The Handmaid's Tale : Graphic Novel and Novel

Comparing and Contrasting the theme of Independence in the Handmaid's Tale novel and graphic novel for young adults. From my class Information Needs of Young Adults

Independence, Handmaids, and Teens

    The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1986/1998) was first published in 1986, after the gains of the 1960s and 1970s feminism had subsided (Neuman, 2006). In this time when feminism was under attack (Neuman, 2006, p. 859), Margaret Atwood (1986/1998) clearly saw trouble because The Handmaid’s Tale paints a terrible future for women at the hands of the new Gilead government. Most notably, Atwood’s (1986/1998) post-United States Gilead stripped all women of any independence; they have strictly assigned roles to perform complete with uniforms, with the handmaids’ lives being the most curtailed as they are treated as silent, walking wombs. The idea of independence as being something wanted but not had could attract teen readers to Offred’s tale. Although Offred’s story is an extreme case, teens could relate to her tastes of freedom and some of the joys and trouble those tastes bring. It is independence, the illusion of it in the US, the lack of it in Gilead, and the personal struggle for it at Offred’s station, that would appeal to teens in The Handmaid’s Tale novel (Atwood, 1986/1998) and graphic novel (Nault, 2019).

    The Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood, 1986/1998) novel follows Offred, the first-person narrator, in her dramatically different life in Gilead, the former United States of America. Recently, the US has been overthrown by religious fanatics and Gilead erected in its stead. These fanatics build an entirely new social system, where men of importance whose wives cannot birth children are given handmaids. Handmaids are fertile women, and they are kept as “two-legged wombs” not “concubines, geisha girls, courtesans” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 136). The battle to conquer the entirety of the United States continues, as Offred sees once a month on government-controlled news before the ceremony, during which the handmaid is raped by her male commander as his wife holds the handmaid’s arms. Offred the handmaid’s story is one of a complex power struggle for independence as her commander entices her with small freedoms, like playing Scrabble or reading old magazines, all of which is forbidden since women are not to read or write. But her price to pay is being expected to turn from a true handmaid into his sexual plaything. After not becoming pregnant for a time, Serena Joy, the wife, demands Offred have sex with Nick, a male servant in the commander’s household, hoping she’ll become pregnant. This bit of bodily independence causes Offred to ignore her troubles, especially her handmaid partner’s request for information for the resistance project called Mayday. In the end Serena Joy learns of the affair with her husband the commander, and Offred is swept away in a black van either for death at the hands of Gilead or freedom with Mayday as Nick suggests.

    The graphic novel, conceived of and illustrated by Renée Nault (2019), follows this same story line, only instead of seeing the world strictly from Offred’s eyes we’re given sweeping visuals of Gilead from perspectives Offred simply could not reach. Done in striking watercolor with red being a mainstay of most pages, Offred’s story, from flash backs to current circumstances, stays true to Atwood’s novel although somewhat rearranged for effect. Gilead, Offred’s new life, and the power plays between Offred and the commander, Serena Joy, and Nick are all similar enough in the graphic novel with the novel to not be of much note.

    Offred’s tale in the novel is one of a complete stripping of independence, punctuated by remembrance of how life in the United States was not entirely free either (Atwood, 1986/1998). Aunt Lydia who indoctrinated the handmaids at the Red Center soon after the coup put it best: “There is more than one kind of freedom said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 24). In the United States, Offred had the freedom to earn money, to own property, and to run her own life, but it came with risks to her health and happiness in the form mostly of disgusting men willing to harm and kill women. However, in Gilead, she has freedom from ever becoming the victim of mutilation, rape, and death—or so Aunt Lydia believes. The novel form of The Handmaid’s Tale covers this thoroughly, with Offred remembering the rules in the United States to stay safe as a woman. “Don’t open your door to a stranger, even if he says he is the police… Don’t stop on the road to help a motorist… If anyone whistles, don’t turn to look. Don’t go into a laundromat, by yourself, at night” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 24). Offred can see now that the United States was not in fact a perfect world in which women were respected, safe, and independent.

    The graphic novel (Nault, 2019) does not delve as deeply into the issue of women’s rights and lack of independence in the United States as does the novel.  In fact, the flash backs of the graphic novel serve mostly two purposes; Offred’s relationships prior to Gilead (with her daughter, her mother, her friend Moira and her husband Luke) and to explain how women were stripped of independence to meet Gilead’s new social structure. The glimpses at United States life in the graphic novel are not as insightful or reflective of Offred’s struggle for independence in the US as in the novel version. There is a scene between Offred and her commander in chapter 12 panel 65 of the graphic novel in which the commander remembers the United States and the peril women faced as mothers (Nault, 2019). “’They got no respect as mothers. No wonder they were giving up on the whole business’” (Nault, 2019, ch. 12 panel 65) the commander speaks, referring to women aborting children or refusing to have children in the United States. However, this is more of a complaint from the commander’s rationale rather than Offred’s own realization about the United States. The subject of the United States’ fault with women’s independence is broached in the graphic novel, but not with the same weight or perspective as in Atwood’s novel.

            The novel and graphic novel both cover Gilead’s version of women’s independence, or lack of it, meticulously although differently. In the novel Offred often cites the rules that govern her new reality in Gilead. “These circumstances have been reduced; for those of us who still have circumstances” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 8). Here Offred refers to her ability to be alive even without independence, whereas fertile women who would not serve as handmaids were killed either directly or by hard labor in the colonies. On page 61 Offred reminds the reader that her only purpose is clear “Give me children, or else I die” (Atwood, 1986/1998). Even as early as her days in the red center, her new need for absolute silence was demonstrated in the “army cots that had been set up in rows, with spaces between so we could not talk” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 4). And silence was again reinforced upon meeting Serena Joy at Offred’s new station, with Offred realizing not to “ask what I was supposed to call her. Because I could see that she hoped I would never have the occasion to call her anything at all” (Atwood, 1986/1998, pp. 13-14). In Gilead, Offred’s lack of independence is shown through silently bearing children, with very little else afforded her.

            In being a graphic novel, Nault’s version shows the world of Gilead in a way that a text written novel cannot, and the most striking feature of Offred’s complete lack of independence is often shown through how all handmaids must wear red uniforms. Chapter one panels two and three show rows and rows of army cots with flat backed handmaids in training all lying in the same position with their red uniforms neatly folded at the ends of the bed (Nault, 2019). Offred could be any one of these women, as they are all alike in their blank stares at the ceiling, their hands folded on their stomachs, and that is the point of much of the other illustrations—there is no way for a handmaid to express herself outwardly. Chapter eight panels 27 through 34 show the handmaids gathered at another handmaid’s station waiting for her to give birth; the illustration of the handmaids in their red gowns and head dressings leaves only for the slightest variation in skin tone as they chant “Push. Push. Push” (Nault, 2019) together in unison. Nault understands Atwood’s vision of independence stripped, and with a few words and many powerful illustrations he expresses just how caged the handmaids are by their new lives in Gilead.

            Other than these global struggles for independence, Offred also experiences more intimate independence problems in Atwood’s novel (1986/1998). Her commander summons Offred to his office after the household has gone to bed. Offred knows to see him is trouble, but “to refuse to see him could be worse. There’s no doubt about who holds the real power” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 136). She sees this as an opportunity to gain some independence thinking “if I press my eye to it, this weakness of his, I may be able to see my way clear” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 136). He offers her a chance to read and think and engage as she has not been able to in a long while, by playing a game of Scrabble (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 138). But in exchange for this small taste of independent thinking, he demands a kiss, adding “’As if you mean it’” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 140). Offred realizes “I need to take it seriously, this desire of his. It could be important, it could be a passport, it could be my downfall” (Atwood, 1986/1998, p. 144). She realizes even this tiniest taste of independence and power allowed her could be a blessing or a curse.

            Similarly, in Nault’s graphic novel adaptation, Offred is also offered a game of Scrabble in the commander’s office (2019). The scene is detailed with many direct quotes from the novel; here Nault includes “This was once the game of old women, old men… Now it’s forbidden, for us. Now it’s dangerous” (2019, ch. 8, panel 89). Offred recognizes that even though it’s a simple game of Scrabble, it means much more than that because the handmaids are not to spend any time alone with their commanders and all women are not to read. In the next chapter, following the awkward good night kiss the commander demanded, Nault captures Offred’s hysterical reaction to her taste of independence perhaps even better than the novel; panels two through eight of chapter nine show Offred just after she returns to her room, her hair undone and her mouth growing into a manic smile. “I can ask for something. Possibly not much but something” (Nault, 2019, ch. 9 panels 4-5) Offred thinks to herself just before bursting into a single laugh, her hair incredibly wild and free around her face and head. Again though, she iterates at the end of the scene “There’s no way out of here” (Nault, 2019, ch. 9 panel 14). She knows this minutia of independence is not what she truly wants. 

            The topic of independence is one most teens will be concerned with in the immediacy of their lives. What they are allowed to do; what they are not allowed to do. Many teens may feel stymied and stripped of independence in their own lives similar to Offred. Also, the back and forth between the commander and Offred for her own independence, and the joy or horror it brings her, may feel very familiar to teens experimenting with becoming independent. Teens right now are also voracious for dystopian novels, and The Handmaid’s Tale fits this bill well; Goodreads listed “more than a thousand entries when searched using the phrase ‘YA dystopian books’” in 2014 (Brendler, 2014, p. 222). Having one novel so similarly produced in both text novel and graphic novel form means it can be read and shared by teens even if teens enjoy different formats. Furthermore, The Handmaid’s Tale has been so prolific and influential it also has movie and television adaptations. Teens’ interest in forming their own separate lives, independent from parents and institutions, will find Atwood and Nault’s work reflective of today, while also describing a frightening future to hopefully be avoided.

References

Atwood, M. (1998). The handmaid’s tale. Anchor Books. (Original work published 1986)

Brendler B. M., & Laurel, T. (2014). Blurring Gender Lines in Readers’ Advisory for Young Adults. Reference and User Services Quarterly, 53(3), 221-224.

Nault, R. & Atwood, M. (2019). The handmaid’s tale: The graphic novel. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.

Neuman, S. C. (2006). “Just a backlash”: Margaret Atwood, feminism, and the handmaid’s tale. University of Toronto Quarterly, 75(3), 857–868. https://doi.org/10.1353/utq.2006.0260