A Tale of Oppression and Reaction: Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood

One of the many prevailing themes in literature is that power is gained and can be manipulated when restraints are placed on natural desires of the individual. This passage is significant because it is an example of this theme, for it shows how power and manipulation have completely changed and restricted the people, especially women, of Gilead. Due to this, the passage reveals the shared anger that the Handmaids possess, and the cruelty that has been brought upon the society. The use of similes, diction, syntax, and illustrate the impact that this event had on Offred, for she feels such anger towards the unknown man and the crime he has supposedly committed. These literary and rhetorical devices additionally serve to make this event seem as

In the Handmaid’s Tale, it becomes clear of what at the time is occurring in the beginning of the chapter. Offred is explaining how she is stuck in this new kind of caste system where she has to follow certain rules. She describes herself as someone that is trying to look for a future. She intends by describing how she must not talk or look directly at people. These particular rules make her feel like every day is the same in which she must continue to bare what occurs in the caste system. As she continues on by telling her story she describes how the caste system works and the people that are affected by it. Along her way in surviving the system where men are superior to women, she becomes friends with a girl that oppose the new caste

Gilead instills fear in the handmaids by publicly displaying the repercussions of those who rebel against the rules set in place by the government. Offred the main character is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. Handmaids are subject to routine schedules, because of this most are unhappy such as Offred who says, “we thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?” (56). The handmaids are not treated as individuals. Rather, they are seen as potential mothers who hate and avoid looking down at their own body’s “not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because…[they] don’t want to look at something that determines [them] so completely” (71). Offred’s life revolves around shopping trips with Ofglen,

The Handmaid’s Tale is set in a dehumanized society called the Republic of Gilead. The women are forbidden to have independence while the men are segregated by their particular skills. Offred is a Handmaid for the Commander and his wife. Once a month, Offred, like the other Handmaids, has to have sexual intercourse with her Commander in order to reproduce to help the declining population. As the novel, the Commander and Offred begin to meet secretly in his office, where they talk and he allows her to read magazines, which are forbidden. At the end of the book, through the secret police known as The Eyes of God, take Offred away.

Not only does Gilead control day-to-day time, but also attempts to erase traces of historical time. The creators of Gilead seek to abolish as many traces of the past as possible. Gilead does well in its attempt to erase history, for when Offred goes out on shopping expeditions she is haunted by vague memories of vanished buildings. Offred constantly remembers what used to be, an ice cream store, or a movie theater, but things from Offred’s old life change and disappear so quickly, that she can’t remember “the way they used to be” (164). Gilead has changed so much that they’ve even manipulated a once concrete system of exchange to fade away. Money that was once used in these stores has become a relic of the past. Money is now an artifact that is saved, Offred’s mother “kept some saved, pasted into her scrapbook along with the early photos” (173). People hold on to these keepsakes and hold on to their past as a way to resist Gilead and live in memories. Yet another instance of the totalitarian manipulation, by making paper money obsolete the Gileadean forces are destroying women’s savings and making escape even more impossible. This totalitarian

The Handmaid’s Tale is about Offered as she shares her thoughts and experiences in a journal-like form and provides some advice. Offred is a lower class female who has been taken from her husband and daughter at 5 years old to be a handmaid for the red commander at the red center. The point of this center is to reproduce with the Commander

No doubt, the issue of equal rights for women (or lack thereof) has been a pervasive problem in our own society, a fact which now tends to be overlooked by virtue of the current improved status of women both socially and economically. Similar to our society, the Handmaid’s Tale portrays women’s rights as an ongoing serious problem that even predates the inception of Gilead. The struggle for equality can be observed by the actions of a few women before Gilead, including Offred’s Mother, who was a stout feminist activist, and Moira, who was often enraged by the inequality of the sexes. Notwithstanding the actions of a few women, however, and while the majority of women in the Handmaid’s Tale, like Offred, acknowledged that the status of women was still inferior, the majority remained fiercely content and violently apathetic, in large measure because of the relative improved condition of some like the Handmaid Offred. Offered is perhaps the most striking. Not only was Offred provided ample opportunity to support feminism and equality, but was also surrounded by feminists such as her mother and Moira, and despite all (or perhaps because of) she remained apathetic. To be sure, some actions perpetrated by Moira and Offred’s mother could be considered misguided at best and counterproductive at worst. For example, Moira’s unreasonable stance on men are illustrative: “If Moira thought she could create Utopia by shutting herself up in a women-only enclave

In the novel Offred shared a series of flashbacks leading up to the revolution,in one of many, Offred recalled how the government fell apart. Suddenly and unexpectedly rights were stripped away, jobs were taken from woman and laws to keep them from owning property were enforced, all in under 24 hours.Leaving her worried and dependent, Offred returned home and waited for her husband, Luke, to return only to realize his emotions were at odds with his, “He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn't mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it.We are not each other’s, anymore. Instead, I am his” (182). The author uses this passage to reveal to the reader that in this society men were favored and put over woman, the relationship between the narrator and Luke also added to the negative representation of the men. Her husband, Luke was seen as lacking sympathy and unaffected with the social change going on, leading up to man gaining all power over woman. The Republic of Gilead was built around biblical beliefs that woman should remain under rule of the man in household this can be seen in the passage

Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred recalls her past life before and during the creation of the Republic of

One of the characters is Janine. Janine also serves the role of a Handmaid. Offred met Janine when they were at the Red Center. The Red Center is where they train the Handmaids for their duty. Offred observes Janine with her large belly when she is doing her ordinary shopping. Later on in the novel, we discover that “That is how Ofwarren did it” (Atwood 205). Janine got pregnant from a doctor not her Commander. Many women try to conceive this way because their Commander cannot have kids anymore due to their age, it is forbidden to say something like this. Only The Handmaids are unable to conceive. Nick is another character. He has the role of a Guardian, he serves the Commander of Offred. Nick later on in the novel becomes Offred’s lover. After Serena Joy offers Offred to get pregnant by Nick, she arranges things so they can be alone. In their time together, Nick informs Offred that there should be “No romance”(Atwood 262). Nick agrees to what Serena Joy request of him because he has both the Commander’s and Serena Joy’s trust, and he does not want them to think he is not on their

The main character, Offred, is a woman who lives in the Republic of Gilead. The Republic of Gilead overthrew the original United States government and quickly began to take away women’s rights. As a result, Offred was forced to become a Handmaid, a fertile woman whose job is to bear children for a Commander who has an infertile Wife. The story follows Offred through her ordeals as a Handmaid with virtually no rights. She hopes that she will become pregnant so that she will not be sent away with the sterile Unwoman, who are exiled to the Colonies to clean up deadly pollution. Offred misses what the country used to be and struggles to survive in the dystopia that has erupted.

The Handmaid’s Tale is an account of a patriarchal dystopia called the Republic of Gilead in which women have lost all of their previously underestimated rights, narrated by Offred, a woman kept only for breeding purposes. Offred serves as a Handmaid to the Commander and Serena Joy because of the dropping fertility rates. In this strict new world, women’s freedom is severely restricted, especially by the secret police, the Eyes. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses Biblical allusions, a dark tone, vivid imagery of the surroundings, setting, and style to portray how Gilead uses language to subjugate its peoples, particularly women, enabling the government to keep the citizens oppressed and limiting the freedom of the characters.

Offred’s technique of revealing the patriarchal male discourse is by describing Gilead using the language and “truth” of the new regime. The issue at hand here is whether this “truth” is portrayed from a solely critical standpoint. I would argue that Offred is aware of a different “truth” but presents it in a way that creates a hesitancy of whether she has been “affected” by the Gilead “truth”. In other words, it is unclear whether Gilead 's discourse has led her to view its values as somewhat acceptable. An example of this is when she is at the doctor’s to test her fertility since her function as a Handmaid is merely to conceive a child. The doctor offers to impregnate her himself as her commander might be sterile.This is forbidden but the risk of getting caught is minimal. Despite this she hesitates: [‘I could help you’, he says. Whispers. ‘What?’ I say...’ I could help you. I’ve helped others’ ... ’the door is locked. No one will come in. They’ll never know it isn’t his.’ … ‘Most of the old guys can’t make it any more… or they’re sterile.’ I almost gasp: he said a forbidden word. Sterile. ‘It’s too dangerous,’ I say. ‘No I can’t.’ The penalty is death. I put on my clothes again behind the screen. My hands are shaking. Why am I frightened? I’ve crossed no boundaries, I’ve given no trust, taken no risk, all is safe. It’s the choice that terrifies me. A way out, a salvation. (70-71)] It is not likely that fear alone would affect Offred since if she does not get pregnant in

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by author Margaret Atwood. The novel focuses on the journey of Offred, a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state that has overthrown the United States government. Offred is of a class of women kept for reproductive purposes, known as handmaids, in an era of declining births due to sterility from pollution and diseases. Handmaids are assigned to bear children for elite couples that have trouble conceiving and Offred serves the Commander and his wife. Offred is not the narrator’s real name, but instead all handmaid’s names consist of the word “of” followed by the name of their Commander. Every month, when the handmaid is at the peak in their menstrual cycle, they must engage in a “marriage” ceremony where they have impersonal sex with the Commander while the elite wife watches. Offred’s freedom, like the freedom of all women in this novel, is completely controlled. The only time handmaids can leave the house is if they are shopping and in pairs, doors to their rooms cannot be completely shut, and the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police, surveillance everything. Throughout the novel, Offred describes Gilead's society, including the several different classes of women and how their lives have changed with this new theonomy. Atwood uses language to explore themes of power and identity, allowing readers to identify the ways in which language influences people. In order to effectively rule over class and gender the

Offred’s thoughts dominate the narration of The Handmaid’s Tale. Her dark humor illustrated here, after being raped by The Commander, “Buttered, I lie on my bed, flat, like a piece of toast” (Atwood 97). After being held down and forced into a ‘ceremony’ she is left alone with her own thoughts. Atwood does this throughout the course of the novel. Offred is often depicted with thoughts like these which show the hatred or complacent angry distaste with her current situation. Seen here is a mix of both, “Her voice is pious, condescending, the voice of those whose duty it is to tell us unpleasant things for our own good. I would like to strangle her. I shove this thought away almost as soon as I think it” (114). Atwood continues to reassert this common theme of Offred's thoughts demonstrating the actions she wishes to take but won’t because of her first failed escape with her husband Luke prior to being taken to the center. Also her willingness to fight to stay alive makes her neither a hero nor a villain. She is an observer and victim. She desires to find sanity with her relationship to the commander seen