Control In The Handmaid's Tale

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Margaret Atwood’s most popular work, The Handmaid’s Tale, explores a dystopian society, called Gilead, ruled by God-quoting oppressors. These oppressors nourish their regime with political tactics aimed at controlling the populace to satisfy their agenda. The state has three main strategies for maintaining control: the manipulation of religion and the imposed belief that the government is acting on God’s will; the rescinding of sexual freedoms and the mechanization of sex; and the fear of corporal punishment awaiting political dissidents or those who go against the interests of the state. In the transition to Gilead, there was turmoil and fear. The Sons of Jacob, the group responsible for the philosophy and structure of Gilead, overthrew the government and …show more content…

Those who did not approve attempted to flee the country, and those who could not leave were left with little alternative than to tolerate the changes. Eventually, Gilead was firmly established in everyone’s lives, and it ruled with the hand of God. References to events, people, and ideas were cherry-picked from the Bible and littered throughout Gilead. By warping biblical texts to fit the needs of the regime, as opposed to meeting the needs of worshippers, the regime was able to justify the increasingly vicious and intrusive policies controlling Gileadean’s lives. For instance, to justify state-sanctioned surrogacy, women were taught the story of Rachel, who asked Jacob to impregnate their maid because Rachel could not bear children of her own. When Handmaids recite “Give me children or else I die.” (Genesis 30.1), they are not only reminded of their duty to God and the state, but the grim consequences of failing to do so. Furthermore, the lack of separation between church and state turns political disagreements, or even flippant comments for that matter, into

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