Lexi Alexander Section I: Significance of Title The Handmaid's Tale is given this name because it is literally the tale of a handmaid. The title of this novel was inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, in which each tale is named after the character telling the story. Section II: Author The Handmaid's Tale is by Canadian author, Margaret Atwood. She seems to focus on feminism in this story, and it can also be seen in her other works. Written in 1985, the story shows the oppression of women in society that is still evident in modern times. Section III: Setting The story is set in a totalitarian theocratic United States, or the Republic of Gilead, in the future. It is written in a modern time, so it can be relatable to the reader now. It also makes it seem more realistic- like it could actually happen at any time. The setting is ideal for the feminist …show more content…
Gilead asserts complete control over women, refusing to let them vote, own property, read, have a job, or do anything that would make them seem to be independent from the men. Serena Joy's unhappiness shows that the male-dominated society cannot make women happy even if women are as pampered as they can be. While Serena Joy has no authority in Gilead, she has authority over Offred and takes pleasure in it. Gilead seeks to take individuality away from women, making each group of women exactly the same through their dress and stripping them of personality by limiting their contact with others and taking away their names. The womens' bodies are used as tools in the book. The political structure of Gilead was to promote reproduction, in which they do through taking control of the bodies of women. They are not treated as humans; they are seen as nothing more than their fertility. Gender roles are a predominant motif in the story, being seen in how women are referred to as their job, such as Wife, Handmaid, or
Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a story heavily influenced by the Bible and has many biblical themes that are used to prove Atwood’s belief in balance. The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead, which was formerly the United States. The story is told through the perspective of a handmaid named Offred and begins when she is placed at her third assignment as a housemaid. Offred describes her society as a fundamentalist theocracy where the Christian God is seen as the divine Ruler over the Republic of Gilead.
The novel “The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood shows the way of life for women in the
The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood is a novel about a totalitarian state called Republic of Gilead that has replaced the United States in which the women of society have been taken away from their families and forced to be
The Handmaid 's Tale is set in Republic of Gilead in Cambridge, MA. The narrator/protagonist is Offred she is a handmaid for the Commander and his wife Serena Joy. Offred like other handmaids in the Republic of Gilead main obligation is to bare a child for the couples they are assigned to.
Whether women are equal to men or not this is an ongoing topic that brings to light many different opinions. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a fictional yet plausible story that Atwood uses to warn us of the possibility of our society changing into her dystopian fantasy.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminism novel written by Canadian, Margret Atwood in 1986. The novel is set in the future of the United States, that no longer exists; and the futuristic Republic of Gilead is in control. The protagonist/narrator is Offred, a handmaid whose job is to lie on her back once a month to try to conceive from the commander. Offred and the other handmaids are allowed to leave their commander’s house once a day to go to the food market, where the signs are pictures instead of words because women are not allowed to read. This wake of independency makes Offred and the other handmaids think of escaping, and when Offred thinks about it the first person that comes to mind is her lesbian best friend from college, Moria. Moira is vivacious, rebellious and deliberately outrageous. The role in Republic of Gilead leads Moira to her feministic actions, and in contrast, it leads her to the handmaids from hope to hopelessness In accordance with the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood symbolizes Moria as unconfirmed, seditious, courageous, and defeated.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale deals with how women are forced to accept roles based on extreme biblical laws distorted by a male dominated society; yet, there are women who willing participate in the reinforcement of these sexist and misogynistic values that subdue women. Gilead's government controls and shapes women's identities through oppression, however, indoctrinates women into believing that the roles stripping them of their independence are designed to protect and support them in fulfilling their biological purpose; fear of the Colonies and the Salvaging has intimidated women into becoming passive in order to survive, and forces them to report anyone failing to comply to the imposed hierarchical society. The new regime claims that it has given women more freedom than it has taken away, and since women are better protected they can become mothers without the fear of rape or being degraded by men or society; women are viewed as “functionaries” that must remain invisible by having matching uniforms, new names, and forgetting past identities in exchange for new ones consistent with the morals of Gilead (261). Handmaids fulfil no other purpose than to bear children, while barren wives must provide companionship for their husbands, perform domestic duties, and raise the children; every women’s body becomes a replaceable object controlled by Gilead, and all liberties and individuality are taken away, yet the Aunts justify and appear to encourage the subjugation of women. The utopian society employs fear as a powerful motivator to coerce its citizens to live a life of forced compliance and mental enslavement, by being passive and refusing to resist one is able to temporarily remain alive by escaping brutal punishment an...
The book the handmaid’s tale written by Margaret Atwood, written in 1985 tells the story about a totalitarian society in which women are forced out of jobs and property. The architects of Gilead use religion as a way of controlling the people and use fear to keep that control. The main features of Gilead are strict discipline and national security through the use of religion. The story follows the life of a handmaid, Offred and what she had to do to escape Gilead.
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.
The Handmaid's Tale, a science-fiction novel written by Margaret Atwood, focuses on women's rights and what could happen to them in the future. This novel was later made into a movie in 1990. As with most cases of books made into movies, there are some similarities and differences between the novel and the film. Overall the film tends to stay on the same track as the book with a few minor details changed, and only two major differences.
On the surface, The Handmaid's Tale appears to be feminist in nature. The point-of-view character and narrator is a woman and thus we see the world through a woman's eyes. There's much more to the story than that, though. Atwood doesn't show us our world. She shows us a newly created world in which women lack the freedoms that they currently take for granted. This dystopian society is completely controlled by men. Of course, the men have help from the Aunts, a crack team of brainwashers that run the reeducation centers and teach the handmaids how to be slaves. These characters really don't speak well for womankind for two reasons. First of all, it's difficult to tell who their real life counterpart is, assuming that this...
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood illustrates the Republic of Gilead's as a new society where there are sexually oppressed women and is founded by religious extremist. In this society, women are used as a child bearers and have no rights in the cruel and harsh society. In between the dystopian society, Offred is a slave to this freedomless civilization; she is known as a Handmaid. Offred presents her story of pure oppression and how she survives to hold her past life. “ I used to think of my body as an instrument,...or an implement for the accomplishment of my will…There were limits,...Now the flesh is arranges itself differently”(Atwood 73). She has been taken away rights from her own body, no self identity, no value, and no place
People in The Handmaids Tale are helpless in their society, making them give up their power and knowledge. Gilead created a state where only specific people get to have power, which creates a corruption of power. Power creates misery and paranoia for people in Gilead. In Gilead, people had their freedom taken from them, later creating a totalitarian state.
Indeed, The Handmaid’s Tale is all about the struggle of living and the oppression the Handmaids go through in their daily lives. The Handmaid’s tale demonstrates feminist theory because the novel showcases Oppression, Objectification and Patriarchy towards females which are all evident themes. Margaret Atwood presents this ideology through many situations which include but, not limited to the following; The inability to voice out the opinion, the dominance of men in the household, and the objectification of women where they are seen only as means for
It is proven in both American society and the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, women are treated different from men. Why is that one may ask? Women are categorized, Treated like slaves, and oppressed by society. Men have all the power, leaving most women left behind. The Handmaid’s Tale often feels too real. There are the protests, the control over women’s reproductive rights, the understanding of women as simply being a means to reproduce. Strong women really don’t have much power.