Margaret Atwood, the author of the novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, wrote it as a means to discuss gender in American society. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is an exaggerated example of how our society treats women. Based on what I have learned about the role gender plays in our society there are apparent parallels between Atwood’s book and reality. Many of the issues that have been brought to the Court in regards to gender are also discussed in the novel. One in particular which has been especially relevant in our American society currently is the topic of rape and sexual assault. The historical background of rape is linked to the status of the woman as inferior. In the case Frontiero v. Richardson the judgment of the Court acknowledged that, “…throughout …show more content…
This definition contended that women could only get raped by men who were not their husbands. However, in the Handmaid’s Tale the handmaids are given to the Commander, who already has a wife, as a sex object. This definition is very narrow because it is not inclusive of all cases of sexual violence. In the 1984 case, People v. Liberta the court found that there is no “rational basis for distinguishing between marital rape and non-marital rape”3. This adaption makes the definition of rape much more broad, which would classify the Ceremony as rape.
What is very striking and ironic, though, is one of the last scenes in the novel when a man is convicted and killed for rape. Through discussions with the girls Aunt Lydia makes it clear that rape is the fault of the women, “Such things do not happen to nice women”1. Aunt Helena condemns Janine when she shares that she was gang raped.
But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. She did. She did. She did. Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen? Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a
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However, at the Salvaging Aunt Lydia says, “I might add that this crime involved two of you and took place at gun point. It was also brutal. I will not offend your ears with any details, except to say that one women was pregnant and the baby died”1. The blame in this instance is placed on the man to incite anger from the girls. The handmaids are required to beat and attack the man. The display of aggression towards this man is the women letting out their frustration at their Commanders who routinely rape them. This also relates to the fact that women who commit violent crimes, are almost always committing them toward a significant other or husband5. The pent-up frustration from being treated as a second-class citizen is expressed through violence. Atwood’s novel details this perfectly by having this scene be towards the end of the novel as a result of the abuse and degradation the women experienced throughout the
Margaret Atwood is famous for many things. She is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and an environmental activist. Her books are usually bestsellers and have received high praises in the United States, Europe, and her native country, Canada. She has also received many Literary awards, like the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the two Governor General’s Awards (“Margaret Atwood” Poetry). Through her books, she has written about what she sees in society towards women. She discusses how gender equality was corrupted in the past, but still is far from being reached, and women’s roles in society (“Spotty-handed”). Atwood also takes events in her life; like the Great Depression, Communism, and World War II; and applies it to her works. Margaret Atwood's works, including her novel The Handmaid's Tale, reflects women’s fight in equality, how society determines
Eileraas, Karina. "Rape, Legal Definitions of." Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. Ed. Mary Zeiss Stange, Carol K. Oyster, and Jane E. Sloan. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2011. 1205-09. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
The assigned gender roles in The Handmaid’s Tale are hyperboles of traditional roles that the genders play. In Gilead, the women stay home and men run important things like the government, which includes business and military. The assignment of the roles and the strictness of them seems legitimate to the majority of Gilead’s population, and they come as an accepted result of physical differences between men and women to them. Almost all of the women in the population and many of the men have been sterilized due to...
Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Moira = == == We first meet Moira "breezing into" (P65) Offred's room at college.
Callaway, Alanna A., "Women disunited : Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale as a critique of feminism" (2008). Master's Theses. Paper 3505.
Many texts that were published from different authors have introduced topics that can be related in today’s society, but Margaret Atwood’s creation called, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, gives voice to the thoughts and revolves around the narrator Offred, a woman whose rights have been deprived due to political issues. However, the information shared by Offred to the reader to the text is not reliable for the reason that she only touches upon her own perspective. Through the text, Atwood depicted what the United States of America would be in the future based on the actions of humanity during 1980’s. The text is set up in an androcentric and totalitarian country called Gilead, where the government attempts to create a utopian society. Thus, in order to attain this society, the authorities generated their legislation from the teachings of the Holy Bible in an attempt to control humanity. The governing
In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale there is a threat of physical, emotional, and mental abuse if you disagree with the established group or party. The Handmaid’s Tale is a book about a “woman victimized by a totalitarian system that attempts to control her thoughts and deny her humanity” (Thomas 90). In The Handmaid’s Tale there are differences between all the women. There are the wives, who are married to the commanders. The commanders are in charge of all the other women. There are the econowives, which are the wives of the low-ranking officials. The Martha’s are in charge of the upkeep of the commander’s house. The Handmaid’s are in charge of having the commander’s baby. Each woman has to listen to their husband or commander. No woman can think for herself. The men are in charge of everything. (Atwood, Thomas)
Rape can happen to anyone. Women from different cultures, races, ages, and economic level are all vulnerable. It does not matter who you are or where you live, although women of lowest status are most vulnerable to rape, and so are Hispanic and African American women. (An...
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make change.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
The women and everyone had blamed her and said it was “her fault” that she had “led them on”. They said that “God had allowed this to happen to teach her a lesson”. Most women are shamed for rape. They are often blamed for it. They were “asking for it” or “Not saying no, means yes”. Sometimes, they are blamed because of what they are wearing. So, the handmaids were covered from head to toe when they are in front of anyone, so no one can sexualize them.
Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, the author Margaret Atwood gives the reader an understanding of what life would be like in a theocratic society that controls women’s lives. The narrator, Offred gives the reader her perspective on the many injustices she faces as a handmaid. Offred is a woman who lived before this society was established and when she undergoes the transition to her new status she has a hard time coping with the new laws she must follow. There are many laws in this government that degrade women and give men the authority of each household. All women are placed in each household for a reason and if they do not follow their duties they are sent away or killed. Atwood bases the irrational laws in the Gilead republic on the many
The Handmaid's Tale presents an extreme example of sexism and misogyny by featuring the complete objectification of women in the society of Gilead. Yet by also highlighting the mistreatment of women in the cultures that precede and follow the Gileadean era, Margaret Atwood is suggesting that sexism and misogyny are deeply embedded in any society and that serious and deliberate attention must be given to these forms of discrimination in order to eliminate them.
There are two kinds of freedom, “freedom from and freedom to” (31) throughout Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Freedom from is a negative liberty that involves external restriction to a person’s actions. On the other hand there is freedom to, a positive liberty the one can act upon their own free will. The two different categories of freedom are discussed and debated through a feminist view point. We explore and try to understand the way in which the difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to” is applied to females in society. This novel gives us two contrasting ways of liberal thinking. You are free if no one is stopping you from doing whatever you might want to. The story appears, in this sense, to be free. On the other hand, one can
As The Handmaid’s Tale is considered an allegory of the social injustice women face against traditional expectations of their role in society, the symbolism of the Handmaids and other women as a whole for repressed feminine liberty and sexuality allows Atwood to connect her work to the theme between gender and expectations in her society. As Handmaids in the Republic of Gilead, females are stripped of their previous identity and are defined as a tool of reproduction for the men who is assigned them. At its core, these females are forced against their will to be mere tools, experiencing unwanted sex at least once a month, which Gilead names “The Ceremony”, hiding its true nature as a form of rape. Offred