Handmaid's Tale- "There is a Balm in Gilead"

A.) Along with the numerous biblical allusions contributing to Margaret Adwood's satire The Handmaid's Tale, was her reference to the singing of "There is a Balm in Gilead". Gilead in the Bible was marked for its fertility and richness, and credited with its excess of a special healing balm, hence the song. Gilead is an allusion to the handmaids for they both are linked to reproductive capabilities and hope, although the handmaids are not in fact very fertile or hopeful at all. The purpose of Gilead and the handmaids may be the same thing, but what they actually bring to society is not. The handmaids, in reality, bring despair for they generally do not conceive a child and when they do there is a large possibility that the child will not actually survive. They also hinder bonds between husband and wife for obvious reasons, plus they are absolutely miserable for they are basically being forced into prostitution. This is quite a different scene than that of the prosperous land of Gilead.

Atwood uses a pun as Moira refers to the song as "There is a Bomb in Gilead". This is sarcasm toward the Bible as obviously 'balm' and 'bomb' connotate very different things. Balm is a positive thing while bomb blatantly represents disaster and destruction. Balm brings hope, bomb brings hopelessness. The irony of the comparison between the two was meant to symbolize how this happily depicted society is an illusion created by the government; absolutely no one living in Gilead is truly content with their life.