By: Julia Ware & Tehera Clifton
jpware@vwu.edu
tclifton@vwu.edu
In light of the upcoming Banned Books Week (Oct. 5-11), Dr. Holzer’s class, Book Banning and Feminism, is taking campus-wide action. Her students are hosting activities like tabling events in Batten Student Center. This is very important in a climate where free speech is being questioned daily: political violence (debatably) in response to free speech, government action threatening to affect free speech and bodily autonomy, etc.
Banned Books Week, established in 1982 by the American Library Association, highlights and celebrates authors from diverse backgrounds and perspectives whose books have been challenged or removed from public and school libraries. Many of these books include stories discussing LGBTQ+ experiences and/or race, or are labeled as too graphic for minors to read, even if it contains educational value.
One such work is The Handmaid’s Tale graphic novel by Margaret Atwood (illustrated and adapted by Renée Nault), which has recently surged in popularity due to the Hulu original of the same name. Atwood explores a dystopian society in which Christian ideals are both bastardized and forced upon the general population.
Women are nothing more than property and vehicles to birth more children, old people are placed on the outskirts of society, and anyone else, like LGBTQ+ people, who does not fit into this new order is publicly and brutally murdered, their bodies left on display as a warning to any would-be dissenters.
The novel addresses topics that many find unsettling and inappropriate for schools, such as sexual violence, women’s reproductive rights and extremist religious and political ideologies. These themes are all consistent in the graphic novel, which is subject to just as spirited of a debate.
Although the original novel was written in the 1980s, the graphic novel is remarkably realistic, and presents a terrifying view of what society could look like if certain ideals were allowed to dominate society. The story of Gilead and its handmaids is a cautionary tale of extremism and a tribute to battles that women have historically faced.
The story itself remains relevant today, and the artwork is hauntingly beautiful yet includes subtle imagery and symbolism which enhance the plot even further. It is a great read that anyone of high school age can learn from and should have access to.
In a world that is increasingly more visual by way of movies, shows and mass media, schools have a growing responsibility to their students to teach them how to interpret and discuss visual mediums. The Handmaid’s Tale offers excellent material for analyzing characters, symbolism and imagery.
The darker subjects in the graphic novel, like suicide and sexual assault, are handled responsibly and sensitively, never lingering for long enough to be considered gratuitous. Nault brings the world of Gilead to life in her adaptation, creating new ways for potential students to analyze the story and think critically about their past and future. In practice, this novel has abundant potential to be taught during Women’s History Month.
The question of The Handmaid’s Tale’s relevance and appropriateness has been brought back to the table in recent discussions, especially around Banned Books Week – Should this novel be included in high school libraries or even taught in the classroom?
Maybe it is not a question of whether the novel should be banned from libraries or classrooms, but rather a question of whether it is a disservice to students when it is. VWU students are encouraged to not only participate in the upcoming events surrounding Banned Books Week, but also to consider these questions for themselves.