Parallels and Contrast Between 20th Century Feminism and the Oppression of Women in Gilead
Introduction
Good morning, class. The question I will be analysing today is " How does Atwood create parallels and contrasts between 20th century feminism and the oppression of women in Gilead? " I will first look at some background information on the dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, then I will look at the different kinds of freedom presented in 20th century feminism and Gilead, and I will also explore the two different types of 20th century feminism - radical and contemporary feminism. I will also look at the idea of hierarchy between the women in Gilead, and then come to a conclusion to answer the question posed in the beginning. I believe that the women of Gilead are completely controlled by the men, where as in the 20th Century women had more control.
Background Information
Firstly, I am going to talk about the background information on handmaid's tale.
- The novel is set in the Future.
- The USA has been overthrown, and replaced by the Republic of Gilead
- Gilead, a patriarchal society, they return back to traditional values, where the men dominate women, men makes all the decisions, and women are inferior compared to men.
- Gilead is a dystopian society, a world which has embraced all the negative elements.
- It is also a theocracy society where the church controls the government. You can see that as Gilead is a place named in the Bible.
- There are different classes of women; some are more high class than others for e.g. the wife of the commander has the highest status out of all women.
- In this book, Offred the main character acts as the narrator of the story, she is one of the handmaids, who are like reproduction machines. Handmaids are needed as the fertility rate is low.
Palimpsest
- A Palimpsest is like a board which can be written and erased over and over again.
- This signifies that there are multiple layers of history.
- Atwood compares the gym to the palimpsest, symbolizing the change in society from USA (a pre-Gilead Society) to the republic of Gilead, suggesting that USA has been erased and replaced.
- The environment that offred is in now, has been superimposed on a previous society, and this traces the old past history beneath the new present society.
- Therefore you can see the significance of a Palimpsest it creates the differences between the 20th century and Gilead, as it symbolizes the change.
In the novel offred and others in that time was going through hardships, struggles and challenges.
"“We slept in what had once been the gymnasium” (Pg 3) --> oppression of group of individuals
... the past, Offred continues to hope that her husband, Luke, is still alive. She reveals this as she observes the bodies hanging at the wall and comments that she feels relief because, "Luke wasn't a doctor. Isn't" (44). Not only does she defy the system be refusing to accept this society as the end of all things, but she also persists in hoping that she will someday awaken from this nightmare and things will be the way they used to be.
The oxford dictionary refers to the word “utopia” as being a place of “paradise, heaven on earth” as well as perfection. It can be labeled as a place that is the most desirable in any nation on earth and can sum up what we as humans search for. “A Handmaid’s Tale” depicts a twisted, yet not to far off, version of our country not to long ago when we lived in the opposite of this so-called paradise. No word can describe this story better than the opposite of utopia, a “dystopian” society. The entire U.S. government fell into a dystopian-type ruling when the very laws created by the government served to treat women as no more than maids and harlots. In this chaotic story, Margaret Atwood depicts a society where men and women fall into the rules of the old testament based on older beliefs describing women as lesser individuals compared to men. Atwood shows the similarities between the Republic of Gilead and the way we used to see the roles of women as well as some aspects of society today. Her overall reason for creating this story is to show her readers around the world the scary truth and effects of the belittlement of women and disregarding them as more than just wives and housemaids.
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. 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 change.
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 the gilead society, women are placed in a social hierarchy in which they are defined by their role. The wives are the elite members. The handmaids are the people who produced babies. Marthas are the house servants. Aunts are a prestigious group of people who trained handmaids. Econowives are low class women. However, none of the women are defined as people with their own personalities and interests. Instead, Women are seen as objects that belong to men. Econowives belong to the Guardians. The wives, marthas,
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
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.
...es these experiences to remind herself that she is no longer alone. Offred does not have a living friend or companion beside her, but instead the companion is inside her. It is herself who is guiding her in the life she is now living. In the end it is clear to Offred that she is still the same woman as she once was, the changes with the new government did not change her the same way it changed other individuals. A discovery was made, she was no longer Offred the Handmaid; she was June.
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.
Margaret Atwood sheds light on two concepts that are intertwined; fertility and motherhood. Nevertheless in Gilead these notions are often viewed as separate. The Republic State of Gilead views women as child-bearers and nothing more. In Gilead, these women are known as handmaids, who’s function in society is to produce children for barren females of a high status. Gilead also prohibits the handmaids from being mothers to their previously born children, meaning before Gilead was created, for instance, Offred, who is separated from her daughter. Thus it is evident that Margaret Atwood generates a state that views birth only as growth in population rather than the beginning of a relationship between mother and child.
Offred can not escape the fact that, in spite of the treatment from Serena Joy and the commander, that they both will have, if not already, an impact on her life. Not to mention Nick also. Nick gave her the comfort and the security that she wanted, and in the end nothing done to her by the commander or his wife mattered to her. Living in the Republic of Gilead will always be a memory that she will probably try to forget. & nbsp;
... describes normalities to us as luxuries. Having her own money is merely a dream and here we can see how much the society has been changed and how large groups of people in Gilead (including all women) are denied the right to earn and keep their own money.
In this manner, Atwood’s characterization of Offred through her individuality and defiant nature, ultimately allow her to present just how societal expectations go hand in hand with gender roles as Offred challenges them just to retain the most basic parts of her identity as a female.