offred confront matters related to their physical bodies, especially reproduction. In both books power over a woman's body becomes the most immediate, most basic, form of political power. Connie witnesses the connection between political power and reproductive rights most poignantly in Mattapoiset; Offred experiences the connection first hand as a handmaid. Offred's job as a handmaid explicitly illustrates the importance of reproduction to politics. Offred has lost one of the most fundamental rights of any human being: the rights to her body. Other people tell her when to have sex and with whom, and her sexuality becomes the property of those in power. The powerful experience of childbearing becomes devoid of its emotional and spiritual significance in such a world, and instead becomes a clinical and cold procedure. Childbirth as a clinical and cold medical procedure is a theme visited by Piercy in Woman on the Edge of Time too. In Mattapoiset, the genderless beings do not mate in moments of pure passion. Childbirth occurs not through the sacrifices of the willing mother but in the artificiality of the laboratory. Everyone in Mattapoiset is a test-tube baby, and bonds with the biological parent are meaningless. State-controlled reproduction is thus a central thematic element of both Woman on the Edge of Time and The Handmaid's Tale.

The conflict between communalism and individualism is explored thoroughly in both novels. Political control can attempt to do away with individuality, but the plots of The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time show that individuality triumphs in spite of oppression as a dandelion would grow proudly out of the crack in a sidewalk. Mattapoiset is devoid of gender or ethnic-based oppression but Ramos fears its lack of individualism and its means of social control and engineering. While some elements of the Mattapoiset are appealing, such as the elimination of race- or gender-based discrimination, social class egalitarianism, and lack of labor stratification, all of these are coupled with a censure of individuality. Self-expression is limited to certain socially-acceptable art forms. Technology is stagnant and in its place the human race has erected a rural utopia. Connie begins to mistrust and fear the future for its mediocrity, but Mattapoiset is the better of two possible futures. The alternative future, the parallel universe to Mattapoiset, seems to represent the probable reality if human beings remain on course and allow patriarchy and capitalism to remain out of control.

In Gilead, individualism has also been wiped out as it was in Mattapoiset. Atwood and Piercy seem to share common visions of the future, based on the many parallel plot elements in their novels. Both authors show that while individualism is one of the hallmarks of modern American society, and although modern American society champions creative self-expression, at the same time our political and economic institutions are -- intentionally or not -- creating mediocrity and homogeny. Both Mattapoiset and Gilead are homogenous societies.