Similarities Between The Handmaid's Tale And Dr Strangelove

Kaitlin Turner­Simotics Ms. Harrington

Grade 10 English August 26th, 2014 Word Count: 794

The Portrayal of Women and Feminism in The Handmaid’s Tale and Dr. Strangelove

Ideas of feminism and women’s liberation have been around since the early 19th century. There are a plethora of feminist movements and ideologies essentially aimed towards claiming and defending social, economic, cultural, and political equality for women. Feminists have a strong belief that neither sex is inherently better than the other and that women are just as perspicacious as the reputed “superior sex”. Throughout the years many authors and filmmakers have created their work with the feminism movement in mind and have even incorporated the basic ethos of feminism into their

own work.
Margaret Atwood is one of the most well known authors to incorporate feminist motifs and beliefs into her work. She is a self identified feminist and it shows very clearly in her work that she is heavily influenced by the movement. However, Atwood’s 1987 novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” contradicts many major ideas of feminism. At a first glance or quick scan of the novel one might believe that this book appears to be feminist in nature seeing as it is set in a futuristic “feminist” world in the year 2023. This world that we view through the main narrator’s eyes (Offred) is a world where there is a
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dearth of freedom for women.

Offred describes a dystopian society that is completely controlled by men to the reader.

The way women in The Handmaid’s Tale are portrayed is rather limited. Most women are portrayed as man­haters. A good example of this are the Aunts that work alongside the men in this dystopian society to essentially brainwash the handmaids and instruct them on how to be slaves to the men. Aunts are very satirical characters as they are used to portray what an anti­feminist man would think of modern day feminists. Both Aunts and Wives generally sided with men and mistreated/objectified handmaids throughout the entirety of the novel.

The only characters in The Handmaid’s Tale that shine a light on women in a positive way and/or represent women’s empowerment in any way, shape, or form are Offred’s mother, and Moira. Gradually through the novel we discover that Offred’s mother is a single mother by her own choice. This justifies the idea that Offred’s mother was an incredibly independant woman. On page 120 in the novel we see a passage explaining how Offred’s mother did not listen to her friends telling her about how “lonely” it is to be a single parent along with a slew of other advice regarding birth

defects.
Moira is similarly uninterested in the entrapments of a traditional family household or femininity in general, although her attitudes tend to be more acerbic. Moira’s spurning of men is more severe than
that of Offred’s mother. Moira is a lesbian by choice and generally detests men and makes that very
clear. Offred’s mother is obviously heterosexual and dismissive rather than disdainful or scornful
towards men.
Independent women aren’t always represented in a majority of in literature and film though. Margaret Atwood made a point to have at least have two contrasting women roles in the dystopian
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society. For example, in the film “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learn to Stop Worrying About and Love the Bomb” (1967) directed by Stanley Kubrick women are treated as sex objects for powerful military officials and politicians. There is really only one female in the entire movie ­ an attractive secretary girl. Her only scene in the movie features her bikini­clad outside tanning on a lawn chair. The General then patronizes this girl by saying “I deeply respect you as a human being. Someday I’m going to make you Mrs. General Buck Turgidson.” Not only does this quote shows the General talking down to the girl in a condescending manner, but his actual words strip the girl of her identity by essentially implying that the best she can hope for is to be married to him or someone like him.
Another reference to the objectification of women in general from Dr. Strangelove was when Dr. Strangelove presented his mine shaft plan to preserve the species he states, “Women selected for breeding must be of a highly stimulating nature... at a ratio of 10 women to every man.” General Turgidson, The President, and even the Ambassador love this idea and approve of it immediately. All 3 men had very different mindsets and beliefs unless it was in regards to women.
In conclusion, it is safe to say that women and feminism are represented in a variety of different ways in both literature and films. Whether is be positive or negative there will always be two different extremes to the idea of feminism and women portrayed in society ­ both fictional and nonfictional.