The Handmaid's Tale The novel, The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood focuses on the choices made by the society of Gilead in which the preservation and security of mankind is more highly regarded than freedom or happiness. This society has undergone many physical changes that have led to extreme psychological ramifications. I think that Ms. Atwood believes that the possibility of our society becoming as that of Gilead is very evident in the choices that we make today and from what has occured in the past. Our actions will inevitably catch up to us when we are most vulnerable. "We are for breeding purposes..There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts..We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices (p. 176)." In the society of Gilead, the most highly valued aspect of life is giving birth to a healthy child without deformities. Gilead was the aftermath of a nuclear world war (or some type of chemical mishap involving most of the world). As a result of this, some women and men are left sterile and unable to increase the significantly decreased population. The women who are fertile are placed in institutions where they are trained in the process of pregnancy and child bearing, those who are not are left to die in areas with concentrated radiation. This society has undergone a change so extraordinary that it has taken us from one extreme to the next, leaving many people wondering what happened to make it so. The things that were most highly honored and respect are now treated with disdain. These changes were not all detrimental but the majority of them we could have done without. Ms. Atwood poses that humankind has a nature to develope, whether that development is for the empowerment or destruction of our society is unknown until the consequences take place. "I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will...There were limits, but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me...Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping (p.
Canada suffered its longest and most terrible economic depression in its history between 1929 and 1939. It is now known as the Great Depression. This essay will demonstrate the major causes, political, economic and social consequences, and the government’s solutions from the Great Depression. The Great Depression affected all of Canada and is a key part of our history. It is important that we learn from it so we can prevent it from happening again.
In the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" written by Margaret Atwood, the recurrent appearance of the color red draws an interesting yet perverse parallel between femininity and violence. The dominant color of the novel, red is associated with all things female. However, red is also the color of blood; death and violence therefore are closely associated with women in this male-dominated ultraconservative government.
The Handmaid's Tale This is a futuristic novel that takes place in the northern part of the USA sometime in the beginning of the twenty-first century, in the oppressive and totalitarian Republic of Gilead. The regime demands high moral retribution and a virtuous lifestyle. The Bible is the guiding principle. As a result of the sexual freedom, free abortion and high increase of venereal diseases at the end of the twentieth century, many women, (and men also, but that is forbidden to say), are sterile. The women who are still fertile are recruited as Handmaids, and their only mission in life is to give birth to the offspring of their Commander, whose wife is infertile.
Perhaps the most frightening aspect of Offred's world is not even its proximity, but its occasional attractiveness. The idea that women need strict protection from harm is not one espoused solely by the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Pat Buchanan, but also by women like Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon. This protectionist variety of feminism is incorporated in the character of Offred's mother, and to a certain degree in Aunt Lydia. Offred's mother is just as harsh in her censorship of pornography as any James Dobson. By burning the works which offend her, she too is contributing to the notion that women's safety is contingent on squelching the Bill of Rights. The restriction of sexually explicit pictures places the blame for sex crimes on women, again -- the women in the photographs who supposedly drive men to rape. Where have we heard this before? Who else refuses to hold rapists responsible for their own actions, choosing instead to restrict the behavior of those they consider the catalysts?
Theodor Seuss Geisel or as known as Dr.seuss is famous cartoonist , writer and author who was born 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is one of the most favorite children’s authors of the twentieth century. Although he is well known of children’s books like “The cat in the hat “and Green Eggs and Ham”. Theodor also has sold many copies of political cartoons, poems, and even film scripts not only in the united states but also worldwide. Poems, Political cartoons, and film scripts were some of his work as well. The power of writing he used brought joy and happiness to all people, especially kids. There is No doubt of a successful writer is he, brought such morals and lessons to real life. Whether he was drawing or writing, his work was
" I used to thin of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplish of my will ... now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping."
Within freedom should come security. Within security should come freedom. But in Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, it seems as though there is no in between. Atwood searches throughout the novel for a medium between the two, but in my eyes fails to give justice to a woman’s body image. Today's society has created a fear of beauty and sexuality in this image. It is as though a beautiful woman can be just that, but if at the same time, if she is intelligent and motivated within acting as a sexual being, she is thought of as exploiting herself and her body. Atwood looks for a solution to this problem, but in my eyes fails to do so.
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.
Margaret Atwood's renowned science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was written in 1986 during the rise of the opposition to the feminist movement. Atwood, a Native American, was a vigorous supporter of this movement. The battle that existed between both sides of the women's rights issue inspired her to write this work. Because it was not clear just what the end result of the feminist movement would be, the author begins at the outset to prod her reader to consider where the story will end. Her purpose in writing this serious satire is to warn women of what the female gender stands to lose if the feminist movement were to fail. Atwood envisions a society of extreme changes in governmental, social, and mental oppression to make her point.
After reading The Handmaid's Tale, one may conclude that Margaret Atwood is not simply feeding her readers history, but rather warning them of our future. We may, for example, see modern day oppression in homosexuals. Various religious groups doom them to Hell, rights are taken away from them (the right to marry, for example)...the list goes on. As Atwood says of The Handmaid's Tale, "The novel exists for social examination..." (316). One can only hope that our history of social oppression will cease to repeat itself if only we can learn from the past.
"The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopia about a world where unrealistic things take place. The events in the novel could never actually take place in our reality." This is what most people think and assume, but they're wrong. Look at the world today and in the recent past, and there are not only many situations that have ALMOST become a Gilead, but places that have been and ARE Gileadean societies. We're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy!
On January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, a very influential mind was born (Marcelo and David B.). This person was Martin Luther King, Jr. As King grew older he began to realize his family's work. They had been part of a long line of pastors at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (Nobel Foundation). He began to realize what was going on in his very eventful life and recognized it as segregation.
The book hints at other reasons like the destruction of the traditional nuclear family as well. The Gilead society simple does not want single mothers or children growing up without parents despite having no regard for women. Women are restricted so much that they are treated as precious objects, machines even as Aunt Lydia points out “A thing is valued, she says only if it is rare and hard to get”(141) referring to the production of “normal” children, children without any birth defects which within the society they are having problems
Caspar David Friedrich was a German painter, and helped define and shape the Romantic Movement in Germany. According to The Tate, Friedrich had a primary interest in the contemplation of the natural world (Wyss, “The Whispering Zeitgeist”). This no doubt transferred over to much of his artwork, as The Monk by The Sea immediately evokes emotion and contemplation from the viewer. In addition, Freidrich derived much of his inspiration from religion, which centered on nature as a metaphor for God’s power and anonymity. The portrait itself is named after the monk, but a vast expansive sea drowns out any thought that the monk is the actual subject of the painting; rather it alludes to how man truly occupies little space in this world and a need to heel to the divine.
I cannot expect others to only adapt for me, but I need to also try to adapt for others and meet them in the middle. Employers also need to consider cultural requirements of their employees. For example, in my culture, Islam is the common religion and so prayer times and religious holidays need to be accommodated for. During the month of Ramadan, it would be inconsiderate of someone to constantly eat in front of us or make statements like, “Just take a bite. I won’t tell.” By taking these coping methods of culture differences into consideration, we can become better