...Women in society used to have the power to read write vote work and do whatever else they wanted to. But gileadian women,especially Handmaids, have been stripped of all power they once had and are now forced to follow strict rules. The Handmaid constantly looks back at how life used to be and cannot mentally adapt to how life is now. She used to be able to work, drive, vote, talk to whom ever she wished, go to school and Do whatever else she wanted. She was by no means high up in society but she was her own person and was able to make her own decisions and control her own life. Today, it's as if she's just an insignificant member, who was only put on this earth to further Gileadian population and then will be No longer be of use once she can no longer conceive a child. The Handmaids have been stripped of everything they once had down to their names which give them a sense of identity. All store signs were changed to pictures Because women were no longer allowed to read or write. Women could no longer work in the professional world or hold real jobs. They had one of three jobs, to Conceive, take care of children or take care of the home. Handmaids did not even have the power to chose what they wore.Every freedom they once had was now gone. "It's strange to remember how we used to think, as if everything were available to us, as if there were no contingencies, no boundaries; as if we were free to shape and reshape forever the ever – expanding perimeters of our lives. I was like...
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...The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. It is set in the republic of Gilead which has a highly structured hierarchy and a strict set of rules. The story is narrated by a young handmaid named Offred. Atwood says, “that the novel isn't simply a vehicle for private expression, but that it also exists for social examination.” Which is exactly what the novel serves as when it makes us criticise and reflect on the cracks in our society such as the totalitarian regimes that still reign today, gender inequality and the brutality of people higher up in society. In Gilead there is an obvious totalitarian regime and through the narrative of Offred, Atwood gives us a clear idea of her opinion on that. Offred was once a happily married woman with a daughter but she has now been caught up in the new Gilead totalitarian regime which has taken all that away from her and turned her into a handmaid whose only purpose is to bear children for her commander. The society is so strict that Offred has basically been reduced to a childlike state, she can’t pick what she wears, eats or says, she isn’t allowed basic necessities like moisturiser and she can’t even go to the bathroom unsupervised. The Gilead regime has taken away all of her personal freedom. Societies like these make us reflect on those in our own world such as the situation in North Korea. North Korea is run by a totalitarian regime, it is so strict on the people and they are in a similar situation...
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...The Handmaid’s Tale: Power and Corruption Governments impose a certain amount of power and control on their citizens in order for societies to function according to plan. In the Handmaid’s Tale, excessive control and power in the Gilead society strips the residents of their freedom, forbidding them to live ordinary lives. Men abuse their control and power over women in order to satisfy their personal needs and women are persecuted to the point of corruption. The Handmaids suffer the most due to the loss of their personal liberties and identities. Inhabitants live in constant fear for their lives, and are subjected to perpetual surveillance. The Gilead society follows a patriarchal law that women must obey their male counterparts. Since they believe that they are powerful, they think that they can get away with what they want. An example of the male abuse that occurs in the Handmaid’s Tale centres on Offred, who is trapped in Gilead as a Handmaid. She is one of the women valued only for her potential as a surrogate mother. Denied all her individual rights and personal identity, she is known only by the patronymic Of-Fred, derived from the name of her current Commander. Offred struggles with this new name with this statement, “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter...
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...objective is so important that it is the only purpose of a Handmaid. Handmaids have lost all control over their lives, from their bank accounts to their jobs at home and work. All of the control lies in the hand of the Eyes of God. Women that have become Handmaids have no choice whether or not they want children; they are present solely for the purpose of reproduction. If a woman does birth a child, she is only around for a short amount of time before she gets reassigned to a different Commanders household. If a woman does not produce a child, when her menstruation comes “it means failure” (73). Offred,...
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...In the first few chapters of the book, handmaids are not allowed to talk to one another so they used to read each other’s lips to understand what they are saying to each other. Also, the signs that Nick used to send to Offred when she comes back from shopping, as if his hat is askew or off or if he’s polishing the car that means the commander is asking for Offred to come to his office. • Since Offred in the novel cannot communicate with anyone in the house, she sometimes looks at objects such as the egg that she has on her breakfast each morning. As she wakes up one morning and have her breakfast, Offred thinks that God must look like an egg "I think that this is what God must look like an egg” Ch.19.like11 to 12. Another example is when where Offred was sitting alone in her room •...
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...How far is language a tool of oppression in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’? Most dystopian novels contain themes of corruption and oppression, therefore in both ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ language is obviously used as a form of the states control, enabling dystopian leaders to remain in power by manipulating language to restrict free thought. Orwell and Atwood have utilized language as a key tool of oppression throughout their novels. The use of language is mostly repressive, language can also be seen as liberating, and used as an act of rebellion, which the state wishes to eliminate. The novel Nineteen Eighty Four contains a world in which language is being systematically corrupted. The introduction of ‘Newspeak’ (official language of Oceania) is created to remove even the possibility of rebellious thoughts as, “In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words” - the words by which such thoughts might be articulated have been eliminated from the language. Orwell believed that the corruption of language may be used to oppress an entire group of people which is why he created “Newspeak” in his novel. ‘Newspeak’ has been developed to the point of absurdity, the idea that words are taken away and re-adapted means you are not permitted to express yourself as "the Party seeks to narrow the range of thought altogether”. Newspeak makes the citizens more loyal to the state as citizens may be afraid of the...
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...the author uses many similes, symbols and short sentence structures to emphasise the oppression and the totality of the control that the government has over Offred. She uses different objects in the room to symbolise Offred’s situation. While exploring her room, the narrator notices that “on the white ceiling… [there is] a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out.” (9) She also finds that “[the window] only opens partly” (9). The author uses the simile which compares the ceiling to a face without eyes, a result of the chandelier having been violently removed, to mirror how Offred is forced to be “blind” to the world. The government forces handmaids to wear wings around their face to prevent them from seeing and being seen. Offred and other handmaids thus cannot communicate and familiarise themselves with the world. They are powerless because they have no knowledge of the world; they cannot defend themselves against an unknown entity. The narrator uses this simile to imply that she is forced into being oblivious to her surroundings. Similarly, the author uses the window in Offred’s room as a symbol for her contact with the world, because the window is the only opening in her room to the outside environment. By saying that the window opens only partly, the author is suggesting that Offred has very limited contact with the world. Later on the narrator states that “[I would] like to be able to open the window as wide as it could go”...
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...‘The Handmaids Tale is a feminist novel’ In the framework of a dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood creates a society that bereaves women of their identity and individuality by allowing them none other than their gift of bearing children. The novel explores the religious objectification of women that they should use only their physical bodies to procreate, and if this isn’t possible, the women are useless and therefore sent to the ‘colonies’. Margaret Atwood uses strong female characters as a symbol of feminism within the novel. Despite their lack of identity, the women are much more paraded than the men are; with only the ‘Doctor’ and the ‘Commander’ drifting out of the picture. Atwood displays the men as the most mysterious, enigmatic characters that belong in their ‘black painted vans’ with the ‘dark tinted windows’ and ‘dark glasses’. Using adjectives such as ‘dark’ and ‘black’ when describing the male presence aids to the inscrutable effect that they have, where men fade into the background whereas the Handmaids, dressed in red and white, stand out empowering and obvious. Margaret Atwood creates a feminist narrative by focusing the narrative on the women and their appreciable appearance. The character Offred is constantly spinning her thoughts in her mind, with a limited speech allowed. Margaret Atwood could be reflecting the Suffragettes and the fact that women’s ideas should be outspoken and aloud. However, the set up that the Commander talks often but Serena Joy remains...
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...Atwood presents Offred as a air head who goes through the motions. No where close to what we consider our typical literary heroine. Throughout the story she seems to space out and not understand her situation very well. However, if Atwood were to try and portray her as what we consider a typical heroine, the story would lose much of the meaning. Offred would become more of an individual rather than representing all the handmaid's, we wouldn't get to see things happen from a bystander, and lastly we would loose the showing of the deep oppression of women in the society of Gilead. Offred is a representation of all of the handmaids struggle. We as a reader never learn her birth name, only the name she has been given in Gilead. We learn very little about Offred and it leads the readers to feel disconnected from her. She is only a face in the crowd, the face of all handmaids. Even when talking...
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...David Miller Professor Johnson 2/22/13 ENGH 201-009 A Handmaids Tale- page 39-40 In this passage, Atwood explains how Offred is sitting in her room (as per usual) and thinking about her former life. Offred explains that she has forgotten a large portion of time, which she believes to be faulted by the government. It is also explained that the authorities had forced her to either take a pill, or have some sort of injection, which acted as a catalyst for her not remembering certain portions of her life. In her state of reminiscing about all these memories, Offred is reminded when the authorities told her that she was unfit to look after her daughter. As this shocked Offred with a numb feeling of failure, Offred also remembers the authorities showing her a picture of her daughter wearing a white dress, holding the hand of a strange woman. As Offred recounts these memories, she imagines that she is telling her story to someone, telling that “someone” things that cannot be written down because writing is forbidden in this authoritarian society. I believe that Atwood uses this passage because she is trying to have us as readers be made aware that Offred is a prisoner of her own memories. In fact, often in this novel, the reader see’s Offred drift off in her room and drown herself in these states of reminiscing about certain memories as well as dreaming about how life could and should be. Offred longs and yearns to tell a story and explains that someone else is hearing the...
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...Compare and contrast the theme of control in The Handmaids Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four Control is a central theme in both dystopian texts and control is present in both novels. Both societies in the novels are heavily controlled and restricted, but the key difference is in the regime used by the respective governments in each text. In The Handmaids Tale the government’s ideologies are theosophical whereas Nineteen Eighty-Four is based on socialism. These ideologies play a key role in the ways that control is presented in each novel. The governments use different forms of control to maintain their regimes and power and these include: indoctrination through control of hierarchy, language and religion. The governments act as totalitarian regimes which constantly monitor the lives of its citizens to keep them under their control. Orwell took inspiration from the plight of Britain during the time the novel was written; 1948. Britain had just come out of a horrifying war that devastated the world - World War Two - and her economy and overseas relations were in deep water. Britain’s economy was at its lowest in decades and very unstable; her Empire was dissolving in to the common wealth and international relations were quickly turning sour. Similarly to The Handmaids Tale, Nineteen Eighty-Four warns against governments’ overwhelming acquirement of power. Orwell himself was well-versed in the world of politics and strategies deployed by governments to gain control. He was also a traditional...
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...IB LA HL Allee Devault Handmaids Tale Imagery Essay December 8, 2011 Imagery and how it relates to characters inner feelings in Margret Atwood’s Handmaids Tale The use of imagery is a staple in every novel; it gives a much needed visual connection with the themes stated in the novel. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the use of imagery to further solidify the reader’s comprehension of the tense relationship between the characters, Serena Joy and Offred. On page 153, Atwood describes a scene in which, Offred is coming back from the market, and comes upon Serena Joy working in her garden. As we know from previous dialogue in the book, Offred and Serena Joy do not have a very good relationship, (i.e. Serena Joy doesn’t speak to Offred unless she absolutely has to). In this scene, Atwood isolates the image of Serena Joy’s garden, using the type of flowers in the garden and their colors to express how the problematic aspects of the society affect the relationship between Serena Joy and Offred. Atwood states that there are many flowers in Serena Joy’s garden, yet the only flower she mentions by name is the Iris. Irises in many of cultures are viewed as symbols of messages from God, faith, hope, and bravery. In the society of Gilead, religion is the basis of existence. The idea that irises in some cultures are viewed as messages of God, the placement of the flower in Serena Joy’s garden represents how the relationship between...
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...Primo Levi’s If this is a man, is a book about his personal experience at a concentration camp in poland during the second world war. It is very interesting but at the same time horrific because of what he had gone through. Margaret Atwood’s Handmaids Tale is a fictional novel about a woman living in a distopia in the near future. Their world is in that state because of nuclear war. The women who are able to give birth are called handmaids whose soul job is to give birth to children which aren’t theirs. It is also an interesting book but it does have a less realistic feeling to it. One of the main themes in If this is a man is the ‘demolition of a man.’ It is also a theme in The Handmaids Tale, but it is not discussed. During the rule of hitler, the regime would confiscate all of the prisoners possessions, which in my opinion could make them feel almost inhuman. Primo Levis character in this incredible story has a very strong personality. At one point he tells himself and believes that he has no chance of survival and he does not grasp on any chance of hope that comes along, compared to what many others did. He stays strong and is tries not to lose himself without any of his possessions etc. At first he is documenting exactly what happened to him, and gives no apparent emotion to what is happening. His use of the third person when describing events that occur and emotions make his writing more objective. He tells the reader that from what he has seen loss...
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...Atwood’s novel The Handmaids Tale presents the reader with specific ideas to present a dystopia in which the reader can migrate to. Atwood communicates multiple ideas to the reader, which cause recurring thought and a need to prevent our world from becoming one like Gilead. Atwood communicates the objectification of women as well as the power of language use. Atwood also employs the effect a loss of identity has on a person. Finally, Atwood conveys ideas of each gender having a certain role and being required to live up to this goal. These ideas have been successfully communicated through use of common written conventions such...
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...brought up as Gilead is seen to be trying to purify the values of women, for example Offred is only allowed a single bed, the words “nothing takes place in the bed but sleep; or no sleep” highlight the fact that a bed is only for sleeping, to purify her. The reference to nunneries also suggests there is religion involved in Gilead, Offred states that “time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries. As in nunneries too, there are few mirrors” this suggests sexual contact for the Handmaids, or anyone, is forbidden, and the use of the word “once” suggests that Offred is like a nun, or feels like a nun, out of a nunnery and in a house. Also in chapter 2, the role of the Handmaids is introduced; we learn they are needed for something very important, as they are not allowed to attempt to kill themselves as it is said that “they’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to.” Also Offred says “I am not being wasted.” This shows that the Handmaids are not allowed to be wasted as they have a purpose. The Handmaids are supposed to play very traditional female roles and are to have traditional female values. Altogether, chapter 2 presents the future as a feminine dystopia because it is shown that women have almost been taken back in time, to have traditional values and beliefs, and are to follow the role which the higher authority of Gilead makes...
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