The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian based novel about the Republic of Gilead, formally known as The United States (U.S). Gilead was formed by a military-style coup, in which this dictatorship managed to overthrow the U.S government and eradicate the U.S constitution. This new regime is a modern-day totalitarian dominated government and is run in favour of the Old Testament. This dictatorship quickly reorganised society to form new social classes and the Old Testament practices where compulsory Christian regimes were formed, to reshape and reform society. Facing environmental ruin and plummeting birth rates, the new formation of society is intended to make it a better place for women. In this novel, the prominent ideas that …show more content…
This gives the reader the impression of the women being treated as prisoners. These women were being denied freedom and were forced to do whatever the ‘aunts’ told them, parallel with the environments of prison. If the handmaids do not obey the aunts, they are electrocuted with cattle prods as punishment. This tells the reader that the aunts are in control and the handmaids are not treated with respect at all, showing the lack of human rights these women have. This idea is important in understanding the severity of the environment Offred, who is the central character of the novel, is being forced to live in. The idea of being trapped, alongside the forceful and life threating nature of this new society is intended to make the reader feel sympathy for Offred and the other handmaids. In comparison we live in a society where each individual has the freedom to choose and are protected by laws, rights and morals, by which everyone lives by. The handmaids went from living in a world of freedom, liberty and choice, to a dictated and elitist society in which they are segregated according to their value and status. The reader feels connected to Offred and feels sympathy for her situation. This is an important idea put forward, to highlight the lack of humane feeling towards the handmaids. They had no choice but to just go along with whatever they were forced to do, otherwise they were threatened with severe consequences. The aunts did not seem to care about hurting others which highlights how power can affect ones inability to feel emotion or sympathy. In addition to this was the public ‘salvagings’ and hangings of wrongdoers on ‘the wall’. These punishments were intended to provoke fear and awareness of the severe punishment waiting for any law breakers. The idea of enforcement through punishment is similar in
Incarnation, this shows Offred’s opinion on not only herself but her mother. I think the reason why Offred tolerates being a Handmaid is because she does not want to be like her
Exposition: The novel begins with a nameless narrator who will later be revealed as the protagonist Offred. The book opens with Offred vividly describing a room. The room is an old gymnasium, although, it’s a gym it’s similar to a prison Offred describes the building that the Gym is located “The guards weren 't allowed inside the building except when called, and we weren 't allowed out, except for our walks, twice daily, two by two around the football field, which was enclosed now by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire” (Atwood 4). The gym is where several women are confined in who like Offred will be become handmaids is filled with despair. Offred and the women aren’t allowed to talk only read lips, the women are
The threat of physical abuse is huge. Being woman is enough of a crime, but “any crime can result in an execution and a public hanging on ‘The Wall’” (Cameron 3). A woman can be hung for just about anything. If they defy the people in charge they can get hurt. The women are constantly abused. The Gilead government is in charge of what goes on in this society. If a woman has an affair with a different man they are taken and possibly tortured or hung. The Red Center, which is where they were taught how to be Handmaid’s, the women were constantly tortured. They had Aunts that looked over them. These aunts were not nice and, “they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts” (Thomas 91). The aunt’s view was all that was needed was the Handmaid’s baby making parts. The women did not need their feet, hands, or any part other than the torso. When the woman did something wrong or tried to run away th...
This is a post united states world and some people, in the story, have seen the changes of from United States of America to Gilead. In their dystopian world, the handmaids wear “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us”(Atwood 8). This is an example of the Ordinary World, female servants are used for reproducing because if the decline birth rate due to sexual diseases. During the call to adventure, the reader can consider Offred going to the call of adventure before Gilead, as well as, after Gilead. Both of them relating to the mistreatment against women. Her friend Moira, before Gilead, showed her a world in which women were fighting for their rights in the 1970’s during the women's liberation movement. Her and Moira went to a rally where “(she) threw the magazine into the flames. It riffled open in the wind of its burning; big flakes of paper came loose, sailed into the air, still on fire, parts of women’s bodies, turning to black ash, in the air, before my eyes”. (Atwood 39). Offred was gaining some of her memory back, pre- gilead days, she knew her mother and Moira were apart of the feminist movement. In addition to the rise of the government, her and Luke needed to leave because she feared the safety of her daughter and her husband. In matter of fact, Offred was a bit precautious of entering a new world because she was scared of
Offred, among other women depicted in this novel, tries to overcome this dominion. In her own way, she attempts to do this by ensuring the Commander’s expectations of her behavior which could result in her freedom. Thus, there is a present power struggle between the Commander and Offred throughout The Handmaid’s
In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Offred recounts the story of her life and that of others in Gilead, but she does not do so alone. The symbolic meanings found in the dress code of the women, the names/titles of characters, the absence of the mirror, and the smell and hunger imagery aid her in telling of the repugnant conditions in the Republic of Gilead. The symbols speak with a voice of their own and in decibels louder than Offred can ever dare to use. They convey the social structure of Gileadean society and carry the theme of the individual's loss of identity.
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
Fear is power. Fear is ever-present in Gilead; it is implemented through violence and force. It is through fear that the regime controls the Gileadian society. There is no way Offred, or the other Handmaids can avoid it. The dead bodies hanging on the wall are a relentless reminder of what rebellion and conflict result in. The abuse of power is also present in chapter fifteen after Moira attempts to escape, she is taken to the old science lab and has her feet beaten with steel frayed wires and is then left on her bed, ‘’Moira lay on her bed as an example.’’ (pg. 102 ) She is an example of what rebellion results in. Therefore, creating fear in the other Handmaids to prevent them from rebelling.
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.
The setting of The Handmaid’s Tale – known as Gilead – is a totalitarian government, originally based on Old Testament patriarchy. This structure forbids rival loyalties or parties, so all loyalty must be for the group of men that govern the State. Such a structure means that women are assigned ‘roles’ according to their biological ‘usefulness’.
In the novel, the Handmaids represent stability and importance, and completely contradict the symbolism of the Jews in the concentration camps. Even though both patriarchal societies abuse its power and confine its prisoners, the reasoning between the confinements varies significantly. Similarly, the oppression put upon the masses by the patriarchal systems causes the oppressed to lose their belief in God and the idea of religion as a whole.
Throughout time women have been oppressed. The journey women have had has been a long one. Women were oppressed from choosing whom to love, speaking against her husband or any male, getting jobs outside household duties, voting, etc. Women were looked at as the weaker sex. The oppression in Gilead is no different. These women are oppressed by the patriarchy. In Gilead women are valuable, but not all are treated as such. Handmaids play a role for the greater good, but the Wives are treated above the Handmaids, even though the Handmaids, such as the narrator Offred, are the ones giving society a chance. The patriarchal society set in place makes all of the decisions over the greater women populations. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale examines the overall effect of a patriarchal society on
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.
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
By exploring the primacy of religion, the Handmaid's Tale shows the aspect of both notice and unnoticed consequences for the people living in Gilead by including negative community repercussions such as religion outlook, misleading point of views, and abuse of