One important theme in many dystopian novels and movies is the value of identity. Identity is so key because it can refer to many aspects of an individual. These categories of identity can include gender, socio-economic status, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion just to name a few. Dystopian novels and movies are renown for creating worlds and societies in which these things are taken away with the intention of revealing the magnitude of identity. The Handmaid’s Tale plays on this idea by creating this land of Gilead where everyone in some shape or form has lost significant parts of his or her identity. The women have caught the worst of this and have been reduced to mere tools for reproduction. The loss of identity in this novel is one of the main reasons there has been little to no resistance from the absurd laws of this society. Losing one’s identity takes the fight out of you and makes it much easier to conform to something even if you know that it is absolutely wrong.

Women have been stripped of their socio-economic status and have no say in decisions or any type of individual freedom. They are continuously supervised and forced to take on new names. The naming system seemed of little importance to me at first, but as I thought about it more and more I recognized its significance. By taking away this one last piece of identity, previous bonds and ties to the past society were broken and there is a major loss of hope. If these women could have just held on to their real names, maybe they would have kept more of a tie to their previous lives and therefore been more willing to fight to get back their lives. By enforcing this new naming system, these women were forced to separate themselves from their previous lives. As we saw from the narrator’s point of view, there were many times where she did not even want to recall or remember what her old life was like because it was just too painful. Instead she invested her mind and imagination in her forged identity and blocked out her past. This forged identity served as a control and prevented a lot of possible resistance and uprisings from the citizens of Gilead.

I think that identity is so important because it is such a heavy influence on our decision-making. I found myself while reading this book and Kindred asking why these main characters did not take action or why did they not take it sooner. Why didn’t Dana keep trying to escape of why does Offred not take matters into her own hands when she is given so many opportunities? I know it is wrong to say what you would do in as situation if you have never been in it, but I still wonder if I would be up for making the big decisions. What I have found by reading these books is that when your identity is stripped, you are reduced and making those hard decisions becomes even harder. Societies like this design it this way so that there is more “order” and less room for challenges. When I look at it this way, I find myself empathizing with characters and enjoying the novel more.