Essay on Food as a Control Mechanism in Handmaids Tale :: Handmaids Tale Essays

Food as a Control implement in Handmaids Tale Food traditionally represents comfort, security, and family. We recall the traditional pattern of comfort food and the large family dinners in Norman Rockwells piece immunity from Want. However, for many, food is also a serious, and potentially damaging, method of control. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia atomic number 18 classic examples of psychological syndromes, related to control, that express themselves with eating disorders. Prisoners of war be denied food as the most basic method of torture and control. the like all humans, Offred, the main character of Margaret Atwoods Handmaids Tale, finds that food is a central and big feature of life. Food has many meanings in the novel, nourishment, fertility, and luxury however, this paper forget focus on food as a control implement of Gileads government. First, page 11 in the novel introduces token(prenominal)s, which are the method of honorarium for food in Gilead. Tokens do not have any paternity on them at all, only basic pictures. Here it is important to get by that handmaids, and all respectable women, in Gilead are not allowed to read. Gilead has biblical ordinance for this rule, without doubt, yet the most significant aspect of the rule is its use as a control mechanism. Women are denied the power of knowledge, and hopefully, from the governments perspective, women will eventually get all ability to gain any knowledge that is not ply to them. We see this same idea verbalised on pages 25 and 27 when Offred described the storefronts. All the stores, but specifically the food markets, no hourlong have written names and signs. The names of these stores are all expressed using rudimentary pictures. As an example, a wooden sign with cardinal eggs, a bee, and a cow indicates Milk and Honey. There is further consequence of the tokens mentioned above. Because handmaids must use these tokens to purchase food, they have no choice or free will regarding food at this stage. The food they pick up at the store will be based purely on the tokens that have been given to them, they will hand these tokens to a man hind end the counter, and he will hand her the food. It is very simple and extremely passive. The boundary of free will using tokens is expounded upon when Offred realizes that Milk and Honey has oranges, a ancient luxury. Offred is longing for one of these fruits yet cannot have it because she doesnt have a token for it (25).