Essay #3

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Totalitarianism

Is it possible that we could have a totalitarian government in the future? The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, in summary, is a story about a normal democratic world that turned into a totalitarian one controlled by the government in every aspect, which was named Gilead. Atwood is very creative to think of a story like this. The story opens up the conclusion that there is a possibility that Atwood’s story can become a reality in the future.

Totalitarianism is not spoken about often, but it is an important concept to understand, “A totalitarian government seeks to control not only all economic and political matters but the attitudes, values, and beliefs of its population, erasing the distinction between state and society” (Columbia Encyclopedia 1). America is a democracy and it’s difficult to think about how countries that have a totalitarian government function. In Atwood’s book, Offred shows that she lives in a totalitarian society when she says, “The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet. As long as I don’t move. As long as I lie still” (Atwood 37). She speaks as if she belongs to Gilead and as if she is trapped in a place where she can’t ever do as she wishes, but as she is told. She has no real freedom. A totalitarian government usually has a dictator who makes up all the rules that he thinks will make a more perfect society. In contrast, a democracy is ruled by the people and for the people, rather than by a single dictator. Although, it is possible to say that a democracy and a totalitarian government are similar because they both have leaders. A democracy has a president that helps the country make better choices and is part of the government, but a totalitarian government has a single leader that makes all the choices. In past history, we have also had totalitarian governments, “For example, the chaos that followed in the wake of World War I allowed or encouraged the establishment of totalitarian regimes in Russia, Italy, and Germany, while the sophistication of modern weapons and communications enabled them to extend and consolidate their power” (Columbia Encyclopedia 1).

There is a significant amount of history about totalitarian countries and “In popular discourse, the word ‘totalitarianism’ became a commonplace by the end of the thirties” (Alpers 60). Maybe it was a more popular word then than it is now, but it still plays a significant role in our history. Perhaps the word might bring back negative memories from our past. Maybe it brings back memories from when we were children and our teachers would make us watch historic videos of the times when Hitler was alive and in power. Those are without a doubt, negative recollections and “Despite some attempts to use the word neutrally or even positively, ‘totalitarian’ quickly accumulated entirely negative connotations in the United States” (Alpers 76). We shouldn’t blame anybody but bad dictators for the negativity we feel when we hear about a totalitarian government. In reality, the word wouldn’t be so bad if instead of Hitler, there would have been a better dictator that showed the U.S. that totalitarianism isn’t all that bad if the right person was in charge. Gilead also appears to be a horrible place, “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden” (Atwood 84). Not being allowed to use a person’s real name is cruel and is, undoubtedly, a sign that there is no freedom. We as Americans must admit that there is a possibility that we might live in a totalitarian place one day too. It is possible that if we do end up with a totalitarian government it won’t be as bad as Gilead though.

Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale illustrates that there can be a totalitarian government in the future. From the text, we find out that the characters from the book keep referring to “the times before Gilead” and they continue with how things were before Gilead was established. Offred, in particular, describes a society much like ours before Gilead existed. It seems like they had a democracy that slowly turned into a totalitarian government. Offred was married and had her little family, which included Luke and her daughter. When Gilead was established, her daughter was kidnapped and Luke…well we don’t ever find out what happened to him. Offred is now the Commander’s property and her only purpose now is to reproduce, “The Commander, as if reluctantly, begins to read…Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Then comes the moldy Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the Center” (Atwood 88). Gilead was not always Gilead and people actually had a normal life and worked like normal people. We have a normal democratic society right now too, but some even claim that with O’Bama in office we are already becoming a totalitarian country.

An article by Rick Barber on the Washington Post states very good reasoning for why people think the United States is already becoming a totalitarian country. Rick Barber is running for office and wrote “Unhinged on the Left by Fear” as a response to an article posted by Ruth Marcus making false accusations about him because of a campaign ad titled “Slavery.” In his article he states, “Totalitarianism doesn’t come all at once” (Barber 2) and he is very right about that statement. The same thing happened in The Handmaid’s Tale. They had a democratic government that slowly took women’s right away. They began to tear families apart and use the women for reproductive purposes only. They even refused to let women read at all so that Gilead could stay in power. In our world, “Over the past 18 months, the federal government has sought to seize or has seized control of the health-care industry, the financial industry, the mortgage industry, the automobile industry, student loans, broadband Internet and the energy sector through cap-and-trade legislation. With never a crisis going to waste, each new seizure is rationalized by some new emergency” (Barber 1). People never stop and think about this, but Barber could be right and we could have a possible totalitarian country on our hands.

Nine Inch Nails’ Trant Reznor thought about the possibility of having a totalitarian society in the future as well. He “…masterminded one of the most extensive prerelease digital marketing campaigns ever seen for his band’s new ‘Year Zero’ album. It involved an intricate storyline about a future world dominated by a totalitarian government, censorship and morality police-themes duplicated in the album and an ‘alternative reality game’ that forced fans to piece together the story via a scavenger hunt of clues online and in the real world” (Bruno 1). It’s unclear why he thought of a game about totalitarianism in the future, but it’s not a bad idea to let people know that totalitarianism is not an out of the question subject. Americans have probably forgotten about the word because it’s not used often, but this band definitely made an impact on people and got their message across because, “In the first 10 weeks, the campaign generated more than 2.5 million Web site visits, 2 million phone calls, 50,000 emails, close to 100,000 video streams and more than 1,650 pieces of fan submitted artwork” (Bruno 1). The game Reznor came up with is very similar to the life lived by Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale. Both the game and the story are based on totalitarianism, but the game gets people more involved than the book. A simple thing, such as a game, can open the eyes of many of the idea that a totalitarian government can occur if we let it.

Atwood’s story is solely based off of totalitarian government that hopefully doesn’t turn into our reality. A government that made, “This act of copulation, fertilization perhaps, which should have been no more to me than a bee is to a flower, had become for me indecorous, an embarrassing breach of propriety, which it hadn’t been before” (Atwood 161). The government made it obligatory for women to conceive, rather than a joyful event conceived by love. The only reason why any woman would be happy to be pregnant in Gilead was because that’s what they were supposed to do and doing it was a joyous time for the adoptive parents of the child, not for the biological mother of the child. It’s also almost harsh how, “It’s mothers, not fathers, who give away daughters these days and help with the arrangement of the marriages” (Atwood 219). Although this is one kind of totalitarian government demonstrated in the story, not all are the same. They all have differences depending on the dictator. The type of totalitarianism in the book is a very depressing one.

Atwood’s book is impressive and illustrious. It really does make people think of the possibilities of future governments for our country. Our reality is that there could be a totalitarian government in the United States some day if we, as Americans, allow it to happen. We really never know what the future holds for us. Anything is possible as long as we live.

Works Cited

Alpers, Benjamin. Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture. The University of North
Carolina Press, 2003. 1-417. Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. 1986. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Print.
Barber, Rick. “Unhinged on the Left by Fear.” Washington Post. Washington Post, 10 Jul. 2010.
Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
Bruno, Anthony. "The Teachings of Trent." Billboard. 26 May 2007: General Interest
Module, ProQuest. Web. 23 Jul. 2010.
"totalitarianism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com.
23 Jul. 2010