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

Food as a Control Mechanism in Handmaids Tale Food traditionally represents comfort, security, and family. We recall the traditional concept of comfort food and the large family dinners in Norman Rockwells piece Freedom from Want. However, for many, food is alike a serious, and potentially damaging, method of control. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia be classic examples of psychological syndromes, related to control, that express themselves with eating disorders. Prisoners of war are denied food as the closely basic method of torture and control. Like all humans, Offred, the main character of Margaret Atwoods Handmaids Tale, finds that food is a central and heavy feature of life. Food has many meanings in the novel, nourishment, fertility, and luxury however, this paper will focus on food as a control mechanism of Gileads government. First, page 11 in the novel introduces tokens, which are the method of payment for food in Gilead. Tokens do not have any writing on them at all, onl y basic pictures. Here it is important to recognize that handmaids, and all respectable women, in Gilead are not allowed to read. Gilead has biblical mandate 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 lose all ability to gain any knowledge that is not fed to them. We chitchat this same idea expressed on pages 25 and 27 when Offred described the storefronts. All the stores, but specifically the food markets, no longer have indite names and signs. The names of these stores are all expressed using rudimentary pictures. As an example, a wooden sign with three eggs, a bee, and a dismay indicates Milk and Honey. There is further significance 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 u p at the store will be based purely on the tokens that have been given to them, they will hand these tokens to a man behind the counter, and he will hand her the food. It is very simple and extremely passive. The limitation of free will using tokens is expounded upon when Offred realizes that Milk and Honey has oranges, a rare luxury. Offred is longing for one of these fruits yet cannot have it because she doesnt have a token for it (25).