The Importance of Moira in the Handmaid’s Tale
Literary works are written in a certain way that mimics the actual lifestyle of the particular location that a narration may be based on. Similarly, some may be from imaginative situations that in case they happen might disrupt the normal existence of that location. This is the case that Margret Atwood expresses her ideologies in her book, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,” which narrate about an imaginational regime that fell upon the United States of America. With Offred as the narrator, all the activities within the novel are well presented and changes that took place in the newly formed state of Gilead after the warfare. This essay will, therefore, give a detailed literary analysis of the importance of Moira in the Handmaid’s Tale.
Moira was a longtime friend of Offred as they had met earlier before while they were in college. She was a lesbian and always opposed to the regime that the leading military force had adopted and so to it that it was better for her to engage in prostitution where they finally meet again with Offred. Through her voice narration, Moira feels up a large gap about Offred’s past making it able for the reader to understand the context of the text even deeper (Zarrinjooee et al., pp. 66-71). She represents women’s resistance in the text as she escapes from being a handmaid and opts to become a prostitute as the ladies back in Gilead were treated harshly and forced to do things they were not happy with at all. For instance, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Then comes the mouldy old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the Center. Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah. She shall bear upon my knees that I may also have children by her. And so on and so forth” (Margaret pp. 88). The Government of Gilead used religious propaganda to defend their inhumane actions against women in society at the expense of the men.
Moira was a representation of social freedom seeker since she was not ready to abide by the religious acts that the men in Gilead had imposed on women. She felt like women were being treated as lesser beings despite the fact that they were humans and wanted a place where she would have access to freedom of religion, dressing and somewhere she could raise her voice as a member of the society and be felt and not the vice versa. “My nakedness is strange to me already. My body seems outdated. I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely” (Margaret, pp. 63). This was one of the ways the women felt as Offred narrates from being subjective to the male society as a decree and no option was given to them whatsoever. This was effectuated by the dressing culture that had been instilled for the women to follow at all times as they were taken to be lesser human beings as compared to the male gender.
Also, Moira is decisive in her actions and represents the religious nature of women in Gilead. She prays to God to help her even after defying the Gilead leadership decree and is ready to do anything for as long as she will be safe from oppression. “Dear God, I think, I will do anything you like. Now that you’ve let me off, I’ll obliterate myself, if that is what you really want; I’ll empty myself, truly, become a chalice. I’ll give up Nick; I’ll forget about the others, I’ll stop complaining. I’ll accept my lot. I’ll sacrifice. I’ll repent. I’ll abdicate. I’ll renounce,” (Margaret pp. 286). Moira also brings hope to the women in Gilead, especially Offred who happens to be her best friend. She managed to escape and did not get caught despite the fact that the Gilead security department was so strict. This gave Offred hope that maybe she would have escaped and sought a happy life ever after, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I repeat this to myself, but it conveys nothing. You might as well say, don’t let there be air, or don’t be. I suppose you could say that” (Margaret, pp. 291). She was a pillar of strength for the women and, they envied her as a self-independent woman who was not answerable to the Gilead men who treated women as trash in most cases. This made her an icon of the society as she was the first one to defy the Gilead authority, and thus a potential beacon for female radicalization that would stop the inequality between men and women in Gilead.
In conclusion, the novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood is a complete representation of women’s oppression in the fictional Gilead states. Offred, the narrators, depicts how handmaids suffered at the expense of the male-dominated society that did not have any adherence to what the women had to say. The women were just there to serve as pleasure whenever men wanted to feel like they are appreciated as they had all the say over the female gender form their clothing, activities all through to their worth. However, Moira defied all this and chose to be a sex worker so that she could escape from the Gilead female over-exploitation. She was the female image of the society whom women adored and wanted to have the strength to also flee from Gilead and leave their own life, according to their terms.
Work Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The handmaid’s tale. Vol. 301. Everyman’s Library Classics &, 2006.
Zarrinjooee, Bahman, and Shirin Kalantarian. “Women’s Oppressed and Disfigured Life in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies 8.1 (2017): 66-71.