Book Bento Box: a unique and original perspective on The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Created by Sienna, Hannah, Alexa, Zoe, Ella, Jill, Esmee: Eng. 12 Honors, Fall 2019

Purity Objects: 

• Pearl Necklace
• White Flower
• Bible
• Face Cream

Violent Objects:

• Red Flower
• Bottle of chemicals
• Scrabble Tiles 
• Knife 

In a dystopian future where women are considered to be nothing more than “two legged wombs”, there is a substantial contrast between the totalitarian portrayal of society, sustained by rigid rules, discipline and above all, brutal punishment, and the dark reality of oppression.

On either side of The Handmaid’s Tale in our book bento box are two starkly different collections of objects, which represent the difference between the beautiful, safe utopia the founders of Gilead supposedly had in mind, and the gruesome underbelly of this dystopia.

The flowers on either side demonstrate the contrast of the domesticity and purity of the women, (the white flower), versus the reality of violence and brutality against girls and women that runs deep through the veins of Gilead (the broken red flower). The flowers, the reproductive organs of plants, also reference fertility, an overarching theme in the book.

The knife represents the temptation of power, as well as suicide and self-harm that the protagonist, Offred, feels, having been placed in such a lonely, bleak and seemingly hopeless situation.

The Bible represents the dominant presence in the life of every citizen in this dystopia: religion. Bible verses are cited as reason for every atrocity the government commits, yet women are forbidden by law to read one.

The Handmaid’s Tale demonstrates the dangers of not separating church and state, with a society based entirely upon religion, yet it also illustrates an equally important point: the dangers of exploiting religion to justify one’s own hatred. The government of Gilead abuses the Bible to justify their own acts of violence, discrimination, murder, and rape, when it is the founders of Gilead, and their criminal idealogies, that should be blamed this dystopia, and not Christianity.