It's late Sunday morning and people on the street are popping in and out of stores, seeking shade from the glaring sun reflecting
off the pavement on this scorching June day. Naomi checks her watch, realizing
she is supposed to be at the restaurant now, she picks up her pace, rushing
through the streets and dodging cars, adding to the bustle and liveliness that
is New York City. She thinks about how she is going to tell the girls; she
attempts to predict their reactions so that she can generate appropriate
responses ahead of time. What if they condemn me, reject me, dismiss me, she
thinks, I can't get through this without the support of my friends. Is it wrong of me to not want to bring a
child into this cruel world that’s controlled by the media and configured so
that women fail? She realizes she
has gotten distracted and taken a wrong turn; she is now ten minutes late.
Where is Naomi, Offred thinks, she is usually on time, a quality Offred
appreciates about her. Time is the
only thing that remains constant, no matter where you are there is a
when; time, day, month, year, one of the few things she understands.
There's so much to learn, but I'll never know it all; the idea of infinite
knowledge intimidates Offred. I
would like to be ignorant, she thinks, then I would not know how
ignorant I was. She looks away from her menu and back at the other women.
Jasmine is whispering something to Eve that Offred doesn't catch. Just add that
to the list of things I will never know, she thinks.
Naomi enters the restaurant and all the women stand up to greet her,
embracing her, all smiles and warmth, she cherishes the moment believing that
it won't last long. She goes over the script in her head that she prepared on her
walk here; It's my choice and I don't need your criticism, all I'm asking is
for your support. Stay strong, she tells herself, as long as you're happy
that's all that matters. Like a car running a red light, she speeds through her
story, leaving out details and avoiding eye contact. When she finishes she
looks up at all the blank stares, uncomfortable with all the attention on her
she attempts to change the subject. "Wait," Jasmine says. Here it
comes, Naomi thinks.
"I don't judge you at all," Eve jumps in, "In fact I
commend you for taking control over your own body." How can Eve say that,
Jasmine thinks, it's not her choice to take control over, it's someone else's
life, a precious life, a beautiful life, God's creation. She thinks back to the
day her husband died, I am screaming.
My hands touch a red wet cheek, my
eyes are closed. She can sense Naomi waiting for her response, but she
doesn't know how to express what she's feeling. How can Naomi understand death
if she's never lost someone that she loved; She would have loved that child.
It's not fair for me to burden Naomi with my pain, she thinks, I had a past that I was still
fleeing. Perhaps still am. "As long as you're happy,"
Jasmine says, "I support you." Offred is silent.
*Everything in
italics is taken from either Jasmine or
The Handmaid's Tale
Explanation:
I wrote this short
piece on abortion because it is a topic that we never had the chance to discuss
during this course due to its delicate nature and the intense debate
surrounding it. In writing this, I tried to imagine which side of the debate
each of the fictional characters and actual authors would support. I think
Naomi Wolf would not necessarily be against abortion because she believes in
women having control over their lives and bodies, similarly to Eve Ensler. Wolf
is opposed to the beauty myth influencing women to harm their bodies. She says,
"Women have learned to submit to pain by hearing authority figures -
doctors, priests, psychiatrists - tell us that what we feel is not pain"
(254). I think if having a child would hurt a woman mentally or physically,
then Wolf would support the decision of that female to free herself from such
pain. I think Eve Ensler would also understand the decision to have an abortion since she has connected
with many women who have experienced the atrocity of rape. I think Offred would
not allow herself to have an opinion on the matter because she knows that she
has been ingrained with information about the importance of giving birth, to
the extent where her point of view is unwillingly distorted. Jasmine on the
other hand, I imagine would be opposed to the concept of abortion. Although the
death of her beloved husband nearly drove her to suicide, I think she
eventually acknowledged the gift of life and all the beauty it has to offer.
