Humn4001 Final Paper 16204123 Wong Ho Yee 26 Nov, 2017 If this is our future: Biopolitics in a dystopia city The story happen in the near future, because of environment pollution and sexually transmitted infections, human fertility rates collapse. There is a new country called “Gilead”, the whole country are in androcentrism and totalitarianism. They developed a new law system according to their analysis to Bible. Women are cruelly subjugated. Under the law, women are not allowed to work, read, handle money and own any property. Women are divided into five classes, their classes define their duties and freedom. Aunts, who are the teachers of Handmaid. Martha, who are the cooks and housekeepers in the commander’s house. Wiver, who are the commander’s wife. Unwomen, who …show more content…
The control of population using Handmaid is one of the example. Everyone lost their sovereignty power to their own body, their life were controlled by the top ruler who are invisible and in every corner in the …show more content…
We may think that our society is well developed, and hard to break down like what happen in the story. The true is, even though the Handmaid’s Tale may not happen. The world may still walking to a dystopia future. According to the Global Risk 2012, we are now growing a seeds of dystopia. This is the first time the world is expecting to face problem of dystopia. The research result think that the next generation will not enjoy a better environment than the previous generation. Which means that our parent’s generation have a better economics environment and living standards. And what our next generation is facing will only be worser. Reason of this kind of setback is related to the fail of managing ageing populations, youth unemployment, rising in income inequalities and fiscal imbalances. These issue could lead to expected greater social unrest and instability in the future
In Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale all of the women, in a new society called Gilead, are stripped from their everyday way of living. Their freedom, and most importantly their identity, is taken from them, and it is as if America has gone back in time to where there are no women’s rights. Now the women cannot think freely, read, or do as they please. The women cannot even wear their own clothes. They are all assigned to wear a certain color of robe all with a different meaning.
The novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a dystopian speculative fiction novel written by Margaret Atwood. It follows the story of Offred, who is a Handmaid living in post-apocalyptic Massachusetts during the Gilead Regime. Her job is to have sex with the Commander in order to produce a baby for him and his wife, Serena Joy. This is the one role for Handmaids in Atwood’s world because the fertility rates are drastically declining. Other environmental factors such as radioactivity and disease also make it more difficult for people to have children. The rest of the women in the Gilead are also split into different classes, each with its own roles. In this society, there are Marthas, Aunts, Econowives, the Commander’s Wives, and the Unwomen. Although these roles might be different, one thing is common: women’s rights have been severely oppressed since the rise of Gilead. Specifically, one common idea suggested by the novel is that women are expected to suppress their sexuality while men are not, and this
The story’s protagonist and narrator is a woman referred to as Offred, who lives in the fairly new Republic of Gilead which has taken the place of the United States. She is what is known as a Handmaid; alarmingly low reproductive rates led to young women whom are able to reproduce being assigned to well-off couples who are infertile. Essentially they are sex slaves being used for their uteruses. These women are generally not willing or believers in the new regime or in their new roles in society -- they are given the choice between being
The handmaid's tale written by Margaret Atwood revealed by a group of people who maintain and strengthen their power by any form possible while being tortured or maybe even death. This book took place in Gilead, where they have strict rules that are necessary to follow because if not, consequences are they might receive their punishments. The new Republic of Gilead made their laws into a higher form of level by commanding that these rules are made from God, therefore they must obey. This form of being is a sign to god that with commencing to the rules they are not betraying him. Handmaid’s tale has a very strong essence towards the way the author created their society. If this novel were written in a different time era, these perspectives in
In the “The Handmaids Tale” this is what happens. People are forced out of their daily lives and brought into new ones. Of-fred, the main protagonist, is trapped in Gilead as a handmaid. She is considered a ‘two legged womb’ and only valued for her potential as a surrogate mother. The town of Gilead shows male dominance and women only for reproduction.
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.
Dystopian texts explore unfavorable future societies of the authors’ worst fears, a parallel understanding of an apparent contemporary concept, constructing an unfamiliar perspective that is conceivable and relatable. The realization that the prospect of a dystopian future is built upon the contingent impact from the present, a fabrication of actions and inactions from collective judgments of society. This idea of a contingent impact is reflected to a significant extent in the dystopian text, Handmaids Tale, written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel entails adventures from the perspective of protagonist Offred, a handmaid in a fragmented society run by misogynistic and theocratic totalitarian government. It explores a reality in which a familiar concept of autonomy, sexual prejudice and oppression in the present is metamorphosed into a domineering structural pillar in dystopian world. For these reasons, Atwood challenges the reader with an imaginative creation of the future with a contingent dependence on the present, exemplifying these matters and intensifying the potential future under the reign of a totalitarian society.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a warning to the world that by classifying women by their fertility and stripping them of their rights, one can easily create a terrifying dystopia where all fabrics of society suffer the erosive consequences of female subjugation.
As the Handmaid’s Tale shows, the sexual coupling that happens, either out of desire or for reproduction, always places the social connections between men and women. The fantasy that is The Handmaid’s Tale shows the effects of marriage, education, love, and childbirth. In the social connection of their existence rather than as a discussion of any particular problem. The author thus momentarily clears them of the debate that immediately explodes around them. The tale hardly adds the support of a more in-depth view of whatever facts the reader already holds about the
In the republic of Gilead, there are many rules and restrictions within all levels of the community, wives, econowives, common men and handmaid’s included, which limit the goings-on of the people. These rules were all created by the men in charge, going by the name of ‘The sons of Jacob’ and are forcefully implemented by the angels, the male soldiers and ‘protectors’. The roles of those in charge all belong to a
This novel is an account of the near future, a dystopia, wherepollution and radiation has rendered countless women sterile, and the birthrates of North America are dangerously declining. A puritan theocracy nowcontrols the former United States called the Republic of Gilead andHandmaids are recruited to repopulate the state. This novel containsAtwood's strong sense of social awareness, as seen in the use of satire tocomment on different social conditions in the novel. The Handmaid'sTale is a warning to young women of the 'post-feminist' 1980s and after,who began taking for granted the rights that had been secured for womenby the women before them.
All around the world today, women still get raped, many are abused and exposed to domestic violence, and do not have the right to chose what is best for themselves. Thus, in the Republic of Gilead women were treated as properties to fulfill the wishes of the higher class, which lead them to lose their identities and
As society began to change in 1986 the novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood was published. Narrated by Offred an oppressed handmaid “The Handmaid’s Tale” presents the life of a neglected women in the unordinary Gilead society. A handmaid is a women that is owned by a commander. All women have assigned roles in the Gilead society. The handmaid’s duty is to have sex with the commander in order to produce a baby because the commander’s wife is not fertile. Handmaids have to wear red. In Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Offred uses degrading and descriptive language to establish her identity, create meaning for herself and to defy Gilead's authority.
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 Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood writes about a dystopia society. Atwood used situations that were happening during the time she began writing her novel, for example, women’s rights, politics, and in religious aspects. Atwood’s novel is relevant to contemporary society. There are similarities between Atwood’s novel and our society today, which lends to the possibility that our modern society might be headed to a less intense version of this dystopia society.