Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, Offred persistently deals with the political and social issues of the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is a completely new society that lacks love, expression of ideas, and advanced technology. Throughout the novel, Atwood uses symbolism and flashbacks to explore the political and social problems within the republic, which enhance the story’s central message. Firstly, throughout the novel, Atwood utilizes a great deal of symbolism to explore the political and social issues present issues present in the republic. For example, Offred and the other Handmaids are covered in red clothing. This is somewhat ironic as red can symbolize power, but the only power that Handmaids possess is the ability to bear …show more content…
children. Red also symbolizes fertility as Offred works for her Commander in an attempt to produce offspring. The red of Offred’s attire can be sharply contrasted with the blue tones of the Wives as they are sterile and are unable to give birth to children. The red attire that Offred carries on her body is a constant reminder of her sexual sins as well. Offred has been to three homes and has had sex with three Commanders. Additionally, she had intercourse with Luke while he was married to another woman. Clearly, the red symbolizes adultery, which can be compared to The Scarlet Letter in which Hester Prynne wears a red symbol in order to remind her of previous sexual sins. The red apparel that Offred wears is immensely similar to Hester’s scarlet letter as she carries her sin wherever she goes. Offred cannot escape her past actions, driving her to mental insanity. This leads to a second literary element which Atwood incorporates: flashbacks. The red attire causes Offred to think of a past life in which she was not merely an item used for sex. Furthermore, Atwood certainly uses the flashbacks to explore political and social issues throughout the novel.
A particular instance includes the day when Offred goes to a small store to buy certain items. She notices that the woman working the previous day is no longer present, and there is a man in her place. When she charges the items to her card, the man states that there is no money in the account. However, on the previous day, her account was working perfectly fine. Offred calls the bank several times before she gets through. They tell her that the account is empty as all of her savings have been frozen. Moira informs Offred that women are no longer allowed to have occupations or money in an account. Essentially, Offred must transfer her funds to Luke and Moira finds a gay man to keep her money. This flashback is paramount within the novel because it is the first instance in which the government has taken steps to restrict women. They can no longer possess jobs or hold money in an account. Ultimately, this leads to a dystopia in which women are mere items used for the bearing of children. As the narrator (Offred) returns from her flashback, she states that in Gilead women cannot have sexual desires, read, write, speak to one another, express eye contact, or leave their home alone. Another example of a flashback is when Offred thinks about experiences in her home with Luke. Essentially, she was able to have a sexual desire for Luke and truly love him. They would often
have sexual intercourse and eventually they had a daughter. This flashback sharply contrasts the Republic of Gilead in which there is an absence of love, sexual desire, and family. Atwood skillfully utilizes this flashback to sharply contrast Offred’s two differing lives and display the bleakness of Gilead. In the republic, women cannot have sexual desires for other men, and there are no romantic relationships. Moreover, the concept of a family is no longer present. Instead of a husband and wife having a romantic relationship with loving children, a Handmaid has intercourse with her Commander in the presence of a Wife. The child that she bears (if it is healthy) cannot be kept, and this method of sexual intercourse with three members becomes a cyclical event. Similar to a conveyor belt, the Handmaid’s obligation is to continually bear children in sharp contrast to women’s previous lives. Atwood adeptly uses Offred’s experiences with Luke to depict the bleakness of Gilead. Overall, Margaret Atwood uses symbolism and flashbacks throughout The Handmaid’s Tale in order to explore political and social issues within the republic. The color red showcases Offred’s fertility and acts as a reminder of her adultery in the past like Hester’s scarlet letter. The flashback to Offred’s experience at the drugstore in which all women lose their jobs as well as the flashback to her experiences with Luke display how society has changed immensely. Primarily, Gilead represents monotony, bleakness, and horror. Atwood uses these elements to help him convey his central message. Ultimately, a well-balanced society can regress to a dystopia in a short interval of time. Gilead is a republic that lacks individuality, sex, love, intellectual creativity, and most importantly, morals. Not only are women portrayed as mere entities used for sex, but each member of Gilead has lost the liberty and justice of a true democracy.
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 Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian-style novel designed to provide a quick glimpse as to what the United States would be like if it were penetrated and overtaken by totalitarian extremists. The main character, Offred, begins her story in a school gymnasium somewhere on the Harvard/MIT campus; and from there we learn more about Offred and her struggle to adapt to the loss of her own free will. The Republic of Gilead—this dystopian novel’s totalitarian regime—keeps women under control by prohibiting any form of literature, limiting contact with males aside from their assigned commander, and enforcing their biblical views regarding childbirth and its sanctity....
In "The Handmaid's Tale", Margaret Atwood tells a saddening story about a not-to-distant future where toxic chemicals and abuses of the human body have resulted in many men and women alike becoming sterile. The main character, Offred, gives a first person encounter about her subservient life as a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a republic formed after a bloody coup against the United States government. She and her fellow handmaids are fertile women that the leaders of Gilead, the Commanders, enslave to ensure their power and the population of the Republic. While the laws governing women and others who are not in control of Gilead seem oppressive, outlandish and ridiculous, they are merely a caricature of past and present laws and traditions of Western civilization. "The Handmaid's Tale" is an accurate and feasible description of what society could be like if a strict and oppressive religious organization gained dominant power over the political system in the United States.
Atwood's Attention to Words in The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaids Tale illustrates that dictatorship can be established by creating a state of fear once language controls are instituted. As a tradition to dystopian novels, Atwood has drawn much attention to the meaning of words and the significance of names, as well as the prohibition for women to read or write, in order to portray Gilead as a successful totalitarian state. Atwood is trying to make the point that in a dystopian world, language can be the power. The meaning of names is a central focus of the novel, because names define people. Their worth and functions are summarized by the names.
In the course of her life as a handmaid, Offred discovers more about Gilead. Her secondary duty (after getting pregnant) was to go into town each day and purchase food. She gradually makes contact with another handmaid, Ofglen, who introduces her to the underground movement against the republic. She eventually becomes involved in a number of illegal activities, and eventually is forced to try and escape.
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
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood takes place in the totalitarian theocratic regime of Gilead with a first person narration of the main character, Offred. This society used biblical language and omission of valuable information to manipulate the general public into submission. Offred has a powerful understanding of how language can influence the population as she experiences it firsthand and uses the same power as a recorder. The recorder has a power that contrasts with her role in the Commander’s household. As the recorder of her own story she controls its presentation, the reader is subject to her unconscious bias. The experiences she has had define the way the reader will think about Gilead. She conveys her intense emotions throughout
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.
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.
"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!
The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel in which Atwood creates a world which seems absurd and near impossible. Women being kept in slavery only to create babies, cult like religious control over the population, and the deportation of an entire race, these things all seem like fiction. However Atwood's novel is closer to fact than fiction; all the events which take place in the story have a base in the real world as well as a historical precedent. Atwood establishes the world of Gilead on historical events as well as the social and political trends which were taking place during her life time in the 1980's. Atwood shows her audience through political and historical reference that Gilead was and is closer than most people realize.
In recapitulation, then, Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" presents misogyny within Gilead as a government policy that debases women in order to promote functionality. Such extreme implications, as Atwood suggests, are echoed in the cultures preceding Gilead, and even those cultures that are present in our world. Atwood's writing also proposes that sexism is prevalent and deeply embedded in society, even outside of Gilead where it's embedding may not be intentional.
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 of each 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. Atwood bases the irrational laws in the Gilead republic on the many
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
... 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.