Summary Of The Use Of Opinions In The Handmaid's Tale

Many people do not recognize the strategies writers and speakers use to influence their audiences’ opinions. They believe that their opinions were constructed based solely on facts. Although establishing one’s own opinions based on facts is ideal, this is usually not the case. By means of the Aunt’s lessons in The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood argues that individuals use verbal techniques, such as word choice, tone, and repetition, to suppress others’ conflicting viewpoints and to promote their own. This is significant because it reveals how people can be manipulated into believing false or misleading information.

The Aunts of Gilead use specific word choices to suppress viewpoints that contradict their own. For instance, they believe

Throughout their lessons, the Aunts are described by Offred as portraying negative tones, which play a role in the diminishment of others’ points of view. One instance of this occurs when Aunt Lydia uses a resentful tone while discussing the movies that are described in the previous paragraph. Offred states that her voice “trembled with indignation” when speaking about the recreational sex that was presented (118). This conveys the feeling of rage towards women who dare to have sex for reasons other than procreation. Audiences tend to be more inclined to feel a certain way about an issue when their speakers portray that emotion; therefore, because Aunt Lydia presents a resentful tone, the handmaids are more inclined to adopt the feeling of rage towards the sexual acts displayed in the movies. Another subject the Aunts use specific tones while describing is clothing; they believe that women should be fully covered. Atwood first introduces this concept to readers in Chapter 5 when Offred sees tourists from Japan. The tourists’ skirts are short, they wear high heels, and they do not cover their heads or hair. After seeing the tourists, Offred recalls one of Aunt Lydia’s lectures. “Modesty is invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. Never forget it. To be seen – to be seen – is to be – her voice trembled – penetrated. What you must be girls, is impenetrable” (28). Here, Aunt Lydia uses her tone to mold the handmaids’ views about how women should dress. The tone that she presents is disgust towards women, such as the Japanese tourists, who wear clothes that don’t cover their entire bodies. Once again, because Aunt Lydia portrayed disgust when discussing women who wear revealing clothes, the handmaids were more inclined to embrace that disgust, as well as the belief that it is unacceptable for females to show their skin. The Aunts display specific tones to