Future Apocalypse

Today we hypothesized about how this new future existence with what seems to us as odd laws had come to be. An idea that stood out was that perhaps, in accordance with "The End of Men" by Ann Friedman, the women in society had gained so much power that men started to feel their own power drain. Hypothetically, if this happened, then the men felt that they were becoming useless. They felt stifled, suffocated, and endangered. This new world was unfair to them, and they couldn't cope or comprehend the reality of it. And so, they plotted. They planned the downfall of the democratic society, the shooting of Congressmen as Offred describes, and they planned to separate the jobs of women so that the individual females would no longer hold much power. As Abraham Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The men used this idea to go forward with their plan and to gain control over the women who were outranking the men in society. However, as they put their plan into action, they also made a grave mistake. In Lincoln's speech, the word "house," in this context would refer to the human species, not to men or women alone. I believe that we were built by evolution to coexist as all animals have with two genders. We were not meant to live without the other half of our species. The men did not understand this, and so when they did "divide the house" they also isolated themselves from each other. They now no longer have any companions, no friends to be social with, no comrades to converse with. Just as all humans want what they do not have, the men want companions, someone they can really talk to and connect with. A clear example of this is when the Commander asks Offred to come play Scrabble with him just for fun. He needs someone to talk to and to be friendly with, so he uses his Handmaid. However, Offred is not a creature that has forgotten all feeling and sentiment. She knows that because there is this longing for companionship in the Commander she can use him, perhaps to escape. Men, by trying to attack the other half of their world, the females, have attacked themselves. There is no understanding of balance in this world!