Fertility in The Handmaid's Tale Essay Sample

Fertility is what makes the world of Gilead go round and is one of the most important things. Without fertility being a recurring theme in The Handmaids Tale, The Handmaids Tale wouldn’t be the same book or even have that title. The society of The Handmaids Tale is Gilead, and it is going through a crisis of a decline in fertility which makes the value of fertile women very valuable and necessary. This story shows us what its like to live in a society where roles are based off of the fertility of a woman. Gilead is a society, where fertility lies solely on the women and never the man, because infertility is never the mans fault. In this novel fertility defines what a fertile woman is worth. 

Without fertility some of the roles in this story would not be the same. In this story we follow the life of a handmaid and what it means to be one, but without the theme of fertility in this society, she wouldn’t be one. In this story, handmaids are only looked at as a person that can carry a child and that is the only thing they are able to do. As the main handmaid of the story, Offred, is describing what she is wearing, she says: “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us” (Atwood 8). This is stated because the color red represents fertility. The color of blood represents blood during a menstrual cycle which signals fertility, which is why they are forced to wear this color to define them. Handmaids are owned by commanders and are obtained when the commanders wife is unable to carry a child. Being a handmaid mean that your one job is to give birth for a commander and their wife and then move on to the next house after the baby has been weaned. The baby that the handmaids give birth to will not be theirs, but the commanders and the wife. Even during ceremonies and births the wife is looked at as doing these actions even though the handmaid is doing all the work. Without the handmaids being fertile, then it wouldn’t be a job. If the handmaid is unsuccessful with the birth, then they will be sent to a different house to have another chance. The handmaids only have a couple of chances before becoming noticed as an unfertile women. If you are an unfertile woman then you play the role as an unwomen and are sent to a place called the colonies which is isolated from the rest of society, but due to how this book is written, we don’t really know what living in the colonies means.

In this society fertility is never the mans fault, only the womans. As Offred is at the doctors office getting her regular checkup, we are presented with this idea: “There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that's the law” (61). This is significant because it shows that fertility brings along inequality with men and women since they are looked at differently in terms of fertility. It doesn’t matter if the man is infertile, it will never be their fault, even if they have an unknown medical condition. This brings major inequality to this society since this world is based off of having children. The idea that it is not the mans fault that they can’t have a baby is extremely unfair, especially for the handmaids. The handmaids role in this society is dependent on them getting pregnant and they only have a certain amount of chances to do so. Since men cannot be infertile the handmaid will be looked at as infertile and will be sent to the colonies where they will no longer be a part of the society. 

Fertility defines a fertile woman's worth in this society. In this world a woman that is fertile is looked at as nothing more than a body. In Gilead the role of a fertile woman is a handmaid and they are used for nothing else. In this story the main character Offred is summoned by her commander to be alone in a room with him. This action in this world is highly illegal, but Offred’s thoughts in this position show us how the handmaids are viewed. “My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the commanders. We are for breeding purposes… We are two-legged wombs, thats all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (136). This statement is powerful because it shows us that handmaids are only seen and used for the fact that they can produce a baby. Without fertility the handmaids would be useless in this society and would even be sent away if they weren’t. The quote shows us the reality of what it means to be a handmaid in this society.

Atwood designed a world based off of fertility and did a phenomenal job at using different methods to convey the meaning of it in her story. She created a society where the value of people was based off of whether the person was fertile or not, and that a person being classified as fertile is different in both men and women. A fertile women in this story is all that that woman is. Gilead demonstrates a world were fertility defines who you are and what your purpose is in the society. Fertility plays a huge part in this story, and without it wouldn’t be this story because there would be no handmaid to tell this tale.