Life at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th was an especially difficult time in America for minorities. With wounds still fresh from the Civil War, several movements and ideas spread throughout these decades concerning different groups. Two of these groups seemingly intertwined at the time of the Civil War while working towards their respective goals. Both women and African-Americans were fighting for the same given rights as white Americans. The first wave of feminism worked towards gaining women’s suffrage, right to be educated, and right to own property. This movement gave a voice to neglected African-American women in the midst of African-American men gaining the very rights that they too were yearning for. While women fought for their own rights, African-Americans were struggling to maintain theirs after the Reconstruction period in America. As Jim Crow laws settled in the South, African-Americans continued to be restricted and controlled by whites. The doctrine of “separate but equal” was introduced at this time, paving the way for what would be a long history of segregation and discrimination. These struggles, of both women and African-Americans, are emphasized in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Ernest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying. While Atwood depicts a dark future concerning women and their freedoms, Gaines discusses the oppression of African-Americans and the reality for black communities in the mid-20th century. Contemporary scholar, Ta-Nehisi Coates demonstrates how that oppression and reality is still present in America despite the approximate 70-year difference between the setting of A Lesson Before Dying and his novel Between the World and Me. The progressive gains made for both African-Americans and women are small when put into perspective of how much is still out of their control and might continue to be. This lack of control causes disembodiment among these groups as their bodies and lives become someone else’s. Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying demonstrate how the bodies of non-white men and women are controlled by their oppressors.

     Conforming to the expectations and rules of these oppressors causes self-hate and a sense of worthlessness. Offred despises her body and can barely stand to look at it. In the world of The Handmaid’s Tale, the handmaids are used for nothing but procreation. Offred and the other handmaids are only seen for their uterus. They have become so reliant on the goal to bear children that the thought of being unsuccessful makes them feel like a failure.

I sink down into my body as into a swamp, fenland, where only I know the footing. Treacherous ground, my own territory. I become the earth I set my ear against, for rumors of the future. Each twinge, each murmur of slight pain, ripples of sloughed-off matter, swellings and diminishings of tissue, the droolings of the flesh, these are signs, these are the things I need to know about. Each month I watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes it means failure. I have failed once again to fulfill the expectations of others, which have become my own. (Atwood 73)

     Every month Offred waits to see if she will have her period and waits for the tell-tale signs and feelings of it. She knows that once her period comes, she has failed her duty in society. Society’s expectations of her and her body have become her own expectations thus having power and control over her and her body. This society has control over all women because of the expectations put on their bodies. The new structure of life in Gilead is supposedly “safer” for women since pornography is eliminated and sex is restricted to procreation. Handmaids are protected from harassment and rape since they “aren’t seen as a sex object”. Offred even remembers Aunt Lydia saying “There is more than one kind of freedom…Freedom to and freedom from” (Atwood 24). Before Gilead, women had the freedom to do whatever they wanted. In Gilead, they have the freedom from men shouting obscenities at them, touching them, or speaking to them. Women are supposed to be seen as more than their bodies in this world due to the absence of sexual stimulation. However, the sole purpose of women in this society is to use their body and they are evaluated on how well their body performs. The handmaids are taught to want to have children and base the value of their body on whether they achieve that goal. With the absence of sex for pleasure, the bodies of women are also being controlled. Limiting sex to the monthly occurrence between the handmaid and Commander doesn’t allow women to have sex for pleasure since it is strictly forbidden for a handmaid to have sexual relations with anyone other than her assigned Commander. We see Offred act sexual by swaying her hips when walking away from Guardians when she’s not supposed to because she knows how it will affect the men. The lack of casual sex in this world makes Offred do this because she knows the men can’t do anything about it and she feeds off of that little bit of power and control she has. Still being seen as a sexual object, Gilead controls Offred’s actions even when she thinks she’s doing something for her.

     While women are controlled in Gilead, African-Americans are controlled by the white community around them. In Bayonne, the black community is forced to be less than the white community. There are two distinct sides of town, one being white with more upscale facilities, restaurants, and businesses while the other is more run down and less appealing. When Grant goes to visit Bayonne he “had to drive down another two or three blocks before turning down an unlit road, which led back of town to the colored section” (Gaines 24). This difference in community immediately devalues the black community giving off the impression that they are not on the same level as whites. That idea is repeated throughout A Lesson Before Dying as the African-American characters are continuously made to be inferior through control over their bodies and their lives. During Jefferson’s trial, his own attorney calls him a hog. Jefferson firmly believes his lawyer and refuses to eat in jail because “’That’s for youmans,’ he said…’I’m a old hog,’ he said. ‘Youmans don’t stay in no stall like this. I’m a old hog they fattening up to kill.’” (Gaines 83). Calling Jefferson a hog dehumanizes him so much that he even believes it. They have taken control of his mind and his own sense of self-worth. Gaines also highlights how African-Americans were controlled through sharecropping. All of Grant’s students come from families that are involved in sharecropping which makes Grant’s school get out earlier than the white schools since the children have to help their family. Sharecropping takes advantage of the black community and was another way for whites to keep black opportunities and lives contained after the Civil War. They were often roped into contracts that they did not understand or could not understand since many were unable to read or write. These contracts would allow African-Americans to farm land in which they would receive a portion of the crop. Their portion was usually very small and did not yield much money. Sharecropping was another way for whites to control black lives and Gaines shows how it was used to make black lives inferior.

     In the literal sense, the bodies of non-white men and women are completely controlled by their oppressors. We see what happens when women and African-Americans are in control as they are all killed or set up to be killed. In Gilead, women who misbehave are sent to the colonies where they are forced to pick up toxic waste that will eventually cause their death. Offred’s mother was sent to the colonies after being a “radical” feminist who frequented protests and spoke against the majority. Sometimes the women don’t even make it to the colonies. During a Salvaging, people are hanged for breaking rules. Many of these are handmaids being punished for things that women should have the freedom to do. Their bodies end up on “the wall” for the whole town to see to serve as a reminder to stay within the confines that Gilead places upon its people. African-Americans are lynched, tarred and feathered, and in Jefferson’s case—executed. The reality for women and African-Americans is that whether they are in control of the situation or not, they will never be in control of their bodies. Ta-Nehisi Coates explains how this is still a problem in present day as he recalls his experiences growing up.

To survive the neighborhoods and shield my body, I learned another language consisting of a basic complement of head nods and handshakes. I memorized a list of prohibited blocks. I learned the smell and feel of fighting weather. And I learned that “Shorty, can I see your bike?” was never a sincere question, and “Yo you was messing with my cousin” was neither an earnest accusation nor a misunderstanding of the facts. These were the summonses that you answered with your left food forward, your right foot back, your hands guarding your face, one slightly lower than the other, cocked like a hammer…I recall learning these laws clearer than I recall learning my colors and shapes, because these laws were essential to the security of my body. (Coates 23-24)

     We see Grant following these same laws as he adjusts his behavior when speaking to certain people. When giving the sheriff the radio for Jefferson, Grant catches himself before he says the word “batteries”, saying “battries” instead. This shows that Grant is well aware of how he must act and appear to others in order to not cause problems. Since the sheriff said “battries”, Grant knew that he could not sound “smarter” than the sheriff or else there would be consequences for not only him but perhaps Jefferson. We see Grant acknowledge it again when speaking to Mr. Pichot.

“And what do you plan to do?” he asked me. I shook my head. “I have no idea.” He stared at me, and I realized that I had not answered him in the proper manner. “Sir,” I added…He was finished talking to me. Now he wanted me to look away. I lowered my eyes. (Gaines 21)

     Again, Grant is aware of what his actions are supposed to be according to whites so he behaves accordingly to avoid trouble. The expectations of him, enforced by whites, control his body. Jefferson’s soul is controlled by what everyone else around him thinks about him. Miss Emma wants nothing more than for him to die a man, a human. Coates goes into detail about how a person is their body. “I believed and still do, that our bodies are our selves, that my soul is conducted through neurons and nerves, and that my spirit is my flesh” (Coates 79). Until Jefferson takes back control of his body, his spirit will be tarnished. His body will not be his. When he walks to his death instead of being dragged, he is finally acting on his accord, taking control of his body and spirit. Though he has found his inner purpose and peace, his physical body will never be in his control as he is executed cementing the idea that his oppressors will always have the last say.

     The idea that certain groups of people belong beneath others is an outdated one. To think that someone is less valuable or less human because of their skin or gender is furthering the idea that we aren’t all on the same level. Coates said it best with “race is the child of racism, not the father” (Coates 7). This is applicable to both racism and sexism. The desire to make someone inferior came before the actual “reason”. Race and gender are both characteristics that have been made to define people. Throughout history, minorities have been fighting to be seen as more than those manufactured characteristics. When put in perspective, those groups are being denied the right to be seen as an individual even though they have the same natural rights as their oppressors. Something so trivial and almost silly divides the world limiting opportunities, experiences, and interaction. The overwhelming authority of “whites” prompts the question, what gives them the right to confine others? Who gets to deem one life more important than another? The flaws in our world run deep and show little signs of improving. The progressive gains made for struggling women and African-Americans seem to be moving backward instead of forward. The representation of these struggles and gains in literature, and the reality of them, has stayed the same throughout the course of human existence. Only time will tell whether these primitive concepts will continue to rule the lives of those suffering from them or if they will finally be extinguished.

 

 Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. First Anchor Books ed., Anchor Books, 1998.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel and Grau. 2015.

Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. First Vintage Contemporaries ed., Vintage Contemporaries, 1994.

Powerless

By: Kristina Hodges