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Handmaid's Tale Themes

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To be a handmaid is to be completely taken over by the will of society. Your body is not yours, your voice is silenced, and your only purpose is to be a vessel for children. In The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, the narrator, also referred to as Offred, is taken from her previous life and forced to be one of these vessels. In a dystopia like this, there are many life-changing and crucial decisions to be made. Moira chooses to lose herself in drugs and sex at Jezebel’s, Ofglen chooses to take part in a resistance. Simultaneously, there is a complete absence of choice: no one chooses to become a handmaid. The circumstances are being decided for you, while you are also forced to make dire decisions about your life and sanity. In such a turbulent world, all one can do is hold on to themselves. …show more content…

Moira keeps her sanity by rebelling gives up and numbs herself. Janine, also known as Ofwarren, cannot handle or maintain herself after being removed from her previous life and loses all sanity. Ofglen rebels and is discovered and resolves to kill herself. Based on the novel, people have to either hoard their sanity or let go of it completely. Each of the characters is integral to the narrator’s character and presents themselves like a different version of her. They are all based on the choices they made in this horrible situation. They are like a series of “what if’s” or “what could’ve been’s.” The narrator could be more rebellious or simply give up, but she chose neither. All of these characters, specifically these fellow handmaids, are acting as different versions of the narrator that show the actions she could have taken or simply let go

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