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Inequality In The Handmaid's Tale

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In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, sex and politics are interconnected and anguished to express the idea of a society she once took for granted transitioning into a dystopia. It is a logical fallacy to speak for the reader in which it must be known the position in which a handmaid stands during this time. A handmaid, given the name Offred, is a female servant used for the privilege of the Commander, which supplies children to the Republic of Gilead. Privilege is used to show the empowerment the Commander has as it’s his choice for the sexual interactions they encounter. Offred loses her identity once assigned to the family in need of the assistance. Deviated rules must be obeyed that restrict her to spending free time in the designated …show more content…
There are rules that come with a home, but there are also personal freedoms and space. A warm and welcoming invitation is the typical greeting when somebody steps through the front door. For the handmaids, Offred, in particular, it is not to her own insight that the Commander’s home can become her own. However, she does have a role in this household that doesn’t make it completely unfamiliar to her. Each handmaid that stays with this superior figure must obey the objective to help bear children in order for the wife to have a child. The only and allowed relationships under this household are between the Commander and his wife. Even though each individual under his power realize they have to abide him in these interactions, they do not enjoy or completely accept it. It makes them realize that there isn’t more to the house rather than being there for sexual …show more content…
However, he doesn’t abide the rules himself and has her secretly meet with him behind his wife’s back. This is similar to Donoghue’s novel previously mentioned in regards to the mother, who is called Ma. Both Offred and Ma are trapped in a place where their bodies are their own power as it’s their role to help satisfy the needs of a man in charge of them. It has been seven years since Ma has found her way to an interaction with someone other than her son, Jack, and “Old Nick” whom keeps them both locked up in a room. Jack has to wait to see if he can sleep with his own mother in their “home” because of the interactions Ma is forced to engage in for their own safety. In the novel, Jack goes on a rant that starts off with, “Nothing makes Ma scared. Except Old Nick maybe” (12). Jack’s mother is afraid of what is to come if she continues living in Old Nick’s household. Just like Ma, Offred has a superior figure that overlooks that leads to the conclusion of her wanting to go back to the life she used to live before the Gilead. In The Handmaid’s Tale, if Offred meets with the Commander and the wife finds out, then she can be sent to the colonies as an ‘Unwoman’. On the other hand, if Offred chooses to not meet with him then there can be even worse punishments put against her. If Ma refuses to interact with Old Nick, then she risks her own life along with Jack. How both Ma and Offred

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