The Scarlet Brand: Shame, Identity, and the Commodification of Women's Bodies in Hillary Jordan’s When She Woke

Abstract

The politics of autonomy and selfhood is a perennial concern in literature and society, with the dynamics of control and hierarchy perpetually shaping individual identity. Hillary Jordan's novel When She Woke offers a striking examination of individuality, as protagonist Hannah navigates a dystopian landscape where her very self is policed and redefined. Jordan’s speculative fiction evolves from the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The present study explores the intersection of shame, identity, and societal expectations regarding women’s bodies in the context of both present and future dystopias in When She Woke. Jordan reveals the insidious mechanisms by which institutions seek to regulate and reclaim the self. Jordan envisions a dystopian future where women's bodies are controlled and commodified, which serves as a spectacle for scrutiny and punishment arising from the fundamentals of patriarchy and theocracy. The thwarting of abortion rights and bodily choices of women renders the novel as critically contemporaneous. Hawthorne’s scarlet letter transforms into “red chrome” in When She Woke, highlighting the lack of reproductive autonomy, religious hypocrisy, and surveillance in a utilitarian society. Red chrome denotes the punishment for abortion and also the modern idea of the body as a visible marker of stigma and sin. Drawing on the philosophical insights of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, this analysis probes the mechanisms of micro-surveillance and biopower that underpin the novel's dystopian world.