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Gender equality in gender literature
Gender equality in gender literature
Writing a reflective analysis essay
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The oxford dictionary refers to the word “utopia” as being a place of “paradise, heaven on earth” as well as perfection. It can be labeled as a place that is the most desirable in any nation on earth and can sum up what we as humans search for. “A Handmaid’s Tale” depicts a twisted, yet not to far off, version of our country not to long ago when we lived in the opposite of this so-called paradise. No word can describe this story better than the opposite of utopia, a “dystopian” society. The entire U.S. government fell into a dystopian-type ruling when the very laws created by the government served to treat women as no more than maids and harlots. In this chaotic story, Margaret Atwood depicts a society where men and women fall into the rules of the old testament based on older beliefs describing women as lesser individuals compared to men. Atwood shows the similarities between the Republic of Gilead and the way we used to see the roles of women as well as some aspects of society today. Her overall reason for creating this story is to show her readers around the world the scary truth and effects of the belittlement of women and disregarding them as more than just wives and housemaids. At first, when you read …show more content…
The negative applications of an unjust society is furthered amplified when it targets a group that makes up a huge portion of the nation or community affected. So, by showing this story from a woman’s point of view, you can feel the suspense and severity of Offred’s situation. By making the book portrayed through Offred’s eyes, Margaret creates a scenario and experience in which the readers are in the oppressed people’s shoes. This whole basis of the story allows readers to create a deeper interpretation and view about the seriousness and fear of being a woman during this time, as evidenced by the story’s version of the maltreatment towards
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 book “A Handmaid’s Tale” takes place in the Republic of Gilead which is separated from the rest of the United States. The Republic of Gilead has its own governmental power. The book is narrated by Offred, a handmaid, who used to have a normal life before being forced to be taken from all her women rights. Handmaids are removed from their freedom and are being controlled by their commanders. They do not have access to education or any other resources. The freedom of speech is taken away from the Handmaids and any others without power. There are things that they are not allowed to ever say and also things they are expected to say. The Gilead’s government has control over everyone in this society. In the Gilead’s government,
To live in a country such as the United States of America is considered a privilege. The liberties that American citizens are entitled to, as declared in the Constitution, makes the United States an attractive and envied democracy. It would be improbable to imagine these liberties being stripped from American society. However, Margaret Atwood depicts the United States as a dystopian society in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The first society is modern America, with its autonomy and liberal customs. The second, Gilead, a far cry from modern America, is a totalitarian Christian theocracy which absorbs America in the late 1980s in order to salvage it from widespread pollution and a dwindling birthrate. The principal flaw in Atwood’s Gileadian society is the justification of human rights violations. This justification only limits the liberties citizens experience, and taunts their once freeing rights, such as the prerogative to explore sexuality. Gilead’s only freedom, is freedom from all other liberties, or as Aunt Lydia would describe, freedom from the anarchy that unveiled in the first society.
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
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 ending of the novel is intentionally lacking direction because the author wants the reader to ponder its ending. Were it not for the fact that we, the readers, know that Offred lives to tell her story, we would be left like the people of Gilead, without hope. However, Margaret Atwood's point is that just as naturally as a caterpillar weaves its cocoon to grow wings and fly free, so to must the wings of women be.
While The Handmaid's Tale conveys the oppression of women, it also reveals the significant role women have in society. Atwood gets the point across that just as they can be oppressed by men, women can equally oppress themselves. Through Offred's eyes, comparisons between today's society and the possible consequences of one's attitudes are examined. The Handmaid's Tale slowly uncovers the many facets of women and the vital role they have as members of society.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change.”(Darwin). In the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, this statement could not be more appropriate. Not all survival is depicted by how robust you are, rather how durable your mentality is. Surviving will never be something that screams the word easy. Everyone at some point will have thoughts of giving up but it is the past experience that you hold onto that will keep you going. Some may choose to make risky decisions without thinking about the consequences. But all will have to act to make change in order to survive. So Margaret Atwood describes in her novel that survival is a natural instinct that all people have however not everyone in life
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...
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.
Offred is a Handmaid in what used to be the United States, now the theocratic Republic of Gilead. In order to create Gilead's idea of a more perfect society, they have reverted to taking the Book of Genesis at its word. Women no longer have any privileges; they cannot work, have their own bank accounts, or own anything. The also are not allowed to read or even chose who they want to marry. Women are taught that they should be subservient to men and should only be concerned with bearing children. Margaret Atwood writes The Handmaid's Tale (1986) as to create a dystopia. A dystopia is an imaginary place where the condition of life is extremely bad, from deprivation, oppression, or terror. Three ways she displays the dystopia are through the characters, the language and the symbolism.
The judgement I can make about Tom’s saving Luc’s life is because he did feel bad. Tom felt bad for killing a boy his age since they both had such long lives to live. He knew especially losing a family member was harsh. He thought what Luc’s family would go through. Tom knew since his mother passed away as stated earlier in the book. “Tom was born Canadian, but never knew his mother for she had died when he was born” (p.24). Also, the two boys were the same age, understood similar ideas, and experienced similar feelings. Tom was able to feel for Luc. “‘No!’ the boy yelled. ‘His rifle was empty; he’s unarmed. You can’t kill him. He’s a prisoner’” (p.207). Tom kind of knew that this “man” wasn’t really a man. He wanted to save Luc, especially
Dystopia refers to society or community that is undesirable and developed to substitute the problem with the world with one another. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and the novelette Words and Music by William Sanders, deal with the creation of irreversible oblivion of dystopian fictions in which the society or community is being oppressed. The authors want to prove a dystopian society is not only furious and frightening but also hard to change. The authors explore the oppression of the authority in a way that their information, independent thoughts and freedom are restricted. Also, the cause of Complacency makes people to accept the oppression without much resistance. Last but not least, language
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who created a pyramid that outlined a hierarchy of human needs. According to him, people will become more motivated when one of their deficiency needs is unmet. Therefore, the longer someone goes without meeting one of these needs, the stronger their desire will be to get the need fulfilled. A few of these basic needs are individuality, love, and expression. When a person is deprived of one or more of these needs, he or she will not be able to reach the top of the pyramid, which means being aware of one’s fullest potential. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the human need for individuality is shown when Offred refuses to share her real name in order to protect her old identity, for love when Offred continuously sneaks
“[W]e are not slaves in name, and cannot be carried to market and sold as somebody else 's legal chattels, we are free only within narrow limits. For all our talk about liberation and personal autonomy, there are few choices that we are free to make” (Berry). In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the protagonist Offred lives through a changing of society, in which is described by Aunt Lydia in the new society as the difference of freedom to and freedom from. The complexities of freedom are examined through social norms, relationships, and safety in society. As Offred notices the differences between her old life and her life now readers, especially North American readers, see how much freedom they take advantage of as a society.