Theme Of Women In The Handmaids Tale

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Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale depicts many aspects of humanity at times of crisis as the protagonist, and narrator, of this novel is experiencing and seen through her eyes throughout the novel. The form of government in this novel is totalitarian with Christianity guidelines in which men have higher roles and women are put into submission and into supporting roles with no equal footing as it one was before and where Offred is forced to adjust with these new restrictions. Throughout the centuries, women have been put into submitting rules mainly due to their physical appearances; the dainty hands, smooth skin, and their natural motherly nature are seen as weak and should be an object of protection. It is true that women do not possess the physical strength that the male sex do, as it is seen throughout Atwood’s novel where the male military Commanders wield considerable power over the lesser male roles, women such as Offred are highly valued not for their strength but for their fertility. Although women have made considerable progress in putting themselves in an equal standing in society today, as can be seen with the number of women in government and highly appointed job positions, there is still that underlying prejudice that women are inferior. “Women hold 17 percent of the seats in Congress”, says Jessica Valenti in the popular newspaper The Washington Post, and follows with the argument that “more than 85 percent of counties in the United States have no provider; women work outside the home, but they make about 76 cents to a man's dollar and make up the majority of Americans living in poverty”. The psychological control that is used is one of the key ideologies that made the once sex-independent nation... ... middle of paper ... ...these underlining prejudices that at first seem to benefit the Republic of Gilead were in fact the rotten blocks in which the foundation of the country established itself. Eliminating variables that did not seem to serve or didn’t fit into the world the Republic envisioned made them blind to what could happen in the aftermath the way a person sees a spider and immediately wants to get rid of it and does not think of the advantages of what they bring, what they could do despite the general knowledge of them labeled as pests. The elimination of different ethnicities have also drawn a blow to the rich diversities the Post-Republic of Gilead had; the trading of knowledge gained from personal experience could have further progressed the Republic in ways that could have ended the inequitable treatment of women and different races and was the key downfall of the Republic.

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