A world of unequal principles,unjustified living,and prison like orders. A Handmaid's journey through a dystopia that enforces ideological living, though strictly childbirth with a reduction of liberal freedoms amongst women.In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, she reveals that confined freedom leads to the reminiscences of early life.This is shown through the character Offred by her use of biblical allusions,flashbacks, and her own point of view towards the Republic of Gilead including her past. Biblical allusions in the novel provide significance to why Offred is brought to the point to which she reminisces about her early life while also purposely bringing focus to the ideals of Gilead.The allusions are a basis for why the handmaid …show more content…
rituals and ceremonies are done since they are verified through religious absolute scripture and cause the reminisce of the past later on .For example, in the epigraph there includes a biblical verse from Genesis stating "Give me children or else I die”. This quote creates the foundation for what the Republic of Gilead is based off of, hence a world with childbirth being most important and handmaid's being unfortunate heirs to women who cannot produce children.This corresponds with the idea that Offred is restricted to only procreate, causing that her to remember the past she once had before the disaster struck . Furthermore,when examining the examples of biblical allusions in the novel,ceremonial scenes come into play with depicting religious influence, “the commander begins to read...be fruitful,and multiply,and replenish the earth”( Atwood 88).This quote from the ceremony depicts the scene in which Offred and the commander must be involved in sexual intercourse, to fulfill their duties of producing a child for the family consisting of Serena Joy,the Commander,Rita,and Cora. Analyzing the novel, examples of biblical allusions create the foundation for which Offred is provoked to think of her freedom filled past due to her being confined to actions that were religiously influenced from character to character . The use of flashbacks are created due to the environment that Offred suffers and endures to bring memories of the freedom she once had.When offred brings up flashback moments due to the prisoner feelings she receives in the novel,its exposes her to recall her past relationship with Luke and others .This creates memories that Offred lusts for because the past symbolizes freedom.
For instance, when offred describes her emotions by expressing that “I feel like the word shatter,I want to be with someone...lying In bed ,with luke”,she give her thoughts to the reader of what she misses most (103).Offred expresses that she will never relive her past while showing that she feels confined from freedom and is simply only a catalyst for childbirth. In addition, the remembrance of Offred's beloved one Luke could correspond with the moment the disaster struck in Gilead “ unworthy,unjust,untrue, but that is what happened...I was afraid to[but] I couldn't afford losing you’’(183).In revision the time power shifted between males and female was stated to further emphasize that Offred enjoyed the time before the disaster struck, to which was taken away due to the injustices that the Republic of Gilead enforced. From the flashbacks shown ,the claim that confined freedom leads to the reminicene of her early is
prevalent. Point of view is one other key factor that contributes to the idea of why Offred thinks of her past.The ideas which Offred created when living her assigned family are submissive and in some cases defiant to the practices of being a handmaid. To further explain,when Ofglen participates in walking with Offred on their trip past the soul scrolls and was asked “do you think god listens?”, to answer “no” demonstes the point of views she has (168). Her answer to the question demonstrates the way Offred makes her own principles when discussing religion, which again is the bases for being a handmaid in Gilead.The points of view that offred creates provokes her to discredit the life obtained as a handmaids,while also mourn her freedom more so than what she already has. Consequently, due to her point of views she states “but that's where I am,there is no escaping [because] time is a trap…”.The idea of the quote is ultimately her submissive point of view for living in a trapped world,leaving her to reminisce about the freedom she once had.For the most part,when Offred offers her point of view, it is corresponding with her past that she desires back instead of the handmaid world that she lives in daily. In essence, Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale reveals that confined freedom leads to the reminiscence of early life shown through the character Offred.Offred reminisces about her past life of freedom by using biblical allusions,flashbacks,and her point of view.The importance of this claim is to show how situations of one's life affects the point of view of that person to ultimately cause flashbacks of a better time in life.In today's world, hard times lead people to remember good times,this showing the relation towards the novel and daily life today.In short, the interpretation of unjustified living,unequal principles,and prison like order is featured vastly throughout the novel to identify the narrator Offred's journey through her dystopia.
Although Offred is the heroine of this story, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the hero’s journey can be found in many characters in the story as well. This story is breaking into shambles between the past and the present, however, through the story, readers can still see the signs of the hero’s journey that Joseph Campbell has studied. Offred, being a handmaid, has been thrown into a world where women are powerless and stripped away of their rights to read and write. Atwood illustrates a dystopian world where equality is a part of history, not in the present day Gilead. However, Offred is one of the main characters who ceased to live in a degrading world and find means to escape. Thus, Offred begins on her Hero’s Journey, which occurs
Atwood depicts a cynical emotion through figurative language and diction in the excerpt from The Handmaid’s Tale. The main character, Offred, tries to run away with her husband, but is betrayed and the government catches them. Atwood uses metaphors like, “The Eyes of God run over all the earth,” to show that Offred realizes that “The Eyes of God”, which in reality is the government, has the power to see what anyone is doing anytime of the day by convincing regular people spy on others in exchange for some type of reward. Offred learns that because of this all-seeing God, she can no longer trust no one, bringing a cynical emotion into the story. Atwood also uses a simile comparing “an elevator cut loose at the top,” to the effect of betrayal.
In The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood, readers are introduced to Offred, who is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. As this novel is
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.
Offred is consistently cautious when it comes to interacting with the Commander. She feels as though she has to present herself in a way that will allow her to gain his trust and utilize it in her favor. Offred says, “The Commander likes it when I distinguish myself, show precocity, like an attentive pet, prick-eared and eager to perform” (Atwood 183). When Offred poses herself in the way that the Commander expects, it shows how his power influences Offred’s actions. The connection of Offred to that of “an attentive pet” also shows how the Gilead Society has taken away her humanity. Without her humanity, Offred loses her sense of self-worth which leaves her vulnerable to the Commander’s power. Along with this constant fear of portraying herself in a manner that would upset the Commander, Offred is also afraid to give away too much information about herself which could potentially end with the Commander ceasing their private meetings together. Offred expresses, “And if I talk to him I’ll say something wrong, give something away. I can feel it coming, a
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 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.
Offred is one of the main characters in The Handmaid's Tale. She was the faithful wife of Luke, mother of an eleven month old child and a working woman, before she entered the Republic of Gilead. She was given the name "Offred", when she entered Gilead. This was to make it known that she was a handmaid. Offred becomes psychologically programmed in Gilead as a handmaid, and the mistress of the commander who is in power of all things. She was used for her ovaries to reproduce a child, because they are living in an age where birth rates are declining. Offred was ordered by Serena Joy, the handmaid's barren wife who develops some jealousy and envy towards her to become the lover of Nick. Nick is the family chauffeur, and Offred becomes deeply in love with him. At the end of all the confusion, mixed emotions, jealousy, envy and chaos towards her, she escapes the Republic of Gilead. Offred is given treatment and advantages by the commander that none of the there handmaids are given. During the times the commander and Offred were seeing each other secretly, he began to develop some feelings for her that he tried to hide. Somewhere along the times when Offred and the commander began having secret meetings with each other, Offred too began to develop some feelings for the commander. Offred is also a special handmaid, because she has actually experienced love, the satisfaction of having a child years before. She knows what it is to feel loved, to be in love and to have someone love you. That is all when she has knowledge, a job, a family and money of her own. That is when her life was complete. Because all of that has been taken away from...
...t create a feeling of disorientation towards the reader. Atwood does this to enable us to understand just how disjointed life is in Gilead. Offred continuously involves the reader, she directly addresses us and anticipates our response and even feels she has to justify some of her actions, she is a self-conscious narrator. Atwood is also preparing us for the revelation in the Historical notes that Offred is recounting her story into a tape recorder. The story is open ended; we are not told what exactly happened to Offred, Atwood does this in order to have more of an impact on the reader.
In the real world, different symbols are used to help people understand things, and to add different effects onto people’s lives. For example a pendent a women or man wears from the army helps someone understand what they’ve been through and helps portray them as a strong individual. In novels which may have complex story lines like The Handmaids tale it is important that these novels have some symbolism to help the reader decode what some details in the novel represent, helping them understand the plot more in-depth. Through the novel of the Handmaid Tale by Margaret Atwood, symbolism is present and that helps to enhance the story line, as well as contribute an important factor in which is helping the reader understand
Margaret Atwood’s purpose in writing The Handmaid’s Tale is to show different perceptions of freedom. At one point she mentions two different kind of freedom: “Freedom to and freedom from.” Freedom to is the liberty to do what you want within the limits of society; whereas, freedom from is being kept from certain things, whether that be for good or bad. In writing The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood wanted to make her reader realize that everyone has different views on life, not just freedom.
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 to own their 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.
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
As the title suggest, the story centers around, Offred, a handmaid in the republic of Gilead. Which brings me to the first little hint of oppression. Most women in the novel lost a since of self-identity due to the fact that they were no longer allowed to be called by their birth name. “Offred” Literally means of Fred. Fred being her commander. As the reader, we never find out what Offred’s real name was. Furthermore, women were seen merely as property. Due to low birth rates and infertility of the time in which the story was based, handmaids specifically were property used to bear children with. Offred says, we are two-legged wombs, that’s all:
... 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.