How To Write An Excerpt From The Handmaid's Tale

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

Edgar is not considered a good character merely because he was loyal to his father after he was mistreated by him. He is considered a good character because he was loyal to his father even when he was disguised. Edgar meets his blind father and does not reveal his true identity to him at first. The fact that he was loyal to his

When Edgar was born, his father abandoned the entire family. Then Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis when he was only 3 years old. He was then orphaned by John Allan and Frances Keeling Valentine Allan. Edgar, as a young child, had a good stepfather-son relationship, but as Edgar

Edgar Allen’s opening statement is fuelled entirely by emotion, making him what Covey calls a “hot reactor,” a big sign of playing victim. He is upset and therefore jumps to the worst possible conclusion—that his “college days are at an end”—rather than staying calm and evaluating his options (Covey). The major reason Edgar is a victim, however, is that he blames everyone else for his actions, not once taking a step back to think this may be his own fault, and that there are several choices he could make toward the best possible outcome. Instead, Edgar complains about having to work the entire weekend, and about not having enough time to write the paper assigned weeks ago; he blames his boss without even calling him to work out a solution, and his teacher for not extending the due date for him; he makes the excuse of being too tired to write every night he’d planned to, and yet still goes out Sunday night to celebrate (Downing

Born on January 19, 1809, Edgar’s childhood was no fairy tale. At age three both his parents died and he was sent to live with a tobacco exporter, John Allan in Richmond, Virginia. There he went to a

His mind has become the unknown and the part of him that he did not necessarily want to know or come to terms with because it was frightening and dark. “Upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eyelike windows. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of though which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime (234).” Edgar found himself to be vacant and bleak, he also had a cold sick feeling when he saw what he had become. He was frightened to move on but he had to keep going in order to know the truth about himself.

Can human live without love? The answer is evidently no. Love can be defined as: the most spectacular, indescribable, deep euphoric feeling for someone. Margaret Atwood, the author of the outstanding dystopian fiction the handmaid 's tale (1985) had once in her book said: " nobody dies from lack of sex. It 's lack of love we die from.” In this novel, Atwood specifically depicts a society where relationships have been altered, undermined and in many ways forbidden. The key word in the issue of relationships is love. In the Republic of Gilead, a form of theocratic government, women had lost their ability to love. The protagonist Offred is a handmaid whose sole purpose in life is to reproduce a child. Gilead expects its handmaids to have faith in its commandments, but has removed love and hope from them. Women became objects and sex slaves to men. Therefore, the relationships of the protagonist Offred are unhealthy as well as abnormal, yet they are source of hope for Offred to survive from this theocratic form of government. Her relationship with the commander is strained but profitable, her relationship with Serena Joy has lots of tensions and conflicts; and her relationship with Nick is subtle as well as controversial.

Edgar was born on January 19,1809 in Boston.He had a vile childhood because of the lack of knowledge he had of his parents.According to Robert Giordano, author of PoeStories,”Elizabeth

Roderick Usher is a victim of circumstance. The House he has known his whole life seems to have turned against him. Poe

Serena Joy is the most powerful female presence in the hierarchy of Gileadean women; she is the central character in the dystopian novel, signifying the foundation for the Gileadean regime. Atwood uses Serena Joy as a symbol for the present dystopian society, justifying why the society of Gilead arose and how its oppression had infiltrated the lives of unsuspecting people.

Trudy tells him that this is something she has not experienced before and explains that although he may feel lost, it is not right to try to compare his sadness with a different kind of grief. Angered by Edgar’s unsuitable behavior, she tells him “You can’t do that. You can’t shut me out. As if you’re the only one who lost someone” (Wroblewski 227). Edgar acts as though he is suffering the most out of everyone,

“I must perish in this deplorable folly” (Poe par. 11). With this statement, Roderick Usher seems to be both accepting and sealing his fate. The “House of Usher” was once a mighty and well-respected family, but it has now dwindled down into almost nonexistence. Twins Roderick and Madeline are all that survive of this once proud race. A summons from Roderick to the unknown narrator of this story, a childhood friend of Roderick, sets the events in motion. He speaks of an illness and mental disorder which has become a great burden on him, and he wishes for the company of his dearest friend to help comfort and give “some alleviation of his malady” (Poe par. 2). As the narrator arrives at the family mansion, he is struck by the aura of “gloom”

David eventually deserted Elizabeth, leaving her to care for their three children. When Edgar was only two years old, his mother passed away from tuberculosis. Henry, Edgar’s older brother, went to live with their grandparents; leaving Edgar to be adopted by John Allan, a wealthy merchant; and Edgar’s sister, Rosalie, to be adopted by another family. At the age of six, John Allan sent him to a boarding school in England for five years, where he learned Latin and French. After returning home, he began attending The University of Virginia in 1826, at the age of 17. He continued his study of both ancient and modern languages, and excelled in all his literary classes. The University Faculty recognized his brilliance and listed him as having “excelled in the senior French class” (Kent 21). However, he soon became addicted to gambling and alcohol. With John Allan refusing to send him more money to fund his addictions, and having amassed a staggering debt, Edgar dropped out of University. Allan, furious at his behavior, traveled to Richmond to pay off all the debts the thought out he should pay, and brought Edgar home. Once home, Edgar began to write short that he would sometimes share with his friends, greatly based on the works of Lord Byron. He enjoyed writing and continued to polish his writing skills, trying to get his stories published anywhere he could as he looked for a way to make a living (Poem Hunter Biography of Edgar Allan Poe).

A commonly known myth about Edgar is that he was expelled for attending a drill in the nude. This isn’t completely true because he was expelled from West Point but not for being nude. According to the website, “Common Poe Myths” it says that Edgar was expelled for “absenting himself from parades and roll calls” and for refusing to attend church.

In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.