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The handmaid's tale analysis and the bible
The handmaid's tale analysis and the bible
Religion allusions in the handmaids tale
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The Handmaid's Tale: A Biblical Allusion
Imagine a country where choice is not a choice. One is labeled by their age and economical status. The deep red cloaks, the blue embroidered dresses, and the pinstriped attire are all uniforms to define a person's standing in society. To be judged, not by beauty or personality or talents, but by the ability to procreate instead. To not believe in the Puritan religion is certain death. To read or write is to die. This definition is found to be true in the book, The Handmaid's Tale (1986) by Margaret Atwood. It is a heartbreaking story of one young woman and her transformation into the Gilead society, the society described above. In the book, we meet Offred, the narrator of the story. This story is not the first to create a society in which the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. It is seen several times in the Old Testament, the Bible. The Biblical society is not as rigid as the Republic of Gilead, which Margaret Atwood has built, but it is very similar. The Handmaid's Tale holds several biblical allusions.
The first biblical allusion is that of the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is mentioned several times in the Bible as a place of fertile lands. The Bible states, "To the east [the Israelites] occupied the land. . . , because their livestock had increased in Gilead" (Numbers 32:1, NIV) and "The [tribes], who led very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock" (1 Chronicles 5:9, NIV). The Biblical land of Gilead was a land of prospering livestock. Families and tribes came to Gilead because of the land's lush, green and fertile soil. The Republic of Gilead was also...
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...n individual, but each person is noticed only by the clothing that they wear. Imagine a country where the husband is the head of the family, and no other members of the household hold any rights at all. Imagine a country where reading and writing are crimes punishable by death. One can imagine, but no one can comprehend the pain and suffering and emotional death that one must acquire to live in a society such as the Republic of Gilead. This story of the future may very well be a story of the past; a story based upon principles found in the Bible, but taken so literally and enforced so strictly that the country becomes a theocracy to hate.
Bibliography
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.
The NIV Study Bible. Barker, Kenneth: General Editor. Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Zondervan Corporation, 1995
laws is to keep the bad things out from the old society out such as
The women are divided into functions and are identified by the colour of their dress. In chapter 5, Offred is walking down the streets of Gilead, reminiscing about the days she used to walk down the street wearing what she wanted to wear before she got taken away, and also thought about simple things such as how she was able to freely walk to the laundromat to wash her own clothes with her own soap. She informs the reader of her analysis of the different types of women in the Republic of Gilead: “There are other women with baskets, some in red, some in the dull green of the Martha's, some in the striped dresses, red and blue and green and cheap and skimp, that mark the women of the poorer men. Econowives, they're called. These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can.” (Atwood, 5.5) The Handmaid’s— the bearer of children— wear red, the Martha’s, who are the housekeepers wear green, and the wives wear blue. Econ Wives are the only women who aren’t defined by the colour of their dress because they must do every function. Atwood is showing that the individuality and identities of these women have been completely taken away and are labelled by the clothing they are forced to
To live in a country such as the United States of America is considered a privilege. The liberties that American citizens are entitled to, as declared in the Constitution, makes the United States an attractive and envied democracy. It would be improbable to imagine these liberties being stripped from American society. However, Margaret Atwood depicts the United States as a dystopian society in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The first society is modern America, with its autonomy and liberal customs. The second, Gilead, a far cry from modern America, is a totalitarian Christian theocracy which absorbs America in the late 1980s in order to salvage it from widespread pollution and a dwindling birthrate. The principal flaw in Atwood’s Gileadian society is the justification of human rights violations. This justification only limits the liberties citizens experience, and taunts their once freeing rights, such as the prerogative to explore sexuality. Gilead’s only freedom, is freedom from all other liberties, or as Aunt Lydia would describe, freedom from the anarchy that unveiled in the first society.
Throughout the Handmaid’s Tale, we come across a plethora of biblical references; also many aspects of the stories’ plot are based on biblical passages. The story is based in the republic of Gilead, a futuristic and dystopian America. This futuristic government isn’t based on loving peaceful messages from scripture; rather, it takes snippets from the violent passages and adopts them to suit their choke-hold of society. We first take notice of this oppressive government in the first few pages of the book when we read “Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle-prods slung on thongs from electric belts.” ( 4) These “Aunts” are older women, who wear habits, whose man function is to brain wash and rule over the “handmaids”. Often referencing from the Old Testament, they encourage a very bleak outlook at life outside of government rule. To meet this end, they often times force the handmaids to view pornos and gratuitous violent acts. The main character in the story is a handmaid named Offred (of Fred), who’s purpose in life, imposed on by the government, is to bear children.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the protagonist, Offred is a Handmaid, one whose sole role is to provide a child, in a misogynistic totalitarian regime. Although Gilead society seems unrealistic, a similar orthodoxy has been imposed in Syria. The ISIS brides’ situation directly mirrors the societal roles, restrictions, and methods of coercion of the Handmaids, illustrating that Gileadean society can be achieved in the modern world.
...heir gender roles, uniform, and new names instead of their individuality. Handmaids are forced to have children fathered by men they despise and unable to keep the babies they give birth to, while wives and Aunts serve Gilead with gender assigned roles until they are no longer beneficial to the new regime. The unforgiving punishment offenders fear to receive if caught defying the discourse of Gilead guards against women discovering an alternate lifestyle, which would hinder the survival of the new regime. There is a powerful resentment between women within the positions of the social hierarchy that prevents a united retaliation against Gilead, combined with their passivity and indifference the women fail to oppose the manner in which they are tyrannized.
Many texts that were published from different authors have introduced topics that can be related in today’s society, but Margaret Atwood’s creation called, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, gives voice to the thoughts and revolves around the narrator Offred, a woman whose rights have been deprived due to political issues. However, the information shared by Offred to the reader to the text is not reliable for the reason that she only touches upon her own perspective. Through the text, Atwood depicted what the United States of America would be in the future based on the actions of humanity during 1980’s. The text is set up in an androcentric and totalitarian country called Gilead, where the government attempts to create a utopian society. Thus, in order to attain this society, the authorities generated their legislation from the teachings of the Holy Bible in an attempt to control humanity. The governing
Benjamin Franklin contributed to the Pennsylvania Gazette, which became the most successful newspaper in the colonies. In 1732, Benjamin published Poor Richard’s Almanack, which gained him huge success. He arranged the United States’ first public library and fire department. Benjamin was elected for many honors such as Grand Master of the Pennsylvania Masons, postmaster of Philadelphia, and clerk of state assembly.
The society established by the Republic of Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale” is founded on and sustained by false doctrine. They intentionally twist and skew the Bible in order to justify their actions and brainwash the women who are involuntarily participating in their indoctrinated society. The Gilead does not treat the Bible as the divine word of God. Instead, they exploit its authority and use it as a tool for their own benefit. The very framework of the Gilead’s social hierarchy is in sharp contradiction to everything the Bible teaches, but because they are so corrupt and only use the Bible for their own advantage, they seem not to care. Instead of abiding by the teachings in the Bible and letting them shape how things are done, they hand-select and contort certain parts of it to match the framework of their own aspirations and beliefs, which are by no means Christian. Every piece of scripture that the Republic customizes is specifically suited to help them achieve their ultimate goal: indoctrinating an entire society for the purposes of personal power and authority. The end product is the unethical, dysfunctional society that is depicted in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The Republic of Gilead is by no means a true religious group, but they do use religion and skewed religious text as a reference for the foundation, justification, manipulation, and enforcement of their new society.
Barker, Kenneth L.. Zondervan NIV study Bible: New International Version. 2008 update. ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008. Print.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of America. Benjamin Franklin was an extraordinary man. He had many different professions such as; statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, and diplomat. Franklin was born into a wealthy family and while growing he was inspired by his father, Josiah Franklin. He had a formal education, but that ended at the age of 10. From there on he learned on his own. His was a great reader and soon to be a skilled writer. With all his writing and reading knowledge he became a successful author and publisher.
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