Handmaid's Tale Thesis

Blueprint and Refined Thesis Template

I. Introduction

A. Imagine a country where choice is not a choice. The Handmaid’s Tale is a poetic tale full of biblical allusions of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead.

B. A literature work that would have to create a question that leaves no answers would have to be Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale as the narrator, Offred, is oppressed as a result of being forced to live in a society that undergoes dystopian elements, yet has a fate unknown.

C. She is being oppressed as a result of the dystopian environment she’s in which include the elements: language as a tool of power, women’s bodies as political instruments, and the restriction of freedom causing complacency.

II. Body
A. Topic sentence: Offred has the role of dealing with a dystopian society where her rights are suppressed through the regime’s use of language as a tool for power. Gilead establishes an official terminology that disregards and distorts reality in order to serve the needs of the regime’s elite.
1. POINT: Certain roles, like the Wives and Commanders, are not restricted in language, therefore their freedom of speech gives them power.
PROOF:
 Religious language or biblical references are used throughout the book extensively in order to help maintain the theocratic dictatorship such as Jezebels, Marthas, Guardians, and Angels.
 Aunt Lydia informs Janine of Moira’s escape; hence Janine is given power since she knows something that she shouldn’t know.
 “Language, as Atwood's narrator discovers, can oppress as well as express.” (Conboy 350)
 “In the novel Atwood brilliantly juxtaposes the feminist project- the desire to 'steal language' of/from patriarchy- and the postmodern critique of language. The novel emphasizes the constraint and limitation Gilead imposes, and the narrators growing resistance.” (Stein 269)
COMMENT: Certain individuals with high standing are not bound to rules and automatically hold a huge amount of power. Sharing and passing down power can be a method of brainwashing.

2. POINT: Other roles such as the Handmaids are restricted is how they converse with each other; they are only allowed to greet and respond. Restricting their speech gives the government power over them.
PROOF:
 Handmaids are required to say dialogues: ‘Blessed be the fruit,’ ‘May the Lord open,’ ‘Praise be,’ ‘We’ve been sent good weather,’ etc.
 The assigned names for the Handmaids removes their sense of identity and dehumanizes them. It also gives a feeling of ownership to the government.
 Moira and Offred meet up in the bathroom and have a secular conversation. Power is created between them because they can use language in a prohibited way.
 Offred and Ofglen speak freely: ex. "'You can join us,' she says. 'Us?' I say. There is an us then there's a we. I knew it." (Atwood 168-169)
COMMENT: The biblical references reinforces the feeling of a theocratic government. Power is trivially created from a limited use of language.

3. Even when a very small element of your language is taken, it becomes quite difficult. Thus, power is lost when you can’t speak your mind. Offred is powerless since she lost her freedom of the use of language.

B. Topic sentence: Offred is forced to live in a dystopian world where women, like herself, are treated as political instruments.
1. POINT: Gilead deprives women of their individuality to make them submissive carriers of the next generation.
PROOF:
 “We are for breeding purposes...we are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” (Atwood 170-171)
 “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. 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.” (91)
 “I am too important, too scarce, for that. I am a national resource.” (80)
 “Such tokens are accorded to us. They are supposed to show respect, because of the nature of our service.” (26)
 Offred lies in a tub and reflects that in pre-Gilead, she thought of her body as an instrument of pleasure, transportation, a body she can controlled. Now, she is seen as no more than a walking uterus.
 She hates facing menstruation every month because it indicates failure. Her only purpose is reproducing.
COMMENT: Offred’s various statements related to her situation, indicates the continuous thoughts about her suppression in Gilead.

2. POINT: Throughout the novel, there are frequent biblical allusions.
PROOF:
 Genesis 30: 1-3 “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel; and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.”
COMMENT: This displays the immense influence of religion and the Bible have on Gilead’s regulations approaching the predicament of the plummeted birth rates by using the same strategy as Rachel and Jacob. Gilead exploits women’s bodies as political instruments bringing a “maid” or Handmaid into a sterile marriage to produce inheritors, the central idea used by Rachel and Jacob which permitted the regime to believe it was the appropriate action to take.

3. Such subjugation creates a society in which women are treated as bestial. They are only seen for their fertility and viable-ovaries. Offred explains this through her continuous remarks which exhibits her suppression in the society.

C. Topic sentence: The theme of complacency is shown through Offred’s unawareness in her thoughts and lifestyle in the dystopian environment.
1. POINT: Complacency is explored through female characters who are high in the hierarchy and feel a sense of freedom and superiority.
PROOF:
 Wives and Aunts are allowed authority and simple freedoms.
COMMENT: They don’t comprehend that they are also at a disadvantage in the patriarchy.

2. POINT: In a totalitarian society, Margaret Atwood claims, people will endure oppression willingly as long as they obtain some slight amount of freedom or power.
PROOF:
 “We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?” (51)
 Offred uses the metaphor "being [...] with him is safety” when describing Nick.

 Offred remembers her mother saying “truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” (271)

 Offred’s flashback when her mother and feminists were burning up pornographic magazines and she being irritated by her activities.

COMMENT: Offred realizes her rights could be removed when they actually were removed in Gilead and she understands then how the deficiency of rights changes one’s perspective.

3. High standing women support Gilead’s existence by willingly participating in it, serving as means of the totalitarian state. Offred is oppressed by this theme of complacency mainly because she is restricted of her personal freedoms.

III. CONCLUSION

A. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is oppressed as a result of residing in the dystopian world of Gilead.

B. Language as a tool of power, women’s bodies as political instruments, and the restriction of freedom causing complacency, are all elements in the state that affect Offred.

C. Gilead is a theocracy—a government in which there is no separation between state and religion. It is definitely not a place for anyone who prefers to make their own choices and stand up for what they believe is

right.