"There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from" (24).
Before the days of the Eyes of God, freedom to reigned. Atwood is raising the question of whether "freedom from" is actually better than "freedom to," as the Eyes believe it to be. With "freedom to" a woman has the right to stand up for herself, to say no, to figure out a way to avoid that bad attention as well as the right to love. But with the "freedom from," women no longer have to worry about what will happen if they go out alone (although they never do under the new regime). Along with the "freedom from" the women have been forced to become emotional-less incubators, essentially getting raped once a month. In this quote, Atwood also throws in a slight hint that the men were a big part of the original problem, with their pursuit of women when it was not proper, and so the women gain a "freedom from" men; but in truth, the women end up having to sacrifice their bodies and minds for the job of bearing children for men they do not know or love.
use quote marks to help distinguish the terms; this si strong thinking -- perhaps the strongest of your HT collection
ReplyDeleteOriginal:
ReplyDelete"Before the days of the Eyes of God, freedom to reigned. Atwood is raising the question of whether freedom from is actually better than freedom to, as the Eyes believe it to be. With freedom to a woman has the right to stand up for herself, to say no, to figure out a way to avoid that bad attention as well as the right to love. But with the freedom from, women no longer have to worry about what will happen if they go out alone (although they never do under the new regime). Along with the freedom from the women have been forced to become emotional-less incubators, essentially getting raped once a month. In this quote, Atwood also throws in a slight hint that the men were a big part of the original problem, with their pursuit of women when it was not proper, and so the women gain a "freedom from" men; but in truth, the women end up having to sacrifice their bodies and minds for the job of bearing children for men they do not know or love."