Similarities Between The Handmaid's Tale And The Color Purple

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

Both Orwell and Atwood use their novels – ‘1984’ and ‘The Handmaids Tale’ respectively – to provide a relatable yet impassioned criticism on the political state at the time of writing. Rather than the histrionic outbursts of over-zealous protestors, they use impeccable control and manipulation of language to eloquently communicate their views. Orwell devotes most of the novel to exploring the cynosure of language and its impact on the moral of citizens and their ability, or desire to rebel. Atwood isn’t as explicit in her focus on language, instead using it more sparingly, as a means to demonstrate Offred’s (the protagonist) solitary rebellion.

The fight against sexism is not a new fight. Women have been fighting for equal rights, as well as fighting for their lives, culture, and values to be just as important as men's. On August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote; but this was only the beginning. From then to now, the role of women in society has significantly changed due to women standing up for their rights at protests and rallies, as well as on social media. While “The Good Wife’s Guide” focused on the promotion of the traditional gender role of women and defined appropriate emotions for women, “The Revolt of ‘Mother,’” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, represents the start of the resistance of the traditional gender role of women that we see in society today.

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.

The advancement of women in society is a remarkable achievement, and the first step to true equality in the world. Despite the tremendous progress, oppression faced in the past should not be forgotten, largely because it is present modern society as well. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, both female relationships and identities are explored to determine the purpose of women. Society's historic tendency to undervalue women is seen more in The Handmaid's Tale than in The Color Purple.

Even though the women who can bear children are “cherished”, the babies are not which can be seen when babies are referred to as “shredders” and “unbabies.” Furthermore, it is interesting that the babies are not “cherished”, but the women who can bear children are because it is illegal to have an abortion and can lead to the doctor being killed who performed it. If the handmaids do not get pregnant within three months then they move down in the hierarchy. It is argued who has it worst in the society, however they all share something in common, being oppressed. The handmaids are not allowed to read, go out into public on their own and even have access to everyday things such as lotion. It is seen as vain and people say, “who are they trying to impress?” when they use such items. Offred steals butter to use as a substitute for lotion because she does not have access to it. Lastly, their names perfectly symbolize their oppression: Offred is Fred’s handmaid; she is “of Fred.” Everyday liberties people take for granted and this dystopia shows what it would be like to live under these harsh laws that can lead to execution.

It isn't just handmaids, or even only women that have forfeited their personal identity; men have lost theirs as well. Their loss of individualism is symbolized by their generic titles. There are three classes of men in Gilead: the 'Commanders,' the Doctors, and the 'Eyes.' Like the color-coded uniforms of the women, the generic titles of the men announce their function. The Commanders are supposed to fertilize the handmaids; the Doctors examine the handmaids monthly to check for possible problems with their reproductive organs; the Eyes are the spy network of Gilead and are responsible for enforcing discipline. Also like the women's color coded-uniforms, the men's generic titles deprive them of their individuality and reduce them to mere task objects.

The handmaids are one of the many social groups in Gilead. Their main purpose in Gilead is to bear children for the infertile,

Once there was a movement for women to grow and expand what they wanted to do there were many poets and writers that wanted to write about the actions that were occurring in that time period. Once poet was Gertrude Stein, in Food and Objects, there is a feminist approach of seeming weak and unstable. Her use of word choice with at first thinking that nothing is making sense about her writing, along with her talking about domestic spaces and always looking outside. Her having multiple pieces of work that is talking about looking out a window and being not in the house shows the woman wants more than what she is used to. One of her pieces is called A Brown, in this I believe that she is discussing the change that is going on with women during the 20th century. She wrote, “A brown which is not liquid not more so is relaxed and yet there is a change, a news is pressing” (Stein, 1914). I believe that she is talking about the changes that women are fighting for. Another writing that was very popular in the 20th century was the Freewoman Magazine, this was for the public to “ponder on the profounder aspects of Feminism” and was considered “open” due to the risqué topics that were discussed, along with the invitation of readers to respond to the journals that were written by the editors. Motherhood was discussed in there points of view moral, mystic, and domestic. The Freewoman thought differently than the woman from the 19th century. The Freewoman’s perspective is that mothers are

Envision a society where a woman’s sole purpose for being alive is her functioning uterus. If that woman fails to bear a child she can be killed. If that woman disregards the law she can be tortured, or even terminated. In the dystopian future of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale women’s bodies are used as political instruments. Because if the harmful pollution in the United States, a new Constitution has been made to address and correct the decline in birth rates. To do this the government has created Handmaids. Handmaids “are placed in the households of [army] Commanders whose Wives can no longer bear” babies anymore (Cameron 299). The future of the Republic of Gilead depends on the Handmaids ability to have a baby. The Handmaids are kept under strict surveillance and must follow a strict set of rules due to the fact that it is very hard to find women who can conceive. Without the Handmaids, the Republic of Gilead would come to an end, and yet the women (especially the Handmaids) have absolutely no power. Handmaids are not allowed to spend money, read, or write. The government has organized the women of Gilead by color. They have also had the Handmaids names changed to their Commander’s first name. This method robs them of their individuality. Due to this, the women are constantly looking for ways to have power. The government most importantly has control over women’s bodies by an event called the Ceremony. The Ceremony is a huge part of the Republic

The Color Purple (1982) and The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) were published nearly close in time which makes the comparison between them interesting. In fact, they have many common features e.g. gender oppression and the dominance of patriarchal society. Thus, the researcher focuses on the two female protagonists who are both marginalized, treated as submissive objects and how they are oppressed by patriarchal society. With regard to Corpus pre-processing, the researcher uses Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to convert the first novel The Color Purple from PDF to word file to be download easily on the Sketch Engine while the researcher downloads the second novel The Handmaid’s Tale from

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, women have one purpose- to reproduce. Offred, the protagonist, subjects to the command of Gilead, a dystopian society “in which a brutal patriarchal regime deprives women of power and subjectivity, enslaving them through a sophisticated, ubiquitous apparatus of surveillance” (Cooper 49). She is under the stringent control of the Commander. In the mid-1980’s, the President of the United States was assassinated and an oppressive group of people seizes control. A new nation, known as Gilead, is formed, in which women and minorities are degraded. In Gilead, women are merely a political instrument, used solely for reproduction. After the formation of Gilead, the nation is ill-struck with pollution due

Margaret Atwood’s harrowing novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, follows the story of a woman marginalized by the theocratic oligarchy she lives in; in the Republic of Gilead, this woman has been reduced to a reproductive object who has her body used to bear children to the upper class. From the perspective of the modern reader, the act of blatant mistreatment of women is obvious and disturbing; however, current life is not without its own shocking abuses. Just as the Gileadian handmaid was subject to varied kinds of abuse, many modern women too face varied kinds of abuses that include psychological, sexual, and financial abuse.

The Handmaids Tale is very reminiscent of George Orwell’s novel 1984. Both novels deal with themes of nationalism, control of individuals bodies and lifestyles and consistent surveillance on the population. The constant fear of the all seeing “eyes” that watch the populace’s every move is the Handmaids Tale version of “Big Brother” and the main character Offred is very comparable to 1984’s Winston Smith in attitude albeit not gender. I will be discussing several recurring themes that make themselves present throughout The Handmaids Tale and try to tie them in with certain concepts that were discussed throughout this course and also draw some parallels to Orwell’s 1984.

In the Gilead society the handmaids have to cover up their bodies, wear long dresses, and cover their faces with vial’s and wings. These rules for the women are the same if not similar in Afghanistan, India, and some south Asian countries. In Pakistan women can be raped and if no evidence is found to prove it was rape the men could get away with it and the women could be charged with pre-marital sex and sentence to prison. This is similar in The Handmaid’s Tale; the handmaids go through “the ceremony” as they call it. The handmaids had to lay on their backs once a month in hope to become impregnated by the commander. The handmaids are valued only for their womb, ovaries, and reproducing. If their ovaries were no good or if they couldn’t have children for any other reason, then the handmaid was not valued or not needed and was sent to “the club” where all the unclean, no use of handmaids are. The handmaids with valuable ovaries are alive only to serve a purpose which is to reproduce.