Contradictions In The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will

In Gilead, women are treated like objects and all of their rights are taken away from them. They cannot vote, hold property or jobs, read, or do anything else that might cause them to become rebellious or independent, and undermine the men, or the state. Even the shops where the handmaids go to buy food do not have names on for them to read, just pictures. The only thing important about a woman now is her ovaries and her womb, as they are reduced to just their fertility.

In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale she explores the concept of a not-so-distant future where toxic chemicals and abuses to the body have left many men and women alike sterile. The main character, Offred, gives the reader a first person account about her submissive life as a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. A republic that was formed after a coup against the U.S. government. She and her fellow handmaids are fertile women that the commanders of Gilead ‘enslave’ to ensure their power and to repopulate their ‘society’. While the laws that govern the people of Gilead seem outlandish and oppressive, they are merely

In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.

In Gilead the social relationship that once existed between men and women is a thing of the past. In the former society women had value and felt good about themselves and how they looked. However, in the new society the men have stripped the women of their freedom and equality and lowered them to varying degrees of status. The young healthy women are labeled handmaids and are "issued" (24) by the government to various high-ranking officials in order to offer them the opportunity to create offspring. Getting pregnant is their only hope of survival. Females who are not of childbearing age are called Marthas because their purpose is to work and serve the men. A third category of women is labeled Unwomen because of their worthlessness in this male dominated society. All three categories are divided into colonies to prevent their rebelling against the system. Also, within each colony communication is limited and higher education is denied. In order to enforce this kind of oppressive social structure, the government uses various forms of intimidation.

Gileadean laws were only intact because of the Aunts’ enforcement. “But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison” (Atwood 72). The Aunts try to make the Handmaids believe that any mistake or tragedy that occur to them is their own fault. It is them who “provoke” the situation. There is to be no blame on men. Men are never at fault. This is yet another way men try to be in control. They try to control what women think. They make them suffer. The Aunts force the Handmaids to watch films where women are being beaten, cut, or killed. “Consider the alternatives, said Aunt Lydia. You see what things used to be like? That was what they thought of women, then. Her voice trembled with indignation” (Atwood 118). The Aunts try to scare the Handmaids into believing that because there are no rules to set women straight and no barriers with men, women are treated like gum under a shoe. Again this is just a demonstration of how heinous men set the Aunts to brainwash the Handmaids into believing whatever they wanted them to

of the veil is to conceal and hide women as well as to prevent women

Currently, an increasing number of states in the US are requiring counseling before abortions that provide “inaccurate and unsubstantiated information about a link between abortion and breast cancer, fetal pain, and/or negative psychological effects” (Moscatello web). In Gilead, women are not allowed to read; therefore, the men are taking away their right to information, which is how the men are able to maintain control over the people. If the government can control what women can and cannot find out, then they can ultimately control bodies, also. In both the novel and the US now, women do not have as much control over their bodies as they should. In February 2017, a bill was signed “requiring women seeking an abortion to get written consent from the man who impregnated her” before she can even go to the clinic to set a date for the procedure (Moscatello web). In the novel, handmaids are required to reproduce with their commanders in a ritual that involves no love or intimacy; therefore, having intimate or sexual relationships with other men outside of their designated commanders are illegal and punishable by death. By putting restrictions on what women can and cannot do with their bodies, the government is able to limit more of the women’s freedoms they would typically have in society. Although The Handmaid’s Tale is a fictional novel, its portrayal of the oppression of women and the limits on women’s rights is very similar to some of the issues concerning women’s rights in today’s

Within the totalitarian society created by Margaret Atwood in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are many people and regimes centred around and reliant on the manipulation of power. The laws that are in place in the republic of Gilead are designed and implemented so as to control and restrict the rights and freedom of its inhabitants.

Interestingly, Gilead does not have an equivalent term for men, there is no such thing as “Unman”. Perhaps this could be attributed to Gilead’s is a cult of mother worship in a time of uncontrollable productiveness? Like the Kingdom of God, the Republic of Gilead is both now and not yet. America has never forced fertile women to bear children for infertile ones, but Trump’s inappropriate antic presidency has given cover to the sort of blatant misogyny many thoughts consigned to the past. In this place, all women are being anticipated to aspire to motherhood as their greatest, indeed their only goal. So, the worst thing you can call a woman is not a woman, an Unwoman. Why is this, you tell a woman who not only do some certain feminists argue about how women have the superior value and how they build a superior society. What does this say about the value of men in Gilead? All these men were being expected to obey their ruler unquestioningly. Though they have greater access to knowledge the women, their freedom is severely limited. The government controls almost all the media only broadcasting religious and propaganda programs to have been news. Materials like books, magazines, CDs, etc.

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, constructs a near-future dystopia where human values do not progress and evolve, but instead become completely diminished and dominated under the Republic of Gilead. This powerful and secure new government gains complete political control and begins to abuse their power by forcing fertile women to reproduce. The Gileadean society is enforced by many Biblical laws, morals, and themes, yet the Gileadian religious ideologies are based on only a few specifically selected Biblical passages that are taken literally. The selection of certain passages in the Bible helps control and manipulate the women that are being enslaved by giving them a false sense of justification and security for the treatment they

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the author, Margaret Atwood, creates a dystopian society that is under theocratic rule. From this theocracy, each individual’s freedom is, for the most part, taken away. The Handmaid’s Tale creates a dystopia by placing restrictions on the individual’s freedom, using propaganda to control its citizens, and by having citizens of Gilead live in dehumanized ways. Furthermore, the creation of a hierarchal system in Gilead caused its citizens to lose the ability to feel empathy towards one another. In the search to create a perfect society, Gilead caused more harm and problems than expected which created a dystopia rather than a utopia.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a distillation of the real-world events that were happening before the book was published. In this novel, she talks about a handmaid living in the Gilead Republic, newly formed republic that is controlled by a theocratic dictatorship government. Theocratic dictatorship is a type of government in which laws are based on a particular religion. One leader, a dictator, rules the government, and there is neither power nor person above the leader. In the Gilead Republic, the system forces its citizens to obey its laws, and follow its agendas absolutely. Thus, the theocratic dictatorship changed the ordinary ways of life because it forced its people to live with in a patriarchal system

Women have been domesticated by men since the beginning of time. This role was given to women changing substantially as the years have gone by. It is still true that today there is a battle for equality of the sexes, and this novel by Margaret Atwood displays the harsh reality we continue to face in this male dominant society. Interestingly enough, this was written and published in the 80s and is still relevant today. Some believe that it is perfectly fine to not have equality amongst all let alone equality for women. Atwood’s use of men gives them power over women but they are not to blame for this mistreatment of the opposite sex. The Handmaid’s Tale gives a clear picture of what could happen to our society if women are continued to be seen as voiceless sex objects. It only takes one person to realize that what is occurring is wrong and it takes men and women both to stop the nonsense. Men in the story like The Commander and Nick realize the wrongness, giving the women some hope. The concern for Offred the Commander displays proves not all men are evil or to blame in Gilead.

The women in Gilead have no rights. They have to obey the rules and commands that are given by the commanders in charge or from the Aunts who also get their orders from the commander. They are forbidden to read and write. The handmaids are allowed to leave the home of the commander and his wife once a day to go to the market. Iranian women were subjected to similar laws to those in Gilead. Iranian women are not allowed to choose or control various aspects