Attitudes towards women and sex- Chapters 37-39

SIR, SORRY BUT I COULD NOT GET THE LINK TO EMBED THE SCRIBD FILE TO POST.
Chervaughn Archibald-William
Attitudes towards women and sex in Chapters 37-39

“The Commander has a room key...I am to understand”

The first real connotation from the topic of attitudes towards women and sex comes from the section name itself, Jezebels. This noun means a wicked, shameless woman. In the context of this section and Caribbean slang, the appropriate meaning of this word means shameless women who would have no morals or self-respect for their bodies. The whole setting of this hotel where ‘out of the way’ things happen and purpose of this section relates to the noun, Jezebels. It seems that Margaret Atwood intentionally named this section Jezebels because what happens in it corresponds with the noun. This title already makes the reader conjure ideas, if the meaning of the word is known, that the section would have something to do with women and sex.
At the near beginning of chapter 37, the handmaid describes the clothing of the women at the Jezebels hotel. Collectively she tells of them as flimsy, colourful, short and tight. A direct description by the Handmaid is, “Some are in olden-days, lingerie, shortie nightgowns, baby-doll pyjamas, and the occasional see-through negligee”. This lexical set for “sexy clothing” connotes how the women were lowered to wearing sexual, appealing clothing for high authority men in order to stay alive and away from the Colonies. The clothing symbolizes promiscuity and the women being mere sexual objects to these men who are only there for sexual pleasure anyway. The Handmaid uses this list to show the various types of “play mates” that there are at the hotel. This variety is beneficial to the men that are sexually active with the women as they are eye-candy to lure and make the men lust for them. All of this is contrary to the way that Gilead is run which is a shock to the Handmaid as well as the reader. Atwood wants the reader to notice that although Gilead has such a strict regime, men still can not give up the whole imaginative and seductive side of sex and how women portray themselves whilst involved in the act from pre-Gilead. This shows the power of women’s sexual bait.

An attitude towards women is that they are not seen as individual people. The Handmaid asks the Commander who the people in the room were and he answered by describing the men in the room. This shows dismissal and ignorance of the women in the room. She replies by saying, “Who are these people? ...”No,” I say, “I mean the women.” The noun, people, connotes that the Handmaid used a general word to initiate that she was talking about the women yet the Commander assumed that she was talking about the men which illustrates how high authority men see women and men as unequal. The reader gets the feeling that Atwood did this intentionally in order for us to question the dominance and view of women in Gilead and more particularly the Jezebels hotel. It is clear that if the Handmaid asked specifically who the women were, the Commander would have discussed their purpose of being practically free “prostitutes”.

The initial viewing of the women by the Handmaid is, “The women are sitting, lounging, strolling, leaning against one another”. This listed description is quite restricted on the women. It seems to the reader that the women are just mere objects or figures at the hotel instead of ex professionals and smart women. The Handmaid also suggests the same by describing them as “posing” than giving them life like descriptions. The word order of this list also is quite significant as she suggests that the women are doing practically nothing constructive but are just there. The verbs connote similar meanings that the women are “floating” around. In relation to the attitude towards women and sex, the description by the Handmaid shows that the women are not seen as significant and life-like. If the same goes for when the women are having sex, the men will see them as mere objects that they can use to fulfil their pleasures with no consideration of the women’s feelings or emotions whilst doing it.

It is not only in this section that the attitudes towards women and sex are negative. It is throughout the novel and Atwood demonstrates this through various means.