The Most Dangerous Mouth

“The word colonization, it has the same root as the word colon; it means to digest. Colonization is the process of digestion of one culture by another.” -Winona LaDuke

When it comes to the world of religion, Christianity stands out as a problem child, and a child with a loaded gun at that. It is a religion that holds more power and influence than any other religion by a great deal, and with exceptionalistic views and controversial ideologies, it has had an undeniable impact on the course of history. However, there is not a history it roots itself more deeply in than the history of America. America has danced upon the line between a free democracy and a theocracy since its birth. And while the Founding Fathers implied through the constitution that a distinct separation between the church and state was necessary for their envisioned nation to function properly, America has always been a very Christian nation, through the people and the government. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a testament to the effects of the mixture between Church and State, and what better inspiration to base such a book on than America herself. Of the countless literary elements Atwood has perfected and seamlessly woven together into this story, what often stands out the most is the level of worldbuilding. It is so cruel and despicable that Atwood was forced to remind her audience that “I wasn’t putting anything into it that humans had not already done somewhere at some time.” And while there are a great number of historical instances that serve as her muses, none are more prominent than the ties between early American history and Christianity. As the French and British colonized the land that would one day be taken and transformed into America, they encountered the peoples indigenous to the region. And instead of possessing no religion at all, the natives had many religions that were integral to their very way of life. Now this posed a problem to the missionary colonists whose belief was that their purpose was to show the native peoples the way of Christianity in order to “save their souls” and surely, having seen the path to God, they would convert. Once they saw the light, their meaningless lives would be filled with purpose, they thought. This was not the case. The European colonists and their western traditions wreaked havoc on the relationship between Native Americans and Christian missionaries. Between the genocide, mistreatment of the land, and general usurping, indigenous people developed a reasonably severe distrust towards Europeans. The missionaries saw only one option, and that was taking advantage of the single group of targets most mentally and physically vulnerable: the children. The boarding schools were established, commissioned by a government that was, against the Founding Fathers wishes, completely composed of Christians and run through Christian ideologies at the time. Here, the connections between history and Atwood’s writing begin to make themselves obvious. The first step the boarding school project took was the forceful separation of families. Indoctrination does not work if your subject has a voice to tell them anything else. Both Gilead and America utilized government agents to abduct children and split families, seen in Handmaid’s Tale as the separation between Offred and her daughter. Both of them become victims to indoctrination and while Offred is only mildly affected and resists it to some degree, the same cannot be confirmed for her young daughter who she is shown pictures of holding hands with another woman, presumably her new mother. In real life however, the parents of the children were not given the reassurance that they were safe. Even if the early American government told them such a thing, it would have been a terrible lie for that certainly was not the case. Once the individual is isolated, the next step is to erase their culture and identity. “My name isn’t Offred,” the Offred notes, “I have another name which nobody uses now because it is forbidden.” Like the non-Gileadean civilians during the upheaval of America, the Native American children were given English names, often religious names, and were forbidden from using their old ones, as well as any other words from their native languages. Gilead is not too dissimilar to the Native American Boarding Schools; they’re both based on negative reinforcement training. The Aunts carry cattle prods in the book but not to defend against intruders. Aunt Lydia confidently states they are free from such threats, there’s no reason to fear them, especially not in the presence of the Angels and Guardians. It is clear that they are the Handmaids. The children of the boarding schools were hit, abused, isolated, starved, and even sexually assaulted. They were given such punishments whenever they even showed a fraction of their original cultural identity. Some converted to Christianity, many simply hid their true selves, none believed. “I thought you were a true believer,” Ofglen says to Offred, surprised, “I thought you were.” Both women still cling to their past lives but bury them deep, not out of newfound faith, but fear. The life they lived was proof enough to them that the God Gilead worshiped was not real, not for them. Religion is different for each person. A lantern for dark times, a deep scar from a bitter lie, a fundamental set of truths to live by, or a path to salvation and promise for tomorrow. What you believe is and should be up to you. But Atwood warns us that religion is a dangerous thing and that such beliefs should not be a source of leadership, lest others be smothered by your ignorance for their own beliefs. The word colonization means for one culture to consume another. But the days of conquering are over. It’s time to start building instead.