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the handmaid's tale margaret atwood essay
the handmaid's tale novel literary analysis
the handmaid's tale novel literary analysis
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“The bigger the real-life problems, the greater the tendency […] to retreat into a reassuring fantasy-land” (Naylor). When the difficulties of life are unbearable, people often escape through various forms, such as an imaginary world where such problems do not exist. This is a form of escape and a way of ensuring that the difficulties at hand do not overpower their lives. This idea is explored through various characters in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The district in which these characters are imprisoned, Gilead, is controlled by a radical Puritan government. There exists a regulation for every aspect of the characters’ lives: from religion to sexuality, from language to occupation, from meals to marriages. With such absolute laws, one would imagine that suicide is the only escape; however, numerous characters within the novel learn to escape in a manner which does not cause them harm. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, government extremists cleverly employ various forms of control to manipulate the characters into feeling powerless and isolated; ultimately, this forces them to depend on temporary escapes to survive in Gilead.
Being manipulated into believing her body is simply a means of reproduction, Offred escapes the regime’s control of sexuality through her unlawful affair with Nick. Gilead’s methods of sexually manipulating women successfully instill powerlessness and isolation within Offred. She finds herself shifting from the belief that “[her] body [is] an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of [her] will” (Atwood 38), to viewing herself as “a cloud congealer around a central object” (38). She compares herself to an inanimate cloud which only exi...
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...ivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come [one’s] way” (Brown 53). With such a belief, they would have attempted to permanently overcome the obstacles and would not have hidden behind temporary escapes. Although escaping through temporary means may appear beneficial, it is not a permanent solution to difficulties.
Works Cited
Asgedom, Mawi. The code: the 5 secrets of teen success. New York: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers, 2003.
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Toronto: Double Day Canada, 1998.
Campbell, Bebe Moora. Ebony. New York: Johnson Publishing Company, 1981.
Gupta, Gopal. Everything You Wanted to Know About an Academic Research Career but Were
Afraid to Ask. 15 March 2010 .
Gilead only values women for their pregnancies. In this dystopian novel, Offred experiences disembodiment. Offred proclaims, “I have failed once again to fulfill the expectations of others, which have become my own” (Atwood, 73). Discomfort grew in the speculation of her not living up to the expectations of others in her society. To Offred, living up to these expectations is her only way out. Therefore their expectancies have also become her expectancies in life. Simultaneously, these feelings of discomfort have detached her from her body. Her body is no longer her own instrument of pleas...
To convey her argument, Atwood uses the point of view of a women named Offred to demonstrate the morals and struggles of women in this male-dominated society known as Gilead. Men have always been given the most important positions in the world whether it be at home or in politics. Just like a match, all we need is something to spark it to bring about the evil of Atwood’s dystopian fantasy into reality.
Imagine a country where choice is not a choice. One is labeled by their age and economical status. The deep red cloaks, the blue embroidered dresses, and the pinstriped attire are all uniforms to define a person's standing in society. To be judged, not by beauty or personality or talents, but by the ability to procreate instead. To not believe in the Puritan religion is certain death. To read or write is to die. This definition is found to be true in the book, The Handmaid's Tale (1986) by Margaret Atwood. It is a heartbreaking story of one young woman and her transformation into the Gilead society, the society described above. In the book, we meet Offred, the narrator of the story. This story is not the first to create a society in which the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. It is seen several times in the Old Testament, the Bible. The Biblical society is not as rigid as the Republic of Gilead, which Margaret Atwood has built, but it is very similar. The Handmaid's Tale holds several biblical allusions.
In the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood the themes of Religion and inter-human relationships are the themes that are most evident in the text. This novel shows the possibility of the existence of an all-powerful governing system. This is portrayed through the lack of freedom for women in society, from being revoked of their right to own any money or property, to being stripped of their given names and acquiring names such as Offred and Ofglen, symbolizing women’s dependant existence, only being defined by the men which they belong to. This portrayal of women demonstrates the idea that individuals are unimportant, that the goals of the society as a whole are more pertinent. “For our purposes, your feet and your hands are not essential” (chapter 15) is a quote revealing that Gilead denies rights to individuals and to humankind. In The Handmaids Tale, handmaids are only considered of value for their ability to reproduce, otherwise they are disposable. Religion is an aspect very prominent in the society of Gilead. We see this in chapter 4, where Ofglen and Offred meet and th...
In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel in which Atwood creates a world which seems absurd and near impossible. Women being kept in slavery only to create babies, cult like religious control over the population, and the deportation of an entire race, these things all seem like fiction. However Atwood's novel is closer to fact than fiction; all the events which take place in the story have a base in the real world as well as a historical precedent. Atwood establishes the world of Gilead on historical events as well as the social and political trends which were taking place during her life time in the 1980's. Atwood shows her audience through political and historical reference that Gilead was and is closer than most people realize.
Within Gilead there is an authority that is much higher than is necessary or healthy for any nation. With such power comes corruption, which then spreads throughout the whole of society, slowly obliterating the nation’s people. This corruption of a powerful government can only be controlled by the force of the people which, in the Handmaid’s tale, is nearly non-existent, thus giving the militant Eyes – as well as the rest of the Gilead government – a stronger hold on the people by their indifference. The Eyes especially have an intimidating vigor which holds down the people by means of threat of punishment, in addition to the allusion of freedom to keep the people pacified. As stated in the novel, “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.” (Atwood 165). This shows how the government keeps ultimate control over the nation by way of intimidation, allusion, and roles in society. Status and class is vital in Gilead, showing the world who one is by their uniform, speaking louder than any voice. Of course, Gilead has given these roles in the society as another way to control the people, but due to their passivity, everyone decides to go along with it, never questioning the power of this supposed republic. This goes to illustrate just how corrupt a government can be if not frequently checked by its
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
Offred’s journey is a prime example of the appalling effects of idly standing by and allowing herself to become a part of the Gilead’s corrupt system. This woman is a Handmaid which was recently placed within a new
The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will collapse.
... is only alive in her dreams, she aches for her and fears that her child will not remember or even she is dead. Atwood writes about motherhood, and the irony lies in the fact that Offred did not have an ideal relationship with her mother even though Gilead’s system was not established, yet Offred who is separated for her daughter shows affection towards her child by constantly thinking and dreaming about her. Even though Offred felt pressured from her mother, she still misses her, ‘I want her back’ and she even reminisces about when she used to visit her and Luke.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood creates a society of oppression in which she redefines oppression in common culture. Gilead is a society characterized by highly regulated systems of social control and extreme regulation of the female body. The instinctive need to “protect and preserve” the female body is driven by the innate biological desires of the men. The manipulation of language, commodification, and attire, enhances the theme of oppression and highlights the imbalance of power in the Gilead society.
Thinking back to the days before Gilead, it is clear that the current situation is a lot different to then for Offred. She has lost all personal freedom and is a modern sexual slave to the Commanders, men of high office in either the Gileadian government or the business sector. This is a perfect depiction of the totalitarian state that Gilead is in. Denied of the personal liberties we take for granted in a democratic society, Offred has to live under the rules of a higher authority and is controlled eve down to the minute aspects of living.
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
Though Offred is developed as a character through her opinions on female sexuality, she is further characterized by her individuality and willingness to defy her social expectations as a female, assigned to her by her government. In Atwood’s work, the narrative is told by an intelligent individual named Offred who is oppressed by Gilead’s female expectations but is not afraid to defy these assigned roles despite not being a traditional heroine (Nakamura). Even as Offred’s previous identity is stripped away from her, she retains small pieces of her womenhood and individuality through defiant actions such as manipulating men with her feminity from swaying her hips slighty in their line of sight to making direct eye contact with certain men, which she is forbidden from. On the other hand, a major act of rebellion from