‘Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum’
Don’t let the bastards grind you down — Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
I am not much of a fan for contemporary novels. I tried but I cannot get though any of those literatures which otherwise are deemed magnificent. I started reading The Handmaid’s Tale because I was following Margaret Atwood’s masterclass on creative writing. Multiple references to this book made me curious so I ended picking it up. From the moment I read the CHAPTER I of the book till the very last page, I couldn’t resist turning the pages. I forgot all about the masterclass and for two days straight, this book was the center of my attention.
The book is like a shot of caffeine. I have lost sleep over it, I have lived in it, but still I cant say I enjoyed it. I was turning pages but I was anxious with every right tap on my Kindle. I wanted it to be over, I wanted to reach the end soon and just know that all was well in the end. It was like a bad dream you are in, and you know its a dream but you cant get yourself to wake up.. You live through it because it just feels like you have to. And finally when you wake up, you aren’t happy that it was just a dream. You fear more of what if it was a reality. This book drained me and made me feel helpless.
If tomorrow all men unite and take away from us women, what we have and consider rightfully ours — our jobs, our families ..our identities .. It would be a world I wouldn’t want to do anything with. When June is fired along with her female colleagues from her job, the uncertainty she feels towards her future, the passive hostility she feels towards her husband when her accounts are transferred to him and the insecurity of knowing her husband might be secretly in on this — is unsettling and leaves a mark. It makes you feel for the section of society which is actually living this dystopian imagination. For them it is a reality. We with out feminist ideas , our empowerment and our freedom are like brutal reminders of what they might not be in this lifetime and their current life is the harsh reality which they have to live through each and everyday. Its like being the chicken in the cage, living on borrowed time at someones mercy.
I think this book is one of those journeys which stick to your brain, and keep coming back to you over and over again. It almost makes me thankful for being where I am today but also makes me wonder if words like “women empowerment” are justified as a name for a cause. It almost sets women in a category where they need to be empowered, as if they are inferior. As if this is happening because a certain higher power is allowing it to happen. As if our chains of freedom is still in someones hands.
As I said, this book will get you thinking..
