Section XIV: Salvaging

Offred si abbandona ad una sorta di soliloquio scusandosi con i propri destinatari per la triste storia raccontata, fatta di soprusi, violenze e ingiustizie, la cui struttura viene paragonata ad una figura smembrata o a un corpo torturato che cammina, ferito, dopo una battaglia. Quale narratrice autodiegetica, Offred è consapevole non solo di aver articolato un resoconto “limping and mutilated”, dalla struttura frammentata, pervasa da omissioni e lacune, ma anche e soprattutto dell’importanza dell’atto del testimoniare per scongiurare l’oblio:

I wish this story were different. I wish it were more civilized. I wish it showed me in a better light, if not happier, then at least more active, less hesitant, less distracted by trivia. I wish it had

more shape. I wish it were about love, or about sudden realizations important to one’s life, or even about sunsets, birds, rainstorms, or snow. […] I’m sorry there is so much pain in this story. I’m sorry it’s in fragments, like a body caught in crossfire or pulled apart by force. But there is nothing

I can do to change it.272

La protagonista ammette anche di sentirsi in parte colpevole a causa della propria passività, ed è proprio questo, più di ogni altro aspetto della storia, a suonare come

270_{Ivi, p. 264.} 271_{Ivi, p. 275.} 272

campanello d’allarme e a ricordarci come ogni situazione, per quanto orrenda e deprorevole, possa rischiare di venire introiettata, accettata e vissuta come “normale”:

Some days I was more rational. I did not put it, to myself, in terms of love. I said, I have maid a life for myself, here, of a sort. That must have been what the settlers’ wives thought, and women who survived wars, if they still had a man. Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.273

Intanto il rischioso rapporto con Nick, che sfida la tirannia di Gilead, continua, e Offred si sente in pericolo, non solo a causa del legame personale col Comandante, ma anche per il suo essere a conoscenza del movimento di resistenza. Al tempo stesso, la relazione “non istituzionalizzata” con Nick le fornisce una via di fuga, un ancoraggio emotivo per cui vale la pena rischiare:

I went back to Nick. Time after time, on my own, without Serena knowing. It wasn’t called for,

there was no excuse. I did not do it for him, but for myself entirely. I didn’t even think of it as

giving myself to him, because what did I have to give? I did not feel munificent, but thankful, each

time he would let me him. He didn’t have to. […] We make ove each time as if we know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that there will never be any more, for either of us with anyone, ever. And then when there is, that too is always a surprise, extra, a gift. Being here with him is safety; it’s a cave, where we huddle together while the storm goes on outside. this is a delusion, of course. This room is one of the most dangerous places I could be. If I were caught there would be no quarter, but I’m beyond caring.274

Offred rischia così di diventare una nuova vittima dei cosiddetti “Salvagings”275, cerimonie in cui le Ancelle sono coinvolte nell’esecuzione di donne ritenute colpevoli di crimini (non meglio specificati). Alle Ancelle viene chiesto di tenere la corda con cui le vittime vengono impiccate, a simboleggiare il loro consenso:

In stage, to the left, are those who are to be salvaged: two Handmaids, one Wife. […] I’ve seen it before, the white bag placed over the head, the woman helped up the steps of a bus, steadied there, the noose adjusted delicately around the neck, like a vestment, the stool kicked away. I’ve

heard the long sigh go up, from around me, the sigh like air coming out of an air mattress, I’ve seen

Aunt Lydia place her hand over the mike, to stifle the other sound coming from behind her, I’ve leaned forward to touch the rope in front of me, in time with the others, both hands on it, the rope

273_{Ivi, p. 283.} 274_{Ivi, p. 281.} 275

Il termine “salvaging” richiama le parole “salvage”, “salvation” e “savage”. Nel suo articolo, Ben Johnson

sottolinea il fatto che la Atwood ha notato che nelle Filippine la parola ha acquisito il significato di esecuzione pubblica e rappresenta dunque un esempio lampante di abuso del linguaggio. Cfr. B. Johnson,

“Language, Power and Responsability in The Handmaid’s Tale”, Canadian Literature, vol. 148, Spring

hairy, sticky with tar in the hot sun, then placed my hand on my heart to show my unity with the Salvagers and my consent, and my complicity in the death of this woman. I have seen the kicking feet and the two in black who now seize hold of them and drag downwards with all their weight. I

don’t want to see it any more. I look at the grass instead. I describe the rope.276

Un altro tipo di cerimonia è la “Particicution”277, durante la quale le Ancelle sono chiamate in raccolta e istigate ad accanirsi con violenza contro gli uomini accusati di stupro. Questa tortura fisica diventa anche psicologica quando Offred, in un’occasione, si rende conto che queste persone, in realtà, non avevano commesso nessun crimine, se non quello di essere dissidenti politici che il regime aveva deciso di eliminare, istigando la folla di donne a commettere un linciaggio di massa:

“You know the rules of a Particicution,” Aunt Lydia says, “You will waituntil I Blow the whistle. After that, what you do is up to you, until I blow the whistle again. Understood?” A noise comes from among us, a formless assent. Two guardians, come forward now from behind the stage. Between them they half-carry, half-drag a third man. He too is in a guardian’s uniform, but he has no hat on and the uniform is dirty and torn. His face is cut and bruised, deep reddiash-brown bruises, the flesh is swollen and knobby, stubbled with unshaven beard. This doesn’t look like a face, but like an unkown vegetable, a mangled bulb or tuber, something that’s grown wrong. Even from where I am standing I can smell him: he smells of shit and vomit. I stare at him with revulsion. He looks drunk. He looks like a drunk that’s in a fight. “This man,” says AuntLydia, “has been convicted of rape. He was once a Guardian. He has disgraced his uniform. He has abused his position of trust. The penalty for rape, as you know, is death.278

Capendo che la sua affiliazione con il movimento di resistenza clandestino è stata scoperta, Ofglen si toglie la vita e viene sostituita da una nuova Ancella. Al contempo, il rapporto segreto con il Comandante viene scoperto dalla Moglie, e Offred precipita nello sconforto, pensando alle possibili conseguenze. Si sforza però di valutare se esistano opportunità di fuga, mentre l’incubo della cattura incombe:

Dear God, I think, I will do anything you like. I’ll obliterate myself, if that’s you really want; I’ll empty myself, truly, become a chalice. I’ll give up Nick, I’ll forget about the others, I’ll stop complaining. I’ll accept my lot. I’ll sacrifice. I’ll repent. I’ll abdicate. I’ll renounce. I know this can’t be right but I think it anyway. Everything they taught at the Red Centre, everything I’ve resisted, comes flooding in. I don’t want pain. I don’t want be a dancer, my feet in the air, my head a faceless oblong of white cloth. I son’t want to be a doll hung up on the Wall, I don’t want a

276

Ivi, p. 288.

277_{Notiamo un altro esempio di gioco di parole nel termine “particicution”, che combina la “participation”}

delle Ancelle e la “execution” della vittima. Gilead segue alla lettera la legge del Vecchio Testamento, per cui la punizione per lo stupro è la morte (Deuteronomio, 22:23-29).

278

wingless angel. I want to keep on living, in any form. I resign my body freely, to the uses of others. They can do what what they like with me. I am abject. I feel, for the first time, their true power.279