Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who created a pyramid that outlined a hierarchy of human needs. According to him, people will become more motivated when one of their deficiency needs is unmet. Therefore, the longer someone goes without meeting one of these needs, the stronger their desire will be to get the need fulfilled. A few of these basic needs are individuality, love, and expression. When a person is deprived of one or more of these needs, he or she will not be able to reach the top of the pyramid, which means being aware of one’s fullest potential. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the human need for individuality is shown when Offred refuses to share her real name in order to protect her old identity, for love when Offred continuously sneaks …show more content…
to Nick’s room so she can be with him, and for expression when Offred and Ofglen begin to speak more than just scripted conversation. In order to preserve the individual she once was, Offred refuses to reveal her real name. When Offred was originally sent to the Red Center, she and all of the other handmaids in training were told that their names were now forbidden. They would be given new names at each assignment that would represent ownership and the Commander’s first name. However, Offred admits that, “We learned to lip-read, our heads flat on the beds, turned sideways, watching each other’s mouths. In this way we exchanged names from bed to bed: Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June”(4). This statement shows that even though the handmaids are not allowed to speak to one another or even keep their real names, they are still able to find a way around it. She wants her name to be known amongst the handmaids because this is who she really is. Even though she will eventually have to be referred to by the name of her assigned Commander, such as Offred, she still wants to be called by her actual name. This way, she is able to keep her true identity alive. Offred also tells the reader that she does care about her name not being used anymore. She says, “I keep the knowledge of this name like something hidden, some treasure I’ll come back to dig up, one day”(84). This comment shows that Offred has not given up hope for a brighter future. She still sees that the Gileadean regime will pass and everything will go back to the way it used to be. Therefore, she keeps her name a secret so that it holds some value. She tries to think positively that she will someday be able to use her name and have her past identity back. Aside from individuality, Offred has not felt loved in many years since she was taken from Luke, but when she visits Nick for the first time, that feeling of love comes back to her. Offred had never spent time with Nick until the night before the Ceremony when Serena arranges for her to go see him because she has deemed that the Commander is infertile. After this first time, though, Offred says, “I went back to Nick…It wasn’t called for, there was no excuse. I did not do it for him, but for myself entirely”(268). This statement shows that Nick makes Offred feel an emotion, such as love, that she has not felt in a while. Now that she has been exposed to this feeling, she becomes reliant on going to see Nick. Even though it is very dangerous since she could be sent to the Colonies, she continues to sneak to his room. This feeling reminds her of when she was with Luke, and now she doesn’t want to let it go. She even says, “The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross the border to freedom. I want to be here, with Nick…Such seriousness, about a man, then, had not seemed possible to me before”(271). Offred has always thought about what freedom would be like if she could escape. However, this comment shows that Nick has fulfilled her need for love and now she only wants to be with him. She also did not think that she could feel this way about any man during the regime when she is treated like an object whose only purpose is to reproduce. Once she starts seeing Nick, he restores in her the belief that it is possible to be loved during these repressive times. Offred’s need for expression is also fulfilled when Ofglen and Offred dare to converse the way they used to before their conversations were dictated for them.
During this regime, handmaids are not allowed to express themselves in any way. The only words they are able to say are the ones that are deemed legal. Therefore, all conversation between handmaids follows a script. On one day, when Offred and Ofglen are looking inside soul scrolls, Ofglen breaks away from this script and tries to start up a normal conversation. When Offred finds out that she can finally express herself, very cautiously, in front of Ofglen, she says to the reader, “I’m so excited I can barely breathe, but I keep a steady pace. Now more than ever I must avoid drawing attention to myself”(168). This comment shows the result of what happens when a person is not allowed to show any expression. Offred has been forced to hold all of her emotions in since the day she was sent to the Red Center. Now, she finds out that there is a group of handmaids, called Mayday, that secretly works together to help each other out during this repression. While Offred must still be careful so she is not caught by a spy or anyone else outside of Mayday, she has officially regained hope that the regime will end. She looks forward to her shopping trips with Ofglen from this point on because she can say anything without Ofglen turning her in for breaking the law. Later on, though, she is told that Ofglen hung herself because she was found out. Offred is with a new partner who she realizes is not part of Mayday, and she says, “Now that Ofglen is gone I am alert again, my sluggishness has fallen away, my body is no longer for pleasure only but senses its jeopardy”(284). This comment shows that Offred had become careless in a way whenever she was with Ofglen. Now that Ofglen is gone, Offred is not able to express herself anymore. She feels that she must be very careful now or else she will be taken away and most likely
sent to the colonies. The joy that had filled Offred when she was able to fulfill her need for expression has now been taken away from her once more. The human need for individuality, love, and expression is explored in The Handmaid’s Tale when Offred keeps her real name a secret as a way of treasuring her identity, when Offred longs to be with Nick, and when Offred and Oflgen have a real, unscripted conversation. It has been forbidden by the Gileadean regime for Offred to use her real name, so she decides to keep it to herself in the hopes that she will be able to use it someday in the future. Until then, it holds some value for her because she feels her old identity is like buried treasure. She shares this name with Nick, though, who brings back the feeling of love for Offred that she used to have with Luke. Although it is dangerous, she starts sneaking to Nick’s room so she can continue to fulfill her need for love. Lastly, Offred’s need for expression is achieved when Ofglen dares to break away from their scripted conversation. Once Ofglen teaches her about Mayday, Offred looks forward to her shopping trips so she can learn new information about the other handmaids and express some emotion, except she does have to be careful so she doesn’t get caught. These actions that Offred takes are risky, but show how human beings cannot live without certain needs. Offred is not allowed to have individuality, love, or expression in her life. These are supposed to be aspects of her past that she must now live without. However, once she is exposed to these needs, she craves them even more. They make her feel whole again, which she hasn’t felt since she was taken away from her husband and daughter. This shows that the hierarchy pyramid of needs is correct in that a person must have certain needs met in order to obtain self-actualization.
Gender inequality has existed all around the world for many centuries. Women were seen as property of men and their purpose of existence was to provide for the men in their lives. Men would play the role of being the breadwinners, whereas women played the role of being the caregiver of the family and household and must obey the men around her. The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood portrays how women in society are controlled and demeaned by men, and how men feel they are more superior over women.
Offred is a handmaid, in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, who no longer desired to rebel against the government of Gilead after they separated her from her family. When Offred was taken away from her family the Government of Gilead placed her in an institution known as the Red Center where they trained her along with other women unwillingly to be handmaids. The handmaid’s task was to repopulate the society because of the dramatic decrease in population form lack of childbirth. Handmaids are women who are put into the homes of the commanders who were unable to have kids with their own wives. The Handmaids had very little freedom and were not allowed to do simple tasks by themselves or without supervision like taking baths or going to the store. There was an uprising against the government of Gilead and many people who lived in this society including some handmaids looked for a way to escape to get their freedom back which was taken away from them and to reunited with their families which they lost contact with. Offred was one of the handmaids who was against the government of Gilead before she was put in the Red Center, but she joined the uprising after she became a
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
As you read through the handmaid’s tale you see the relationships of the characters develop and the fight for power, however small that glimpse of power may be. The images of power can be seen through out the novel, but there are major parts that stand out to the reader from the aunt’s in the training centre to the secret meetings between the Commander and Offred.
Margaret Atwood’s book “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Offred ( The main Character) struggles with expressing Individualism among a society that constrains a woman by labelling her for her duties and worth. Offred is a “Handmaid” which is a group of women who are used for reproduction, being a “Handmaid” is considered to be very degrading because these women are seen for only their bodies to provide children and nothing more. An article previously read, written by “Frieda Fordham” discusses Jungian Archetypes and one that best correlates with the book is “The Persona”. The Persona is defined as “A collective phenomenon, a facet of the personality that might equally well belong to somebody else, but it is often mistaken for
Before the war handmaids had their own lives, families, and jobs but that’s all gone now; They have all been separated from their families and assigned to A Commander and his wife to have their child. Handmaids did not choose this life but it was forced upon them. 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
Identity is what makes a person unique. It is what distinguishes a person from the other seven billion people that inhabit the earth alongside them. Without an identity, one is another person in a sea of unfamiliar faces with nothing to make them special. The reader experiences this very phenomenon in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, as the women have their identities stripped from them in the dystopian, war-stricken society and are forced to be just seen and not heard. Using the protagonist as her tool, Atwood presents the idea that the loss of an identity results in the loss of a person, and a person will do anything to fill the void that needs to be filled.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood follows the narration of Offred, a young woman struggling to maintain her humanity in a sea of indignity and sexist oppression. Although severely restricted by the patriarchal theocracy of Gilead, Offred uses small physical activisms to maintain her individuality, regain her sense of control, and salvage any shred of agency possible, which ultimately help preserve her Pre-Gilead identity, despite her lack of power and slave-like position. Small acts throughout the story such as the act of theft, shows her willingness to rebel against the oppressive setting. However small, Offred's physical and mental activisms give her hope for the future and empower her to maintain her individual identity.
Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer. However, one of Atwood's most successful books, The Handmaid's Tale, stands in stark contrast to the ideas of feminism. In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
Imagine living in a society where child births are low, the constitution gets suspended, and slow changes begin to occur, such as women get stripped of many things. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood creates a whole dystopian image that does not favor the women or men, but it doesn’t work against the men as much as the women. The process creates a society where the women get stripped of their name and their rights leaving them powerless and vulnerable. In this literature piece there are many points of views that can be argued, but we will focus on the absence of identity. As shown through the different ranks in the society and the daily lives of the women, the absence of identity leads to groups of women assigned to a certain role and each group working against each other.
There are two kinds of freedom, “freedom from and freedom to” (31) throughout Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Freedom from is a negative liberty that involves external restriction to a person’s actions. On the other hand there is freedom to, a positive liberty the one can act upon their own free will. The two different categories of freedom are discussed and debated through a feminist view point. We explore and try to understand the way in which the difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to” is applied to females in society. This novel gives us two contrasting ways of liberal thinking. You are free if no one is stopping you from doing whatever you might want to. The story appears, in this sense, to be free. On the other hand, one can
In Some societies extreme religious laws and rules is followed as a solution to problems. Allowing religious fundamentalists to run a regime can lead to injustice, for certain people in the regime. In the Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaids tale such things like these take place where freedom is revoked and nightmares are reality for the women of Gilead. The novel presents as a totalitarian society where there is a governing system in which a ruling command holds all power and controls everything in the society. The regime takes it laws very strict because these laws are said to be of god and by disobeying the government the people are disobeying God. The narrator reminds us that there are freedom but
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.
What exactly is your identity, and where does it lie? What makes you, you and what does it mean to be yourself? These are many questions that come up when discussing and questioning one’s identity. Most answers come up include gender, preferences, beliefs, etc. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the identities of all women were stripped away and given new identities, beliefs, dress code, and rules to follow. The author of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood used Offred’s character to show the theme of individual’s loss of identity in the Gileadean society. Atwood was able to plant this image in the reader's mind with every detail explaining the conditions of Gilead. Having to lose an identity is like being brainwashed. The people of Gilead are brainwashed