Dehumanization Of Women In The Handmaids Tale

In today’s news we see many disruptions and inconsistencies in society, and, according to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, humankind might be headed in that direction. The deterioration of society is a concept often explored biologically in novels, but less common, is the effect on everyday social constructs such as the position of women as a item that can be distributed and traded-in for a ‘better’ product. The Handmaid’s Tale elaborates the concept that, as societal discrimination towards women intensifies, gender equality deteriorates and certain aspects of societal freedoms are lost. Offred’s experience with serving Gilead demonstrates a victim’s perspective and shows how the occurring changes develope the Republic.

The regimentation of society leads them to believe that the future will be better for everyone. Women are assigned to groupings according to their function. Different colored uniforms represent different powers “black, for the Commander, blue, for the Commander’s Wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red” (9). Jealousy and rivalries are encouraged among the different groups. When she sees the Commanders wife she wonders “What does she envy me? She doesn’t speak to me, unless she can’t avoid it” (15). She envies her only because she is capable of bearing children unlike herself. She see’s Offred as “a reproach…and a necessity” (15). because she will never have children of her own. The policies that are taught and advocated by Gilead are considered very immoral and corrupt because of what they lead the handmaids to believe. At scheduled times they are able to watch television but were misinformed, but being the only remaining medium it forced illiteracy. Although some would rebel and hide reading material, and word games such as scrabble. When watching television they were given false hope, and told lies regarding the politics of Gilead. Such as those who practiced Judaism were relocated to Israel, when in reality they were execution victims even if

To dehumanize someone is to strip them of everything that makes them human, all their good qualities, all their basic rights, everything that can label them an individual. Similarly, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the women in the Republic of Gilead are degraded in such a way that they are stripped of their previous selves. Women in Gilead are outfitted by their functions, forced to have sex and they, especially handmaids, are used as tools. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood utilizes motifs to further dehumanize the women of Gilead.

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.

Women in the past were perceived as insignificant because of the society’s inability to embrace and acknowledge women as of equal importance as men and of those who are wealthy. In Margret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the character by the name of Offred, is a handmaid and tells her perspective of the dystopian life in the community of Gilead. The women of 1985 serve the males and the rich if they are not a wealthy maiden themselves. However, regardless of class, women are always discerned as of lesser significance than men. This is manifested through Offred’s observation that although the women who are a Commander’s wife are entitled of higher authority than the handmaids, they are still seen as insignificant. In order to give them

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

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.

Within history, societies have to try to find a balance between gender and class. Margaret Atwood writes about a country called Gilead: a society where women are broken down into classes while men control all the power. Throughout her dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood utilizes gender and class to alienate the protagonist, Offred, illustrating how women and their position within society are used as a political instrument to gain dominance.

Many authors reveal parts of their opinions on current topics happening around the world through their writing. Margaret Atwood is a great example of using her ability to write dystopian literature and getting her opinions heard loud and clear. In the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the author makes a clear statement of women being marginalized, excluded and silenced in our current society. She uses handmaids and an extreme set up city, Gilead, to demonstrate how women are treated in present day society. They are dehumanized in their society, seen as machines for reproduction, kept illiterate and isolated.

Gilead is a society not far from the present and it based around one central idea, control of reproduction by using women’s bodies as political instruments. Handmaids are women who the state took complete control of through their political subjugation. They are not allowed to vote, hold property, read or do anything that can make them independent from their husband and the state. These handmaids are reduced to their fertility and treated like nothing more than a set of ovaries and a womb. They lose their identity and become an object of the state. The narrator of The Handmaids Tale is a handmaid by the name of Offred. The novel takes place in first person point of view and this allows the readers to see how she is treated and all the events that take place for her. First person point of view allows the reader a closer view as to how a central theme develops by giving the reader a firsthand experience from the mind of the narrator.

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.

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, conforming to strict ideals and regulations limits freedom, ultimately resulting in the loss of identity and dehumanization of an individual.

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

Lack of Difference from Women in The Handmaid’s Tale and Women in Modern Day Society

Books that are banned or challenged often have controversial topics but many don't consider the positive effects of these books. The Handmaid's Tale is an example of this because despite including uncomfortable topics, it also offers meaningful themes and ideas.