Throughout many well-known pieces of literature, writers construct captivating storylines consisting of unique characters, settings, and eccentric societies for the purpose of conveying messages to the reader. In the speculative fiction novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, author Margaret Atwood portrays the character of Moira as a strong-willed, independent, persistent, rebellious woman who refuses to be grinded down by people, specifically men, who are “above” her. In the society of Gilead, Moira is characterized into a distinct group and assigned the title of a handmaid. After being sent to the Red Center, Moira becomes aware of the harsh and discriminatory treatment. Although handmaids are supposed to succumb to the newfound rules and regulations, …show more content…
While this occurrence does not interfere with her overall determination to be set free, a part of her has been belittled. A piece of her confidence is snatched from her while she lives through a cruel physical punishment resulting from her trying to fight for her own identity. Years later, after her successful escape, she is discovered by her previous best friend, Offred, at a sex club. Moira becomes a Jezebel because she settles for what she believes to be her only option apart from being a handmaid. She implies that her fight and determination is gone, and Offred says “‘You don’t mean that.’ She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something – what? – that used to be so central to her?” (Atwood 249). Moira’s final destination at Jezebel’s proves to the reader that even with the most determination a female can have, Gilead still finds a way to limit their fight. The discriminatory society does not have sympathy for women and continues to prove it everyday through the rules and regulations put in place, leaving women with little to no choice regarding their …show more content…
Moira is a direct representation of the idea that no matter how often a woman is suppressed, willpower and a tenacious attitude gives one a chance and a more optimistic future. Moira finds ways to convey the difference in her mindset versus the other handmaids, which is shown through her determination and the other girls’ lack of dedication to seeking independence. Throughout most of the novel, she is a role model for women who have no motivation to fight back against individuals who believe they are better than them. Although she eventually succumbs to the treatment she has so long faced, she is still a perfect example of a headstrong woman who will do quite literally anything it takes to not lose herself. She conveys the idea that one should fight for what they deserve to have until they can not fight for themselves any longer. A theme expressed by Moira to the reader is to never give up. No matter what situation someone is in, giving up should never be the first choice, because one should at least be able to say that they tried and gave it their
In The Handmaid’s Tale, much use is made of imagery; to enable the reader to create a more detailed mental picture of the novel’s action and also to intensify the emotive language used. In particular, Atwood uses many images involving flowers and plants.
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.
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 from The Handmaid's Tale uses different tactics to cope with her situation. She is trapped within a distopian society comprised of a community riddled by despair. Though she is not physically tortured, the overwhelming and ridiculously powerful government mentally enslaves her. Offred lives in a horrific society, which prevents her from being freed. Essentially, the government enslaves her because she is a female and she is fertile. Offred memories about the way life used to be with her husband, Luke, her daughter, and her best friend Moira provides her with temporary relief from her binding situation. Also, Offred befriends the Commander's aide, Nick. Offred longs to be with her husband and she feels that she can find his love by being with Nick. She risks her life several times just to be with Nick. Feeling loved by Nick gives her a window of hope in her otherwise miserable life.
She shows us that there are possibilities for Offred. The reason why Margaret Atwood chooses to continuously show the positive and subdued attitude of Offred, is to show the reader that in Gilead there are ways out and ways of breaking the laws however, there are also ways in which Gilead represses you and its up to the individual in this society to choose whether not to take the risks. The Jezebel sequence on the whole is highly significant to the novel. We many different insights into Gilead in jezebels in contrast to the rest of the novel, which makes it one of the most important sections in the novel of “The Handmaids Tale”.
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.
Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Moira = == == We first meet Moira "breezing into" (P65) Offred's room at college.
The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will collapse.
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.
In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.
While The Handmaid's Tale conveys the oppression of women, it also reveals the significant role women have in society. Atwood gets the point across that just as they can be oppressed by men, women can equally oppress themselves. Through Offred's eyes, comparisons between today's society and the possible consequences of one's attitudes are examined. The Handmaid's Tale slowly uncovers the many facets of women and the vital role they have as members of society.
Thanks to the commander, she also meets Moira, her long time friend from Gilead. This act of resistance from the commander brings Offred a lot and if he were caught, would face serious charges. Both men and women are severely controlled throughout everyday life in "The Handmaid's Tale. " Recreation is minimal, sexual intercourse is purely for creation, and the nuclear family is a thing of the past. Elizabeth Atwood provides a dystopian world full of wrongdoing, manipulation and emotional numbness stemming from a government in Gilead that controls all aspects of life for its people.
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 Handmaid's Tale presents an extreme example of sexism and misogyny by featuring the complete objectification of women in the society of Gilead. Yet by also highlighting the mistreatment of women in the cultures that precede and follow the Gileadean era, Margaret Atwood is suggesting that sexism and misogyny are deeply embedded in any society and that serious and deliberate attention must be given to these forms of discrimination in order to eliminate them.
Indeed, The Handmaid’s Tale is all about the struggle of living and the oppression the Handmaids go through in their daily lives. The Handmaid’s tale demonstrates feminist theory because the novel showcases Oppression, Objectification and Patriarchy towards females which are all evident themes. Margaret Atwood presents this ideology through many situations which include but, not limited to the following; The inability to voice out the opinion, the dominance of men in the household, and the objectification of women where they are seen only as means for