The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale deals with how women are forced to accept roles based on extreme biblical laws distorted by a male dominated society; yet, there are women who willing participate in the reinforcement of these sexist and misogynistic values that subdue women. Gilead's government controls and shapes women's identities through oppression, however, indoctrinates women into believing that the roles stripping them of their independence are designed to protect and support them in fulfilling their biological purpose; fear of the Colonies and the Salvaging has intimidated women into becoming passive in order to survive, and forces them to report anyone failing to comply to the imposed hierarchical society. The new regime claims

Since Gilead has emptied every woman’s bank account and fired every employed female in the workforce, wives are now dependant on the men chosen as their husbands for their well-being. Stripped of independence and power wives are forced to focus on running the home, tending to their husband, and producing children “…you aren't expected to love him. You'll find that out soon enough. Just do your duty in silence. When in doubt, when flat on your back, you can look at the ceiling.” (263). Fertile women are seen as a “national resource” (74) and are given the choice to either accept their role as Handmaids in society or be disposed of: “We are for breeding purposes: we aren't concubines, geisha girls, courtesans…We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (156). Handmaids are made to pray for worthiness to be fruitful so that they may fulfill their biological purpose (215), and indoctrinated to believe the Commanders are not committing adultery or raping them but simply “doing their duty” without any enjoyment (108): “I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing…Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice…” (107). “In the case of Gilead,

The new identities given to the women create a facade designed to separate them from their former selves, by forcing women to become defined by their 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