The Integrality of the Female First-Person Perspective in Feminist Science Fiction: A Close Analysis of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Russ’ “When it Changed”

      There should be no debate as to whether we currently live in a patriarchal society; the answer is a clear-cut yes, evidenced largely by the fact that, as of 2016, women still make 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men, and the fact that the majority of global leaders in industry, politics, and technology are male. The lacking representation of women in these areas has seen little improvement even in fictional creations, whether it be in film, literature, or television. Most novels are centered around male protagonists, especially those written in first-person perspective —on the behalf of both male and female authors. The other perspective, that of women, is thus in large part missing. In the past few decades, society has seen slightly greater female representation in all forms of media. Particularly in the department of science fiction, we have seen a larger integration of the female first-person perspective by feminist writers such as the renowned Margaret Atwood. Specifically, in Joanna Russ’s “When It Changed” (1972) and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), the authors’ employment of a female, first-person perspective in the setting of a dystopian society provides the audience with a reality that is not so far off from our own. This allows for the most effective commentary on the sickeningly restrictive nature of society’s expectation of who a woman should be, and presents both works with the opportunity to express their standpoint on female reproductive rights.

      In both novels, the presence of a female, first-person perspective provides unique and uncommon insight of their respective dystopian societies in regards to their outlooks on gender. Specifically in literature around this time, the 1980s, society witnessed New-Wave science fiction attack traditional sex roles directly; women authors’ science fiction became an especially important medium for public discussion of the disadvantages of contemporary sex roles and consideration of options for the future (Bainbridge, 1982). In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, written in 1985, the reality of living in the theocratic and oppressive regime that is Gilead is gradually revealed through the form of Offred’s—the main character’s—diary. In her entries, the reader slowly realizes the different breakdown of the roles for women in Gileadean society: The Marthas—the domestic servants, The Aunts—women who enforce the rules of Gilead onto the Handmaids, The Handmaids—the women whose sole purposes is to produce children, the Econowives—the wives of poor men in society, the Unwomen—the castouts, and the Wives—high ranking “pure” women in Gilead. Offred’s description of daily life as she encounters women of each role is unshockingly bland. She is clearly unhappy; she wishes to be with her husband and daughter. Her longing is expressed clearly in her inner monologue, stating “I ought to have done that with Luke, paid more attention, to the details, the moles and scars, the singular creases; I didn’t and he’s fading. Day by day, night by night he recedes, and I become more faithless” (Atwood, 1985, p.260). Offred’s unhappiness is a conspicuous indicator that there is something wrong with Gilead, and allows her to constantly question whether any of these women are as happy in their respective assigned roles as they pretend to be. The fact that the reader is able to hear from Offred’s perspective implicitly allows him or her an insight that would drastically differ from if the story were told by the perspective of a Commander—the head of the household who the Handmaid must engage in sexual intercourse with. Through Offred’s perspective, the reader is able to identify Atwood’s not-so-subtle critique of the many stereotypes of “who a woman should be” through the social hierarchy of women. The Wives, who stay at home and abide by the Commander, are of highest status. However, as we learn through Offred’s descriptions, Serena Joy—the Commander’s Wife who used to be a televangelist that advocated for women staying home and “doing their duty”—isn’t actually happy, even once she gets what she wants (Atwood, 1985, p.46). In fact, most of the women are unhappy with their roles in society, conveying the idea that women cannot be defined nor limited by one role that determines their social statuses; rather, they need to have the choice of which roles to take on in society, and as much freedom and flexibility as men. By letting Offred tell her own story, Atwood is able to most successfully criticize the social expectation of a woman’s place being in the home, which ultimately works as an argument against those who believe that women and men should not be socially equal.

      Similarly, Joanna Russ’ “When It Changed” allows the readers to question the current gender norms in our patriarchal society through a female perspective, though it does so in its own unique way. The short story describes the return of men to Whileaway, a planet inhabited solely by women, from the perspective of a woman named Janet. Through Janet’s eyes, the readers get to experience the daily life of a woman on Whileaway, which in Janet’s case involves her three children and her wife, Katy. This perspective is something most readers have likely not experienced yet, and it is no doubt shocking when Janet describes men as “apes with human faces” (Russ, 1972, p.509) during her first encounter with them. Men, the center of our present society, are foreign to the women of Whileaway. As Janet’s inner monologue continues, she begins to discuss the specialization of labor in her world; women are delegated different roles, but they all do what they’re best at to achieve the most efficient society. This is extremely dissimilar to the Handmaid’s Tale, where women are delegated different responsibilities based off the stereotype of where a woman’s place is: the home. This difference is further emphasized in Janet’s conversation with the men, where she is praised by one man on how she’s “adapted amazingly,” because where he comes from “the women don’t dress so plainly” (Russ, 1972, p.511). Janet does not initially understand his amazement, and her clueless response serves as an indirect critique of the ridiculousness of the stereotype that women must always be dressed up, made up, and sexualized—that that is their role in society. The man, whose name is not given, simply laughs at her cluelessness. For women to have any sort of masculine traits is frowned upon, evident by his deriding of Janet. Unfortunately, during the time which the short story was written, this was a common belief, and only in recent years has society been able to come to the understanding that masculinity is simply a social construction (Fausto-Sterling, 1997). Following her encounter with the man, Janet’s storytelling shifts to an anaphora of recollections, starting with the repeated phrase, “I remember.” Her tone is laced with fear as she “[sits] up nights and worr[ies] about the men who will come to this planet” (Russ, 1972, p. 514). Human beings have historically thought little of the consequences of our actions, especially during conquest in which men consider themselves society’s paternalistic saviors. Janet’s narrative allows us to see the other side, one of the many other perspectives that are missing from the story of how our patriarchal society actually came to be.

       Looking again at The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred’s perspective also serves to shed light on the debate of women’s reproductive rights that pervades society more than ever today. Throughout the novel, Offred often describes how her role as a Handmaid is that of a sexual vessel. She has lost all enjoyment of sex, recounting: “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping” (Atwood, 1985, p.84). Her role as a Handmaid has dehumanized her, and the way that she describes being reduced simply to her reproductive organs parallels the way that current society often reduces women down to their reproductive systems and nothing else. When Offred witnesses her fellow Handmaid, Janine, going into labor, she vividly recalls Janine’s wailing after she is separated from her newborn. The fact that the babies don’t stay with their mothers is a metaphor for the distance of many current policy makers whose job is to address issues involving women’s reproduction but have no first hand perspective on what it is like to carry a baby, give birth, or be a mother. Janine’s wailing pierces Offred’s ears, as she describes, and the sensations that the reader feels through Offred’s description of Janine’s crying has him or her questioning who’s right it is to decide the fate of the baby: society, or the mother? This strongly relates to the ever continuing debate on abortion, which is further explored during the scene called the Particicution, where Handmaids gather around a man whose rape of a handmaid resulted in her miscarriage (Atwood, 1985, p.271). Offred joins in on the physical abuse and eventual murder of the man who raped the Handmaid, but she herself admits that she isn’t sure why she joined. Gileadean society has had the Aunts drill into Offred’s head that abortion is a sin, and rape is the fault of the woman unless it robs us of our precious children. While her motivations are foggy, the message is clear; whether Offred was acting on rage on behalf of the man being a rapist, or she was acting out of passive obligation to Gileadean expectations, Offred’s insight allows us to question how society has treated women regarding rape and abortion. Victim-blaming unfortunately exists, and many people believe that women should not have a say in their reproductive rights—commentary on the pro-life side of the abortion debate.

      In the case of Russ’ “When it Changed,” Janet’s point of view lets us envision a reality where women have found alternative methods of reproduction, in effect allowing readers to question how we approach our current norms of traditional reproduction. On Whileaway, the main mode of reproduction involves the merging of ova, which Janet explains is different from parthenogenesis (Russ, 1972, p.512). To the men, this type of reproduction seems unnatural and alien, in that it completely disregards and nullifies the role of men. However, Janet’s attitude throughout the entire short story is one that looks down on the men, ridiculing them for their expressions of surprise that the women have so well adapted to their surroundings. In turn, we as readers are able to emphasize with Janet and wonder perhaps if the norms that we currently abide by are actually the strange ones. The man with whom Janet speaks seems to pity the women of Whileaway because they have had to resort to merging of ova for reproduction. He tells Janet, “Humanity is unnatural…There are homosexual cows, I believe. But Whileaway is still missing something” (Russ, 1972, p. 513). Hearing this from Janet’s perspective, the man seems to be the one who was mistaken; the women do not need the men to survive, and they have been doing just fine with their alternative method of reproduction for purposes of sustaining a population. Ultimately, what we see through Russ’ employment of Janet’s narrative to tell the short story, rather than the men’s, is a clearer view of the role of reproduction in society.

      Ultimately, the two pieces of literature by Atwood and Russ employ a female, first-person perspective that pushes the reader to discern that the realities these stories portray are dangerously probable, both in the way that they powerfully question society’s stereotypes of women and represent alternative views on the role of reproduction and reproductive rights. These issues are especially pertinent as they parallel the ongoing abortion debate and gender inequities that plague us today. While there has been significant progress in advocacy on behalf of the rights of women when it comes to their own bodies, there is still much territory to cover. Similarly, while we have made segway to close the gaps to achieve gender inequity, the aforementioned wage gap between men and women still very much exists. It is only through further discussion and advocacy of every form—whether it be provoked through literature, film, etc—that we can continue to properly address these issues and perhaps one day close these gaps once and for all.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. (1998). The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1998.

Bainbridge, W.S. (1982). Women in Science Fiction. Sex Roles, 8, 1081–1093.

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. (1997). “How to Build a Man.” Science and Homosexualities (219-226). Great Britain: Routledge.

Russ, Joanna. (1972). “When It Changed.” The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.