Oppression In The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will

In Gilead, women are treated like objects and all of their rights are taken away from them. They cannot vote, hold property or jobs, read, or do anything else that might cause them to become rebellious or independent, and undermine the men, or the state. Even the shops where the handmaids go to buy food do not have names on for them to read, just pictures. The only thing important about a woman now is her ovaries and her womb, as they are reduced to just their fertility.

Despite the many ways to interpret Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, there’s no denying that the chain of command in Gilead can seem quite fluid when it comes to who is in control (and who has more at stake). Though the handmaids seem like they should be the most afraid, it is actually the Commanders who have more reasons to be fearful, and the handmaids who have genuine power. If all handmaids realized their capabilities, mutinies like that of Mayday would be even more successful. The Commanders have always known that their hostile taking over of the government is worthy of opposition.

Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred’s accepts her role as a bystander of a perpetual atrocity as her struggle progresses. Offred’s experience exemplifies the pattern of devolution in women impacted by internalized oppression through her metamorphosis from a defiant agent to a complicity individual to an isolated victim of an extremely repressive society. When the story begins, the Republic of Gilead has already been established. Women lack autonomy of any kind, and Offred, a handmaiden of an influential family in the Republic, recounts how the society came to be. She remembers the revolution and the violence, but she also recalls the way life was before the Republic.

Power, violence, and fear kept control. The story is disturbing, but it is also reflective of what goes on in modern society. It leaves us with a sense that something as dramatic as a society like Gilead could happen in the future, what would any of us do in that situation. Offred resisted the ideology of Gilead in her mind, but she could not escape it or her role as a Handmaid much in the same way the rest of the citizens could not escape the roles they played in Gilead. They were controlled by the religious based ideas and the fear of consequence the Gilead regime used to solidify its power, would we be able to escape

Most women are control and have no power. They are being controlled in way that their value of women is determined by their ability to produce off springs. The Republic of Gilead existed as a means of maintaining power in the hands of men. In Republic

Imagine existing in a world where you have no personal freedom or voice. You aren’t allowed to write, read, talk or express your opinions as a result of being female. How would you feel? The ideas throughout Margaret Atwood’s award winning allegory “The Handmaids Tale” leave the reader questioning inequality not only in the book but in today’s contemporary society. It demonstrates the internal and external struggles that women in a patriarchal society are exposed to and focuses on the suppression and denial of human rights towards them.

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

She was able to live a “normal” life until her country was taken over and made into Gilead, an oppressive theocracy. This oppression is especially prevalent in the lives of the women of Gilead. One restriction they encounter

It is necessary for the government to impose a certain amount of power and control on its citizens for a society to function properly. However, overuse and misuse of power and control in a society eliminates the freedom of the residents, forbidding them to live an ordinary life. In the dystopic futuristic novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the idea of power and control through the oppressive society Gilead. The government establishes power and control with the Wall, the Salvagings, and military control. As well, the government’s unique use of the Aunts and “Red Centres” demonstrates the unfair oppression and indoctrination of the women and potential Handmaids within the society. This type of control can be compared to

Within the totalitarian society created by Margaret Atwood in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are many people and regimes centred around and reliant on the manipulation of power. The laws that are in place in the republic of Gilead are designed and implemented so as to control and restrict the rights and freedom of its inhabitants.

Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the Republic of Gilead, a futuristic dystopia. The Republic of Gilead was part of the United State, but after a terrorist attack cripples the American government a group of fundamentalist Christians take power. The first thing they do while in power is suspend the constitution which makes it possible to take away women’s rights. As the book progresses we find out the main character, Offred is a handmaid. Handmaids in Gilead are used only for reproduction purposes. We also find out she no longer is married to Luke or her daughter because when they tried to escape to Canada they were caught and split up. Eventually Offred and the Commander begin an illegal relationship. When they are in private

Women in the past were perceived as insignificant because of the society’s inability to embrace and acknowledge women as of equal importance as men and of those who are wealthy. In Margret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the character by the name of Offred, is a handmaid and tells her perspective of the dystopian life in the community of Gilead. The women of 1985 serve the males and the rich if they are not a wealthy maiden themselves. However, regardless of class, women are always discerned as of lesser significance than men. This is manifested through Offred’s observation that although the women who are a Commander’s wife are entitled of higher authority than the handmaids, they are still seen as insignificant. In order to give them

With these changes to society, members often felt bounded by Gilead and the ability to control one’s thoughts appears impossible, as Aunt Lydia tells Offred, “The Republic of Gilead, said Aunt Lydia, knows no bounds. Gilead is within you” (Atwood 23). It appears that Aunt Lydia believes that Gilead is an internal part of each individual and therefore, it is always helping to ‘shape’ one’s thoughts and actions. Gilead’s justification of why women don’t need an education is that since a woman’s purpose in society is to bear children and raise them, they no longer require an education to perform such duties. The male population of Gilead did not lose the same rights that the women lost, however, males still have restricted freedom and restricted access to materials (books, magazines, etc). The restrictions placed on women’s and men’s lives in Gilead appear to match a characteristic of a dystopia. Since men and women don’t receive the same education in Gilead due to the restrictions on freedom, it would be improper to consider Gilead a utopia.

Women have been domesticated by men since the beginning of time. This role was given to women changing substantially as the years have gone by. It is still true that today there is a battle for equality of the sexes, and this novel by Margaret Atwood displays the harsh reality we continue to face in this male dominant society. Interestingly enough, this was written and published in the 80s and is still relevant today. Some believe that it is perfectly fine to not have equality amongst all let alone equality for women. Atwood’s use of men gives them power over women but they are not to blame for this mistreatment of the opposite sex. The Handmaid’s Tale gives a clear picture of what could happen to our society if women are continued to be seen as voiceless sex objects. It only takes one person to realize that what is occurring is wrong and it takes men and women both to stop the nonsense. Men in the story like The Commander and Nick realize the wrongness, giving the women some hope. The concern for Offred the Commander displays proves not all men are evil or to blame in Gilead.