The Handmaid's tale, Fahrenheit 451, and 1984: Connections part 1

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale. pages 100-200

One commonality that exists between the three novels, is a law that gets broken by each protagonist.

In "1984," the law that Winston breaks is referred to as "Thought Crime." The way that "Thought Crime," is committed, is when a citizen of Oceania expresses any opinion that does not coincide with the one that the government has. Such an opinion is usually a political one, such as saying that the country is changing the past, or lying to its citizens. The reason why "Thought Crime" exists, is so that people will be afraid to question the government, and will accept everything that they say.One way that the protagonist, Winston, commits "Thought Crime" is by writing in his journal. In his journal, he writes about how he remembers Oceania being allied with Eastasia before allying with Eurasia. Although, the change in ally was never announced to the public. The mere fact that Winston remembers it, and states in his journal that it occurred, is enough to entail his death, because of committing "Thought Crime." Winston commits "Thought Crime" because the journal in which he writes, is his therapeutic way of preventing his sanity from eroding away.

Montag, from "Fahrenheit 451," committs the illegal act of reading a book. This is considered illegal because reading is banned. It's banned because a book is considered an object that possess a threat to the society's idealistic concept of making everyone equal. That's because if one reads more than other people, then they will become more intelligent, and they will know far more than the everyone else. But in this society, intellectual people are looked upon as people that make everyone else feel inferior, therefore, the only way to stop such feelings of inferiority from occuring is by taking their only source of information away--books. The reason why Montag committs the illegal act of reading is because of his search for his inner saddness, and emptiness. He only becomes aware of these emotions when an intellectual girl, Clarisse, asks him if he's happy.

In "The Handmaid's Tale", one act that Offred commits which is not permitted, is reading. This act takes place in the Commander's office, as he offers her several magazines to read (one magazine per every session). The reason why, women are not given access to reading, is so that female literacy will cease to exist. That's because in the theorocratic government of Gilead, knowledge is a temptation, and temptation could lead to sinning. Therefore, by taking away the source of knowledge, (books and magazines) the chance that women will sin is also greately reduced. In addition to that, causing female illiteracy to spread throughout the female population like a disease, will also ensure that the females will remain under control. After all, knowledge is power; and when no knowledge exists, neither does power.

The acts of breaking the law that are most connected, are the ones in "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Fahrenheit 451." Both of these acts involve reading as the breaking of the law, because by not reading, people are kept under complete control. In "1984," the law that is broken by Winston, "Thought Crime," is far more strict and harder not to break. That is because not committing "Thought Crime" requires one to fight against their own instincts, and to keep them in their subconscious in order to make sure that they are not expressed. What the party gains from this is complete power. In fact, by imposing the rules onto the characters, the government from all three novels gain power. This power enables them to shape the society however they wish.