Analysis Of ' The Handmaid 's Tale '

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

From very early on in the book, the significance of gender roles is set out in order to allow the reader to comprehend the idea of the castes in this patriarchal society. The transition between the “time before” and what Offred describes as “now”, is essential in order to realize the changes that occurred. After the “Sons of Jacob” start the revolution, people’s rights are put in limbo as the constitution is suspended. Women’s rights become almost non-existent, and the division begins. Since her attempted escape, Offred is brought back into Gilead and do her duty as a fertile woman, and become a handmaid. She is very limited in what she can do, and in order to not be sent away to the

A genuine identity and individuality is not possible in an oppressive environment especially when one’s daily life, actions, and thoughts are dictated by domineering societal expectations. Oppressive environments such as regimes controlled by a dictatorship and that run off a totalitarian government system strip an individual of their civil rights as a human being in order to gain ultimate control over its citizens. A government such as the Republic of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s work, The Handmaid’s Tale, controls their citizen’s lives to the extent to where they must learn to suppress their emotions and feelings. In the Republic of

Offred's Narrative in The Handmaid's Tale "Writing is an act of faith; I believe it's also an act of hope, the

On a two-page spread a paragraph begins ‘I’m running with her, holding her hand, pulling, dragging her through the bracken,’ and the next paragraph begins ‘the bell wakes me; and then Cora, knocking at my door.’ In just two paragraphs Offred is in two mind-sets. The tension in the first paragraph is much greater than the second, especially due to the pace and countless use of verbs: ‘I think about her drowning this slows me down,’ and ‘dry branch snapping’ also ‘there’s breath and the knocking of my heart, like pounding.’ These actions of ‘drowning’ and ‘snapping’ are unheard of in Gilead which makes this an outrageous though, particularly of a handmaid. The instructions of a handmaid are to be impregnated by Commanders for ‘the population levels to increase’ and not much else. Atwood’s intention of putting this paragraph in would be to juxtapose the reality of what could happen on a normal day to a day in Gilead, by using time

The Handmaid's Tale, a film based on Margaret Atwood’s book depicts a dystopia, where pollution and radiation have rendered innumerable women sterile, and the birthrates of North America have plummeted to dangerously low levels. To make matters worse, the nation’s plummeting birth rates are blamed on its women. The United States, now renamed the Republic of Gilead, retains power the use of piousness, purges, and violence. A Puritan theocracy, the Republic of Gilead, with its religious trappings and rigid class, gender, and racial castes is built around the singular desire to control reproduction. Despite this, the republic is inhabited by characters who would not seem out of place in today's society. They plant flowers in the yard, live in suburban houses, drink whiskey in the den and follow a far off a war on the television. The film leaves the conditions of the war and the society vague, but this is not a political tale, like Fahrenheit 451, but rather a feminist one. As such, the film, isolates, exaggerates and dramatizes the systems in which women are the 'handmaidens' of today's society in general and men in particular.

In the novel Atwood writes how Offred the main character transitions from her life before to a Handmaid. Offred wasn’t her real name but the name that was given to her when the Gilead society formed. Prior to the Gilead forming Offred lived with her husband and

Atwood portrays female gender of lacking dominance compared to men, thus conveying how women are used as a political tool for men’s advantage. In the novel, Offred is forced to quit her job allowing only her husband to work for both of them. She expresses

Thoughts and memories are the only reasons Offred reminds herself of her daughter. Offred has a daughter, since she states, ‘“She fades I can’t keep her with me’”(Atwood 64). Offred's flashback remembers she once had a daughter but was not able to be part of her life. The thought of not being able to be part of her daughter's life leaves her in melancholy. Later she thinks her daughter as a ghost who died and could not keep. Offred tells herself “[she is] the ghost of a dead girl”(Atwood 64). Offred’s flashback is that her daughter died, after the birth of Gilead. With these emotional distresses, Offred is in despair and in-denial of the existence of her daughter.

These women have been stripped from their names, beliefs, and anything that reflects them. Throughout the novel, the first person view allows the reader to see how Offred identity is being stripped away. For example, “And if I talk to him I'll say something wrong, give something away. I can feel it coming, a betrayal of myself. I don't want him to know too much.” Offred says this quote and it implies that even the simplest exchanges can reveal portions of her identity. The reader gets to see how scared she is to say something that will give herself away because now being herself is forbidden. Offred recognizes the danger that can come from giving up her identity and first person point of view allows the reader to also recognize that and see how her identity is slipping away because of fear. This feeling of fear that the narrator feels starts to develop the

Offred's memories are a way for her to escape a society riddled with hopelessness. The authoritarian society of Gilead prevents her from

“I feel thankful to her. She has died that I may live. I will mourn later” (Atwood 286). Many sacrifices and hard decisions are made by unorthodox people to keep what they believe in alive. There would be no rebellions and no change without these nonconforming people. Offred, the main character and a Handmaiden, would have faced eminent death in her strictly orthodox world had it not been for the rebelliousness of those who died before her wanting change. The Republic of Gilead, previously known as the United States, is a theocracy. Environmental events and population decline prompt changes. A caste system is created, and each caste performs specific duties. They are punished if the laws are not followed. The Eyes are at the top of the caste system; they make sure the laws are obeyed. Next are the Commanders and their Wives. The Handmaiden’s main task is to produce a child with their Commander. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, some unorthodox characters challenge the theocracy such as Offred, Ofglen, and Nick.

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood explores the role that women play in society and the consequences of a countryís value system. She reveals that values held in the United States are a threat to the livelihood and status of women. As one critic writes, “the author has concluded that present social trends are dangerous to individual welfare” (Prescott 151).

the novel is a role model for Offred and serves as a part of Offred’s conscience. The

Offred's character is required because she gives flashbacks to the time before Gilead, giving the reader an idea of the events leading up to the beginning of the novel. How bad the world before Gilead sounds, the world of Gilead is much worse.