Handmaid's Tale Symbolism

In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Offred recounts the story of her life and that of others in Gilead, but she does not do so alone. The symbolic meanings found in the dress code of the women, the names/titles of characters, the absence of the mirror, and the smell and hunger imagery aid her in telling of the repugnant conditions in the Republic of Gilead. The symbols speak with a voice of their own and in decibels louder than Offred can ever dare to use. They convey the social structure of Gileadean society and carry the theme of the individual's loss of identity.

Literature is the window to realizing the negatives of society and how destructive certain norms can be. Readers are brought into a completely different story than their own, but by using similar issues in today’s world, the readers can actually learn from the story and its overall message. All writers write for a purpose, whether it’s for a new meaning to life, to live a different life than our own, or to impact others on an emotional level by teaching them to see the importance of the little things. As a reader, you search for pieces of literature that interest you whether you find the story like your own, or wish you lived the life in the story. By using issues in today’s within their works, authors are able to grab the reader's attention long enough for them to get across what they wanted to get across. Often in many works of literature, writers use societal issues as their basis for the work’s themes and symbols. By doing so, this allows the reader to question the morality behind social norms and how impactful certain ideals can be in people’s lives.

In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of women’s bodies as political instruments and elimination of sexual pleasure is explored. The republic of Gilead “depicts a futuristic society in which a brutal patriarchal regime deprives women of power and subjectivity, enslaving them through a sophisticated, ubiquitous apparatus of surveillance” (Cooper 49). Offred is a “girl” who lives with her commander within Gilead. She is surrounded by girls at his house. When one becomes a woman they have had a baby. Any time before they have a baby they are just girls. They are valued only by their ovaries and wombs. They have no freedom

Atwood has constructed the novel as a first person narrative in which Offred offers her point of view as a Handmaid living in The Republic of Gilead. “The guards weren't allowed inside the building except when called, and we weren't allowed out, except for our walks, twice daily, two by two around the football field, which was enclosed now by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire” (Atwood 16). The reader is not able to interpret what is happening outside of the enclosed area that the Handmaids are living in. This creates ambiguity because Offred cannot inform the reader because of her circumstances which generates ambiguity. Further, this relationship communicates the theme of freedom because the Handmaids do not have any freedom to explore outside of the enclosed premises and they are not allowed to talk to anyone outside including the angels. Due to the ambiguity generated through the imprisonment of women the reader is left to wonder what is happening in other parts of the

Throughout the third section (chapter 25-35) of the book, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood uses descriptive language, which express Offred's feelings about and attitudes to her environment and experiences. For example, as Offred walks into the kitchen to see that Rita is cutting radishes, they remind Offred of “Little Aztec hearts” (Atwood 259). Provided that, this description of the radishes illustrates Offred’s sinister side because Aztecs cut out the hearts of their sacrificial victims. This is effective in regards to the Atwood’s storytelling technique because it illustrates Offred’s temptations to escape Gilead, in order to experience freedom. Also, it reminds the reader about Offred’s master plan on how she would kill the

Texts are often written to reflect on the world and to vocalise concerns from different eras in time. While some texts have become severely outdated due to the rapidly changing nature of modern culture, readers are still acknowledging these concerns, developing their own moral views and utilising them in present day. Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God follow complex characters that recognise and rebel against their restrictive communities and search for a better future for themselves. Ghosh and Hurston both use their novels to provoke readers to assess the values of modern society by exploring the expectations of women from different cultural and religious backgrounds and the impact of a rigid

The Republic of Gilead is a dictatorship in which men are the superior sex. Men are often in charge, much like the Commander, and are assigned women, one of these being the main character, Offred. Offred is a Handmaid, meaning her goal is to become pregnant, since if she is unable to she could be killed or sent off to the colonies and become what is called an Unwoman, this is yet another sign of power. Furthermore, women are constantly being watched and are often isolated from others due to the lack of freedom, this in turn makes women feel more inferior.

In The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood, the Republic of Gilead was formed on extreme religious views. In Gilead, the laws and regulations set in place, are pulled and manipulated from the Bible. The authority the Bible already had before the reign of Gilead, had become even more powerful. Small, fragmented pieces of Biblical text appear often throughout the novel to help enforce this strict new rule of Gilead.

Both Hughes and Atwood present an extreme representation of their contextual concerns and issues of their respective times and worlds. Ted Hughes’ poems, “Your Paris and “The Shot” published in the “Birthday Letters” collection in 1998 explore issues regarding conflicting perspectives and control, Hughes wanted to illustrate Plath’s mental state to prove his innocence, as he was blamed for Plath’s suicide. Similarly in Margaret Atwood’s 1985 “The Handmaid’s Tale”, there is an exaggerated exploration of a patriarchal society and the conflicting perspectives of both sides, written to reflect the 1960s being a period growth in religious right power which threatened to reverse women’s rights advancements. In comparison both these texts go in depth to examine two of the major themes of the modern world, hence influencing

Desire is a powerful and dangerous emotion which has the ability to overtake and disregards any rational state of mind, creating disorder and life-threatening consequences, thus making it feared as a form of disorder or misdirected imagination. However, desire cannot exist without a lack of satisfaction, allowing the once forbidden to become desirable. These illicit desires which are in conflict with social laws and norms are often repressed into the unconscious. Emerging in forms which are disguised so that they may be unrecognisable to the conscious mind due to the dangerous, forces and consequences they present. Such desires can be identified in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) which mirrors post-war social and political issues, portraying the devastation, destruction and control on the outer limits of humanity in a dystopian world. In a world where thought, history and relationships are manipulated and governed, romantic and autonomies desire become a means of rebellion in order to maintain sanity, truth, and an objective reality as a means of resistance against the governing party. Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is a speculative fiction which explores the need for a sustained political, feminist consciousness and activity among woman by exploring the political and social consequence of their absence. In The Handmaid’s Tale, we see illicit desire through the use of language and literature in a dystopian world which governs class

January, a wealthy knight decides to finally get married, because he believes in the thought of marriage between a man and a woman, and needs a son to pass his estate to. He calls his friends together to hear their opinions on marriage. He decides to marry a young virgin named May. One of January’s attendants named Damian, falls deeply in love with May the moment he sees her. He becomes ill, and January sends his wife and other women to take care of him.

The elements used by the author in this book essentially laid down the foundation for buildup of the plot and central themes. The clever use of symbols and logical choice of literary devices allowed the book to come to life and truly portray, what seems to be, the author's intention; an admonishing tale. The tone, language, heavy use of symbolism, and personification all come together under one work to warn the audience about the repetition of history and possible downfall of society. However, the book in its entirety showcases much more than just a forewarning, but also a variety of morals and lessons to be learned. The concoction of all the literary techniques and elements adopted by this novel allow it to express the symbolic content in

As Offred was returning to the commander’s house, she stumbled acrossed a funeral of a deceased baby who’s about 3 months old. The baby was held in a jar and the women were wearing black veils. They were Econowifes who hated people like Offred. Offered understood the pain of not being able to deliver an alive child. She says, “ I wonder Ofglen feels what I do, pain like a stab, in the belly” (44). Offred was unsuccessful in delivering a child two times. Therefore, she understands the pain of losing a child and not being able to do what she is required to do since it’s not a choice.

Margaret Atwood uses a variety of different ways to achieve the marginalization of women in her book The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel creates an entirely new social construct and redefines language to create the marginalization of women. Heavily relying on narrative voice, the novel unravels Gilead, a city set in a dystopian future where women are nothing more than objects. Men are the only ones who are ascribed to authority while women are marginalized as subordinates. The novel was written in 1985, a time when women were campaigning for equal rights.

The overall themes found in this excerpt of the text are deception, impending doom, and death. This is displayed all throughout this reading by various symbols and actions by the characters. A few main symbols that contribute to the portrayal of these three themes are the Purple Flask, Lydia’s dress, Lydia’s demeanor, and even the way Midwinter faints when he first encounters Lydia upon returning to England. By using these symbols, there is a certain aspect of foreshadowing that hints and forthcoming death within the story.