...“I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves” (Wollstonecraft, Poston). This quote, which Mary Wollstonecraft eloquently stated in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, portrays the exact feelings of Offred, the main character in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Taking place in a dystopian future, The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a totalitarian government under which women are harshly subjugated. Instead of accepting her current position as a handmaid. Offred longs to return to her previous life; however, in the Republic of Gilead, gender-based oppression is commonplace and often prevents Offred from achieving both her short and long-term aspirations. Similar to the painting Fair Rosamund by Arthur Hughes, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale examines how sexual oppression leads to the loss of identity, shaming of...
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...Topic 2: Feminism in the 1980s thought that a woman’s culture 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...
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...In Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction, The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood introduces a society where men place domination and governance over women. Women’s bodies, particularly Handmaids’ bodies, are used as political instruments that are under the government’s complete control. The epigram Genesis 30: 1-3 provides biblical justification for the Handmaid system and serves as a prophecy for how women’s worth in Gilead is dependent on their ability to bear children. Corresponding to the novel, the character Offred from the Handmaid’s Tale resembles Bilhah from Genesis, while Offred’s higher authority, Serena Joy, correlates with Rachel from Genesis. In Genesis 30:1-3, Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid plays a similar role to Offred, both of them are both...
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...In mind I kept asking if this was going to be my end or new beginning. The two men entered the van, closing the double doors. I have no way of knowing where we were going or who these people were. They were dressed in all black with dark shades covering their eyes. One had a scar from the eyebrow down to his cheek in a diagonal line. I could feel the van turning onto the freeway by the velocity of the van. I started to have my suspicions if these people are what nick said they were or will they will turn out to be “The Eyes”. I look at one of them across from me; he looked back. We’re taking you to the eyes headquarters; you’re assigned a room number when we get there. He says. Despite the fear I was in, I nodded. Nick lied to me; these people weren’t Mayday, their “The Eyes”. Why would nick do this? This is something I will never know, it’s too late to do anything about it. After what seems to be two hours the van finally comes to a stop. I was expecting the worse to come. The double doors open, they take me by the elbows once again to help me out, it seemed to be around dawn time. There were about five buildings labeled with numbers. They lead me to building number two; there were other handmaids that look like they were captured by the eye. Entering the building I felt anxiety, I questioned myself what was going to happen to me? Does this mean I go straight to the colonies? Am I going to be tortured? Instead they put me in a waiting room for now. Minutes later a woman steps...
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...I recently finished reading a book, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, which was published in 1985. This book is fictional, and it is set in a futuristic time in the United States where women become property of men once again, and have essentially lost all aspects of individual rights. Women are forced to change their names to government regulated, predetermined names, cannot have a career, cannot have their own family, or even speak their opinions. These women are forced to wear a certain color to distinguish between one of the few ‘jobs’ that they are allowed to have. One of these different jobs is to be a handmaid, which is essentially to be the mistress of a commander when his wife cannot conceive a child. These handmaids are expected...
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...The way one behaves varies for several reasons, and where the individual in the situation can be a big factor. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is forcefully placed in the Republic of Gilead where the development of her character changes. Additionally, in Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, Hamlet behaves a certain way to get attention off his scheme of murdering his uncle, Claudius due to his ungrateful decision of killing his father, King Hamlet. In The Handmaid’s tale, Offred’s character forcefully changes due to where she has to live. Offred is taken away from her family, and she now lives in the Republic of Gilead where everything is tidy and in good shape; such as pictures in the magazine, gardens, absence of...
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...Makayla Spencer Ms.Milliner English, Pd8 Freedom is Power In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the word that is repetitively used Is freedom. In Gilead the handmaid's worth is only good for one thing and that is for bearing a children. Throughout the book it has a lot of biblical references using those as a way to have a hold over the handmaids to keep them at a place towards the wives and commanders. We have Offred a once happy wife and mother with an education and job who had to Trade that in order to keep her existence. She has been stripped of her worth just so she can be a baby carrier. The handmaids weren’t allowed to interact with others not even with other handmaids. By not speaking to one another you're taking away, a way to express one’s self. By being able to speak you can show your worth besides opening your legs. By taking away their freedom of speech they can’t do anything but to take orders from others. “But what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter” (Atwood pg84). She uses speech as a way to remember who she once was. By being stripped from someone you once were she uses speech to remember who she wants to become again, how she wants to be treated....
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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...
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...Written texts often have the ability to remove a reader to a different world and escape their own reality. Margaret 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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...The Handmaid’s Tale begins by showing how the women in this society are restricted from doing what they please. Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, provides fictional insight on how women will eventually be deprived of their right to choose. Atwood includes Offred’s memories of Moria, an anti-feminist, friend from college, and Aunt Lydia, Offred’s life teacher, to convey how women's actions negatively affected their rights to choose their own style of living. In Offred’s eyes, her life was normal. Simply going through college like any other person would. The problem is, not everyone feels the same way. In the text Atwood stated: “You know, like Tupperware, only with underwear. Tart’s stuff. Lace crotches, snap garters. Bras the push your tit’s up. She finds my lighter, lights the cigarette she’s extracted from my purse. Want one? Tosses the package, with great generosity, considering they’re mine.” (Atwood 56) It is easy to do things without any thought, but that would make you ignorant, and ignorance does not bode well in the Republic of Gilead. In the Republic’s eyes, the women take action without valuing consequence. Defying the laws set in place that keep the world “sane”; therefore, by fear of the women harming society, the Republic striped them of their right to choose....
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...The Handmaid’s Tale Societies throughout history have impacted the lives of its inhabitants. In “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood the main character, Offred, is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead which is the new society that took over the United States. Offred experiences some truly horrific things. This society shaped the lives of the citizens into something far from our modern day human experience by societies using the idea of normality. In the Republic of Gilead people use diction to make things that are unusual seem normal. One example of this is calling women “Handmaids”, “Marthas” or “Wives”. These terms devised by the Republic are used to make the profession of women become their identity. They also do this by giving...
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...Set in the near future, Gilead is a failed attempt at creating a utopia. After the present day United States of America fell, Gilead arose from the ashes. Centered around the idea of repopulating the human population that was decimated by pollution and nuclear waste, the society seemed like a beacon of hope in a desolate world. People accepted the new society without much resistance only to later realize that they had been duped. The founders of Gilead took conservative ideas and implemented them to the extreme. Women’s rights are taken away. Reading is forbidden. Handmaids are introduced to bear children. The government takes over and a dystopia is born. They control almost every aspect of the people’s lives, down to the food that they consume. Though the totalitarian government of Gilead tries to break spirit of the women to control them and keep the people ignorant, it does not succeed in preventing the people from rebelling in their own small ways. The women are the key to the survival of Gilead. In order to ensure their survival, the founders of Gilead drew up a philosophy that they drilled into the women’s heads. They first broke down the women’s spirit by essentially re-educating them about what would now be accepted in society and would not be tolerated. "Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary" (Atwood 33). The Aunts drill this propaganda into the Handmaids’ heads to...
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...In The Handmaid’s Tale, the society required that the handmaids wear red clothes at all times and cover their face when going outside. The handmaids were fully clothed and covered almost every part of their body to ensure that they do not draw attention. Rather than allowing the handmaids to choose the clothes they wanted to wear, society forced them to follow certain clothing standards. The handmaids were even obligated to cover their faces. These rules were enforced in society to make sure that the handmaids were not drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. In addition, it prevented men from being attracted or tempted by the handmaids. These dress codes women had to follow were enforced for the sake of the men. The clothing requirements...
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...Chapters 1-12 First in chapter 1 of the Handmaid’s Tale, the narrator describes how the women sleep in the gymnasium, and how they are currently living. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth are mentioned, and the narrator states that they cannot speak. The women take two walks daily around the former football field and are guarded by both fence and the Angels. She says the guards possess guns and she wished she could talk to them. Now, in chapter 2, the narrator claims that she has a room, which is small and has little things in there. She describes her attire and says she wears red, and is a handmaid. Then she describes the Marthas, who wear a dull green color. We then learn that the narrator’s name is Offred. Offred gets dressed to go shopping...
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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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