...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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...The handmaid’s tale rough draft paragraph • Margret Atwood in the novel the Handmaid’s tale uses language to make the reader follow and understand the multiple themes that are portrayed in the story such as oppression, representation of power and identity. • To start off with, The Prayer Reading machine in the novel that is present in the society of Gield, symbolizes education and knowledge in which speeches and form of communication are restricted. These things are restricted because of The Republic of Gield’s rules, where woman do not have the rights that they’re supposed to have such as having a basic knowledge, so therefore instead of all handmaid’s send letters which is impossible as literacy and reading are forbidden, characters in the...
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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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...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 novel A Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood uses different descriptions of Offred’s room to illustrate the government’s control over her and her role in the society. She uses the room to allude to her situation almost because she is unable to explicitly state her discontent with her current conditions. Firstly, 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...
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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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...A heroine, a woman who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities, this is according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Offred is presented as our protagonist in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. 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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...and society would be one marked by pure sisterhood and equality. Discuss The Handmaid’s Tale as an exploration of the ideas of feminism, the treatment of women, and the control of women’s bodies. Feminism in The Handmaid’s Tale. Women have been treated very poorly through the years and in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale women have no control of their bodies, the treatment they get from other is terrible and there is no freedom. Offred the main character is presented in the novel has a handmaid who’s only propose in life is to have a baby with the commander. She lives in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state that has replaced the United States of America. She like other women have no freedom and are only allowed to go for shopping trip, but still someone is always watching. Therefore in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the women have limited rights, limited freedom and limited control of their bodies. The women in Gilead have no rights and have to listen to the rules or the consequences result in death, getting send to the colonies or become a prostitute at Jezebel’s. They don’t really have a choice they can be handmaids to the commander and his wife or become a prostitute at Jezebel’s, but it’s not really a choice thy only have two options. The women in Gilead have to do play their roles in the society and not complain about it. The roles include: Handmaids, Marthas, Econowives and the wives of the commander. Even in these society women don’t stick...
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...and insidious means of the ‘totalitarian’ control of reality” , this is supported in ‘1984’ with ‘newspeak’ and ‘The Handmaids tale’ having religious influence on the way that people converse to one another. Examples of newspeak in ‘1984’ come from when Winston is rewriting documents within the Ministry of truth, or as it is shortened by newspeak to ‘Minitrue’. Orwell has used compound words such as ‘plusgood’ and ‘unlight’ to ‘make all other modes of thought impossible’ . This therefore shows how the language reduction is simplified and how Ingsoc has done this to restrict how people ‘express’ their emotions or thoughts. Other forms of language control that is apparent in ‘1984’ is that words have been created and removed in the development of Newspeak. Any Standard English word, or oldspeak in 1984, could be made negative. ‘Cold’, for example, has had the affixes of un- and plus- to give greater emphasis. So uncold means ‘warm’ and pluscold means ‘very cold’. These words, and others such as crimethink are manufactured by the corrupt regime to instrument control in ‘1984’. In ‘The Handmaids tale’ the Gileadean regime implements a religious based language which is only known to the audience when the Offred first meets Ofglen ‘Praise be’ and ‘Which I receive with joy’. This language is ceremonial and has religious undertones, and this confines the way the handmaids expose themselves as before the rule came into system women and others could speak however they wanted too. Maryam...
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...extent does The Handmaid’s Tale present the future as a feminine dystopia? A feminine dystopia imagines a world gone terribly wrong, exploring the most extreme possible consequences of current society’s problems. In a feminine dystopia, the inequality of society or oppression of women is exaggerated or intensified to highlight the need for change in contemporary society. The Handmaid’s Tale presents the future as this in many ways. Chapter 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale presents the future as a feminine dystopia. Religion is 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...
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