Handmaid's Tale Theme

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.

Throughout history, the desire for power has lead once peaceful societies to war. The necessity to be in control of one's surroundings has ended with unnecessary bloodshed. Typically these battles occur over some sort of prize such as money, but when there is nothing to be gained other than one’s freedom, the same principals apply. In the novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, by Margaret Atwood, the desire for power in the form of freedom is the main conquest which all characters face, and how they overcome adversity to gain such power is what defines their character.

1. Critics often mention scapegoating, man's inherent evil, and the destructive consequence of hanging on to ancient and outdated rituals as the principal theme of this story. Do you agree? What are some other themes suggested by the story?

Parents typically don’t want their children reading in depth books about sex; however, The Handmaid’s Tale offers great fictional examples that teach sexism and the mistreatment of women, yet these examples can lead some in the wrong way. Therefore depending on the view in society, The Handmaid’s tale should be banned or kept to certain areas of the world because of the unfair treatment of women.

If the whole story is just a memory, many of the “facts” are again adjusted to fit the narrator’s ex-post perspective. The Handmaid even offers three versions of the story of her and Nick having sex for the first time – here, Atwood again addresses the stereotypical expectations of romantic love and depicts three possible realities which play on Offred’s wishful thinking”2. Offred’s unreliability as narrator is furthered due to the that the fact that the tapes have been ordered by somebody else , but also because she is telling the story after it has happed. Hindsight surely must have shaped her opinions in some form. As well as exploring natural conflict within the human mind, as the novel progresses it becomes clearer that Offred does not always reflect the typical aspects of what is deemed as a normal mentality. As Offred’s perceptions of reality seem to merge more and more with her imagination we are made aware that isolated under the regime of Gilead, sanity is at least something Offred has to now fight for. "Sanity is a valuable possession; I save it, so I will have enough when the time comes." Insanity has always had in place amongst the control of totalitarian regimes ‘following the fall of the Soviet Union, it was often reported that some opposition activists and journalists were detained in Russian psychiatric institutions to intimidate and isolate them from

Hungry for power. Metaphorically querulous. Weak. The Commander is the representation of male insecurity. This character is derived from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s novel reveals that hunger for control can lead to the oppression of women, this is demonstrated through the Commander’s characterization, the Aunts attitudes, and some of the Gileadean rules/laws.

This ritual clearly shows how Offred is given no freedom and is instructed in everything that she does. Along with her impersonal sex, Offred is limited in her contact to the outside world. She is only allowed to leave the home in order to go on shopping trips with the other handmaids, and when she is out in public, she along with the other handmaids, are watched by the Eyes. The Eyes are the secret police force within Gilead. Their purpose is to observe every move that is made. She is also never to have complete privacy in her room, the door must remain somewhat open at all times.

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.

This is in keeping with the founding purpose of Gilead: intervention over reproduction in the face of decreased birthrates. Using this crisis as its ostensible mission, the state government assumes complete control over women’s bodies through cultural, social, and political subjugation. Despite Gilead’s seemingly pro-feminist rhetoric, its subjugation of women sets them apart as an inferior class, reducing them to “two-legged wombs” (Atwood, 136). Waterford’s stated haven for female dignity and protection is exposed for its hypocrisy and falsity when Offred, in her internal reflections, reveal the many humiliations that women experience and are nonetheless expected to ignore, to brush off as the unintended small anomalies of an otherwise fair and just society: room doors that do not “shut properly” (Atwood, 8) by design, the constant possibility of being labeled “Unwoman” and sent to the Colonies where they would “starve to death and Lord knows what all” (Atwood, 10), and having their birth names taken away and forbidden from being used (Atwood, 84), to mention a few. Waterford’s ideological justification

"Lying in bed, with Luke, his hand on my rounded belly. The three of us, in bed, she kicking, turning over within me" (103). Her life as a Handmaid left Offred lonely and desperate for an emotional human relationship. The third officer she was sent to was a high-ranking commander named Fred, where her name Offred meaning "Of-Fred" was given. She begins an illegal relationship with the Commander, meeting with him outside of the set "ritual ceremony." Handmaids and the officer they're assigned to are not suppose to see each other other than when they have emotionless sex to produce a baby. The Commander's wife, Serena Joy, also begins to talk to Offred illegally, asking her to have sex with Serena's driver named Nick in effort to get Offred pregnant. She begins an affair with Nick and begins to enjoy his company. Then Serena discovers that the Commander and Offred are having an affair and send the secret police after

Fear and intimidation are tools the Puritanical government uses to discourage members of society from going against the system. Within the monotonous town of Gilead, a wall displays the corpses of all those who have gone against and tempted the laws of society. Some are doctors who are willing to help a woman end or prevent her pregnancy. Others are doctors who were caught trying to help Handmaids to save their lives. The corpses are deterrents to all who consider defying this barbaric system. The governments futile desperate attempts to control the human heart, are proven through two different occasions. Unable to resist falling in love with Offred, the Commander does not see her the way the system would like. He recognizes her worth within

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

Offred's memories are a way for her to escape a society riddled with hopelessness. The authoritarian society of Gilead prevents her from

Events and ideas circulating in a writer’s environment shift and mold his perspective, and ultimately provide the basis for his works of literature. Writers who experience similar socialization often have similar writing styles and themes they strive to convey. Modernism stretched from the late nineteenth century to the early 1940s. Modernist writers criticized tradition and institutions, attempting to find meaning and individuality in a chaotic world. Postmodernists tend to mock modernist styles, and the very possibility of meaning and absolute truth. Postmodernism began around 1939-1945, at the beginning of World War II. Writers from the period embrace chaos and the constant change and subjectivity of the universe. The Handmaid’s Tale and Brave New World both clearly articulate the common themes and styles of their respective times. Written by Aldous Huxley in 1943, Brave New World uses literary techniques typical to modernism and more often postmodernism to convey Huxley’s conviction that people find happiness in their ability to make their own choices as individuals within society. Human impulses, which drive individuality and choice, are necessary, though when uncontrolled they bring chaos to society. The Handmaid’s Tale was written about forty years later, and although Margaret Atwood borrows some stylistic techniques from modernism (similarly to Brave New World), the four-decade gap is still evident as she has clearly moved into the heart of postmodernism. Through

Offred's purpose is to serve the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy. When Offred is at the crucial point in her menstrual cycle when she is most fertile, the Commander must have passionless sex with Offred in order to accomplish the objective of impregnating her. This is Offred's third attempt; she was not successful with the two Commanders before this one. If Offred fails again she will be declared an Unwoman and sent to the colonies for hard labor. Offred's freedom is completely restricted. She can not have the door to her room totally shut, and she can leave the house only on specific purposeful trips such as to visit the wall or for purchasing grocery items. All the while, Gilead's secret police forces, known only as ‘Eyes', are scrutinizing every move she makes.