Duty Vs. Desire

Throughout Bharati Mukherjee's novel, Jasmine contemplates whether to give in to duty or desire. The Indian principles that she grew up with, concretized by Dida, advocates duty. The Western standards symbolized by Taylor and Wylie promotes desire. Jasmines life becomes very much a pursuit of freedom, as she undergoes individual transformations and metaphorical rebirths. She flees from the duties that society inflicted upon her as in the end her desire managed to subdue her duty. As early as when Jasmine is taken in by Professorji she has already “ accustomed [herself] to American clothes”. She goes onto say that “American clothes disguised my widowhood…I wanted to distance myself from everything Indian, everything Jyoti-like” (145). She begins her journey as a “speck of dust in the solar system”, in which her life had already been determined (3). In addition the structure of society in Punjab is far from being liberated. She says that she wants to “go away and have a real life. I’ve had it up to here with backward, corrupt, mediocre fools” (81). In my opinion, Jasmine’s pursuit for desire stems from her prejudiced and cruel background. Her transformations in America seem to be carried out in an effort to distance herself away from Hasnaspur and her previous life of duty. Her craving for adventure and discovery make her a woman of courage and admiration at a time in which young brides would quiver under the command of a groom’s mother. She felt that America gave purpose to her life. She says that “I felt lucky…America may be fluid and built on flimsy, invisible lines of weak gravity, but I was a dense object, I had landed and was getting rooted… everyday I was being paid for something new…” (179). Furthermore it was her desire to want a green card “more than anything else in the world, that a green card was freedom” (149) that seemed to signify her a person.

However with desire came disillusion, selfishness and loss of character. Throughout the novel Jasmine becomes different people, experiencing different things, and creating her own luck. She creates herself to be a very passive character jumping at every opportunity to escape. With Bud she seems unhappy compared to her life with Taylor. With Bud she constantly had to look after him. Her purpose in life was very much centered around the household. On the other hand the first day she saw Taylor she falls “in love with his world, its ease, its careless confidence and graceful self-absorption. I wanted to become the person they thought they saw: humorous, intelligent, refined, affectionate” (171). Her desire to put herself out their, to make the most of every opportunity she was given gave her “life a new fullness and chargedness to it. Everyday I made discoveries about the city, and in the evenings, when I listed my discoveries to Taylor he listened carefully as though I were describing an unmapped exotic metropolis” (184). She began to become increasingly more selfish and individualistic. She ran away from the duties that society inflicted upon her as in the end her desire managed to suppress her duty. Her desire for power, new experiences and happiness very much led to her alternations shifts in identity. When she decides to leave Bud she explains that “It isn’t guilt that I feel, it’s relief. I realize I have already stopped thinking of myself as Jane” (240). And her justification for such an impactful decision can be summarized in one line that I feel highlights her motivation throughout the novel: “I am not choosing between men. I am caught between the promise of America and old-world dutifulness” (240). And in the end Jasmine chooses desire, a choice that would have been admired by many women at the time. She gains freedom and has made the opportunity for prosperity and success available to her. She has managed to gain all this regardless of what her horoscope tells her, her social class and most of all her circumstances of birth. Although she can be viewed as many as a widow escaping her predetermined life of dutifulness through hurtful and selfish actions, she is very much a women to be admired because of her courage to submerge herself in a reality that is unknown to her in the promise and pursuit of opportunity and happiness.   

The Power Behind Words

Gilead has turned a blind eye to reality and has created its own language and terminology in order to subjugate its occupants. Firstly, every class is given its own name. Females can either be Handmaids, Wives, Daughters, Aunts, Marthas and Econowives. Men on the other hand are designated professions  that have to do with military position. With such a system of naming combined with how a handmaid is named after her commander is symbolic in depriving someone of their liberty, rights and identity. When Offred is waiting for what she thinks is her Ofglen to arrive in order to go shopping she realises that this is a new handmaid and says that "I never did know her real name. That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names"(295). Furthermore sterile women and feminists are called 'Unwomen' and babies that are born physically deformed are called Unbabies. Gilead uses this to naming system purely to segregate and isolate them from the rest of the community.

Furthermore, stipulations exist for meeting other members of Gilead's society. When Offred is meeting Ofglen for the first time, "blessed be the fruit she says. Straight-faced, straight laced. May the Lord open"Offred replies. (294) This makes it really hard to share real emotions, and even Offred replies without showing surprise. And throughout the novel, names are created for Gileads different ceremonies such as 'Salvagins', 'prayvaganzas' and 'Particutions'. With this creation of such a vocabulary, Gilead is able to take over their minds, erase their past and make its occupants think that the situation in Gilead is normal.

The commander lures Offred into his office because he tempts her with the game of scrabble, which"is as if he's offered her drugs", Offred remarks. It is symbolic that they are playing scrabble as they compete for the construction of words. In Gilead its whoever has authority over language that controls society. Handmaids for goodness sake aren't even allowed to read and write! While Offred examine her room she finds an engraving carved in latin into the woodwork by the prior Handmaid. 'Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Although Offred does not know what it means, it serves as a symbol of her resistance to Gilead, as well as a connection between her and the previous Handmaid. Although the phrase does loose meaning to Offred in the end, the phrase once held the 'magical power' to create a rebel out of Offred.

When Offred is contemplating how Luke was able to kill the cat before they're attempted escape, Luke refers to the cat as an 'it'. Offred acknowledges that "you have to create an it, where non was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real".(202) With changing 'her' to an 'it', Luke is now able to devaluate the significance of a cat as being alive, to simply an object. This symbolises the power of words, and how words can transform our thinking, alter our human nature and transform our emotional sentiments. With Gilead "they force you to kill, within yourself"(203). Gilead uses the power of language to subjugate society to meet the requirements of the elite, this means deceiving women into thinking of themeselves as objects, made to do what society requires them to do. 

Lotso From Toy story 3 Vs. Gilead

Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (the strawberry scented bear, determined to keep full control of the Sunnyside Daycare center) shares some common interests with many totalitarian leaders throughout history' and his actions are similar to those of the highest command in Gilead. Lotso perpetually has other toys, his underlings, monitoring aisles and hallways night and day. Such proceedings illustrate to the other toys that he was monitoring their every move and that if they were to break the law they would be brutally punished. These other toys serve the role of   secret police for Lotso very much like the Eyes and the Guardians. The Guardians who are used for "routine policing and other menial functions and the eyes that are essentially the internal intelligence agency (30). 

In Gilead those who break the law are sent to the colonies where they most probably will starve to death. In Toy Story 3, if you break the law you are sent to a sandbox, where you remain in isolation. In Gilead the fear of action is predominately prevalent. In Off red’s and Nick's initial encounters, when Nick winks at Offred, Offred simply "drops [her] head and turns so that the white wings hide [her] face..."(28). When contemplating her decision afterwards she thinks it was "perhaps a test, to see what I would do. Perhaps he is an eye"(28). In Toy Story 3, the toys display great fear when approached by Lotso's toys, or are even seen by one of his toys.

Furthermore the act of brainwashing takes place in both stories. In Toy Story 3, Lotso persuades two other characters that their owner replaced them and that he was not the only one. However this is not true. In contrast, Offred was pulled apart from her husband and daughter and was sent to a brainwashing centre where she is trained to become a Handmaid. Aunt Lydia reminds me of Lotso in the way that she gives advice to the Handmaids. "Sometimes the movie she showed would be an old porno film, from the seventies or eighties...Women tied up or chained or with dog collars around their necks...women being raped...(128)". Then she would ask the Handmaids to "consider the alternatives"(128). When Offred is contemplating the effects of an autonomous society, "does each of us have the same print the same chair, the same white curtains, I wonder? Government issue" (17)? Aunt Lydia replies by telling them to "think of it as being in the army"(17). Throughout the novel Aunt Lydia seems to give comforting remarks and advice to the Handmaids despite the stern and oppressive circumstances they are in. "Where I am is not a prison but a privilege", Aunt Lydia said. When confronted with any kind of dilemma, whether from the past or present, Aunt Lydia always seems to use words to ameliorate it. When Offered talks about women who where allowed to make up their minds in the past, she recalls Aunt Lydia saying, "We were a society dying of too much choice"(35). This proves that she has been brainwashed to think of the favorable conditions that this cruel and subjective society holds. 

Appreciation For The Little Things In Life/ Shifts In Perspectives

With the restrictions that come with a totalitarian theocracy, one begins to appreciate even the nuisances that once proved to be a hassle. Its sort of like fasting, when you restrain from eating food from dusk to dawn, you become grateful for what you have on your plate, and everything that was taking for granted before has now subdued into admiration. Such feelings increase your awareness of what it means to be human at a very basic level. Through various incidents in 'The Handmaid's Tale', Offred recognises the norms of pre- Gilead times and compares them to the norms of her society she lives in and at times images, words and actions are powerful enough to changes her perspective on the past.

Offred listening outside closed doors to try and hear what Rita and Cora are saying is something she "never would have done in the time before"(20). The sheer isolation of Offred to the world is too large to be ever ignored. Later on Offred describes her conversations with Cora and Rita. "We could nod our heads as punctuation to each other's voices...We would exchange remedies and try to outdo each other in the recital of our physical miseries; gently we would complain, our voices soft and minor-key and mournful as pigeons in the eaves troughs. I know what you mean, we'd say. Or, a quaint expression you sometimes hear, still, from older people: I hear where you're coming from, as If the voice itself was a traveller..."(20). Offred goes on to say that she "used to despise such talk. Now I long for it. At least it was talk. An exchange, of sorts"(21). The lack of communication in Gilead's society has debased the quality and value of conversations, and has reduced the individual to a mere object, where talking about each others physical miseries is regarded as casual  conversation. 

Whilst coming back from a shopping trip Offred encounters tourists from Japan. She recalls that "it's been a long time since Iv seen skirts that short on women. The skirts reach just below the knee and the legs come out from beneath them, nearly naked in their thin stockings, blatant, the high-heeled shoes with their straps attached to the feet like delicate instruments of torture...We are fascinated but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds about things like this"(38). Offred's reaction to such an image illustrates the power of isolation. Offred even says "I used to dress like that", and now she considers the way the female tourists were dressed as repulsive. This proves Gilead has power over Offred's thoughts, and the more she is living in the present the more she forgets the norms of her past. 

Definition of Love in the Handmaids Tale

            Defining Love in words is hard, as is always the case when talking about emotions.  Emotions are felt, sensed and acted upon, but not physically touched.  Love adds purpose to one's life and in some cases it defines somebody's life.  For example, parent’s lives and their children are defined by how much love they give and receive.  When a person feels love and is loved in return, it means they are adding enjoyment to the source of love. They are contributing into each other's lives and their happiness.  Love is a powerful feeling that has seen the destruction of great men and women alike, as witnessed from the legendary story of Cleopatra, to the modern day stories such as King Edward, who gave up the throne to be with his love Wallis Simpson. Many confuse love for lust, which is defined as having a ‘strong sexual desire for someone’ (OED). Some even mistake love for fear or even envy. However, Love is none of those things, but more of a powerful spiritual affair that allows us to reach divine nature. With this in mind I would like to define love in terms of what is established between Nicks and Offreds relationship.

            Through Offred’s eyes the theme of love is illustrated through segments of Offreds memories of Luke. "I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable" (127). This sense of attachment to Luke is what gives her an identity and more importantly a motive to keep living.  Now that Luke is not part of her life anymore, Love is now remembered rather than pursued. Offred’s liaisons with the commander have nothing to do with love. Her encounters with the Commander are purely to satisfy individual desires. For the commander it is to satisfy him sexually and for Offred it’s to gain information of what is actually happening in Gilead. She even has to remind herself when she is at Jezebels with the commander that “he is not an unkind man; that, under some circumstances [she] actually likes him” (266). And with this lack of romanticism, it is evident how Gilead outlaws the liberty crucial to passion. In my opinion, Offred’s relationship with Nick is the closest she comes to love. “With the commander I close my eyes, even when I am kissing him goodnight…but now here each time, I keep my eyes open” (281). “Time after time” she goes back to see Nick, and it is established between them that “it is never too late” to see each other. Although they don’t talk a lot, I sense there exists a deep internal connection between them. It is established that she has fallen into the state which love puts you through in which she becomes increasingly more reckless in taking “stupid chances” to see Nick. One might also conclude that Nick is merely a replacement of Luke, however Nick shows his love to Offred in unconditional terms when he sends after the guardians to rescue Offred. In addition when Serana is talking to Offred about her recently discovered outing with the commander, she gets an irritable urge to run back to Nick and “throw [her] hands around him”(299). I think Offred’s relationship with Nick is powerful as she favors to stay rather than flee Gilead. Although critics can say that Nick is merely a replacement for Luke, I think their relationship has redefined the way Offred looks into the past for joy and their experiences under the patriarchal society of Gilead makes their relationship ever more significant.