Biblical Quotes

            The premise of how Gilead is run is based upon the biblical quote from the book of Genesis. This quote is partially sited before the table of contents. This quote basically explains where all of the traditions in Gilead came from and why they happen. For example, the ceremony is meant to represent the wife having the child through the handmaid and that when the child is eventually born that it is the wife’s not the handmaid’s who is the true mother.

            There is another biblical quote that I used recently for a World Literature speech that I feel is also just as important and relevant in this book as the Genesis quote. The quote is: “wives be subject to your husband, as to the lord, for the husband is the head of the wife” Ephesians 5:22-23. This quote clearly demonstrates that the bible intends for males to be superior to females. This quote is demonstrated in every aspect of the handmaid’s lives in Gilead; they are constantly oppressed by the government in every action from not being allowed knives at dinner to being forced into the roles or handmaid/Martha/wife/aunt/econowife in the first place. This can even be seen from the earliest chronological point in the book where the women’s jobs and credit card accounts were taken away from them and everything they had in their name was immediately transferred to closest male relative after the “temporary suspension” of the Constitution.