Handmaid's Tale And Indian Horse: Literary Analysis

From the outset of 'The Handmaids Tale' the reader is placed in an unknown world, where the rights and freedom of women have been taken away. We follow the narrative journey of a handmaid, named Offred.

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

Margaret Atwood's renowned science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was written in 1986 during the rise of the opposition to the feminist movement. Atwood, a Native American, was a vigorous supporter of this movement. The battle that existed between both sides of the women's rights issue inspired her to write this work. Because it was not clear just what the end result of the feminist movement would be, the author begins at the outset to prod her reader to consider where the story will end. Her purpose in writing this serious satire is to warn women of what the female gender stands to lose if the feminist movement were to fail. Atwood envisions a society of extreme changes in

In “The Handmaid 's Tale” by Margaret Atwood, there is the addressing of freedom, abuse of power, feminism, rebellion and sexuality. The audience is transported to a disparate time where things normalized in our current society are almost indistinguishable. Atwood uses each character carefully to display the set of theme of rebellion within the writing, really giving the reader a taste of what the environment is like by explaining detailed interactions, and consequences as well as their role in society.

THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN ATWOOD’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND THEIR WAYS OF RESISTING THE REGIME

Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, satirizes the movement of religious conservatives that was occurring during its time of publication in the 1980’s. The beliefs expressed by these conservatives are taken to the extreme in the book when a totalitarian government creates a new society that reverses all advancements of women. Through these reversals and formed hierarchies, Atwood creatively makes a statement about the unfair molds in real life that both genders try to break free from. In other words, the story inflates the roles of men and women through the creation of strict regulations in order to show the discriminatory stereotypes that are a reality today.

Imagine you get woken up by guards they split you and your family up. These guards is soon to escort you to a place but you don’t know where. You get there you see the world is changed, you have a different name and you’ve been placed with a man that you now call commander and his wife. You soon find out that you have to have sex with this commander in a ceremony to make a baby but you cannot keep it when you have your baby you are sent to another “commander” and you have to repeat the same process over and over.

In this essay I will be comparing two dystopian novels, Handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood, and The Man In The High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Both of these books being popular pieces of dystopian literature from the mid 20th century although, the novels were spaced out by about 20 years give or take. I think these books are similar in many ways while also sending out very different messages and seeing a dystopian past from a different point of view. Margaret Atwood’s piece follows a women called Offred (renamed by the new government put into place) and the new role her and many other women have been forced to take up by the Republic of Gilead (The new and not so great United States). The Man In The High Castle takes a different approach, showing

In the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood the themes of Religion and inter-human relationships are the themes that are most evident in the text. This novel shows the possibility of the existence of an all-powerful governing system. This is portrayed through the lack of freedom for women in society, from being revoked of their right to own any money or property, to being stripped of their given names and acquiring names such as Offred and Ofglen, symbolizing women’s dependant existence, only being defined by the men which they belong to. This portrayal of women demonstrates the idea that individuals are unimportant, that the goals of the society as a whole are more pertinent. “For our purposes, your feet and your hands are not

The Handmaid’s Tale is great source of modern literary criticism with its potent essence of feminism. These works from more than twenty-five years ago, are still impacting and making a wide future for this more exposing movement. Sexist societies and gender role patterns should be updated to this century for once and for all.  Works Cited Atwood, Margaret.

The Handmaid’s Tale is the story of a young woman living in a futuristic society in which women have no rights. Her only purpose on earth is to reproduce. Women are forbidden from having jobs, wearing provocative clothing, voting, or even reading. This insightful novel by Margaret Atwood supports feminism by giving a clear and terrifying example of what life has been, and could be like without the rights that we've become accustomed to. At first this novel seems nothing more then a fantasy, just a bad dream.

“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.

The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden are novels of women in two different societies in which live the plague of oppressing women. These stories portray how women are physically and psychologically tortured, one in a dystopic society and the other in realistic society. Margaret Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a totalitarian but theocratic state which has replaced the United States of America. It is because of the extremely low fertility rates, “fruitful” women such as Offered are assigned to be surrogate mothers for the elite couples of the state now known as Gilead. These Handmaid’s are not honoured for their duty, instead they are seen as a person with two legs and a womb, soon Offered comprehends that she is just a production machine, nothing else.

The character Lila is unique and complicated because the way she thinks and behaves different than everyone. I think with only the background of Lila is already unique because she was kidnapped by Doll when she was a child, but the reason for the kidnapped is to save Lila from dying. From then on, Lila lived a very harsh life and surrounded herself with people and things that a child at her age shouldn’t experienced it. Lila is also unique because she asked Reverend Ames to marry her and she makes the first move on their wedding night. In which, women during that time would not do that.

Handmaid's begin to resist against the patriarchal system of Gilead Republic because of the Aunts attitudes, restricting them from some rights, and forcing them to follow the commander's willing.