The Fall Of The Handmaids Tale

In The Handmaid’s Tale, each individual wears a certain colored garb that is symbolic of their role in society. The wives of the Commanders wear blue, which is a royal color, symbolizing the high status of the wives. Blue is also seen as a cold color, which represents the attitudes of the Wives towards the Handmaids. The color blue is often associated with the Virgin Mary, symbolizing the Wives ultimate role as mothers – but ones who have not conceived themselves but rear the children anyway. The Handmaids’ red dresses are long, draping, and covering every inch of their bodies.

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

The women who have become sterile are fit into other classes within Gilead’s society and are differentiated by the color of their dress.. The women who are high on the class list are the wives (Blue Dress) who are married to the commanders. In this case the wife of the commander is Serena Joy, who is unable to bear any children. She was able to escape the oppressive chains of the Republic due to her devotion to serving God and spreading the word of God prior to the collapse of the U.S. However, her life is no more joyous than that of a Martha or a Handmaid as she must watch the handmaid's enter her home to attempt to bare her husband's children. The next on the list are the Aunts, they are staff members who blend the prim role of academy schoolmarms with the sadism of prison matrons. These women ‘teach’ the Handmaid’s about the role they have had the privilege of their positions within the new Republic of Gilead. The Martha's (Green Dress) women who are older or sterile and have the task of being the commander’s housekeepers. The Econowives (Striped Dress)who are working-class women who lack maid service and thus must "do everything." The Unwomen (Dress color never specified) are females that were remanded to the Colonies to serve in clean-up crews removing toxic wastes. Both the class and dress code of the women symbolizes that they are no longer individuals; they

The Handmaid’s Tale is a story told in the voice of Offred, who is the character of the “handmaid”, which is described best by women who are being forced and used for reproduction because they can make babies. In the Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood uses symbolism, which is the use of symbols to represent ideas, to show the reader the handmaid’s role in society of Gilead. The handmaids were women who had broken the law of Gilead, and forced into having sex and reproducing for the higher class. They had no rights and were watched constantly so this created a very nervous atmosphere. This horrible way of living is most likely why Offred never fully made the reader aware of the horrible life she was forced to live because

In “The Handmaid 's Tale” by Margaret Atwood, there is the addressing of freedom, abuse of power, feminism, rebellion and sexuality. The audience is transported to a disparate time where things normalized in our current society are almost indistinguishable. Atwood uses each character carefully to display the set of theme of rebellion within the writing, really giving the reader a taste of what the environment is like by explaining detailed interactions, and consequences as well as their role in society.

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.

remaining that can are essentially forced into slavery. In Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, pollution and corruption of the previous society has caused infertility in both women and men. The previous government that had allowed the infertility issue to grow so great is overthrown by a religious government, a theocracy of some sort. The remaining women who can reproduce are told by the government that it is God's decree that they have children for the wives of officials that cannot. This system may be ideal for the wives and commanders however the handmaid's go through many psychological issues.

In addition to the important roles that women play in the regime, this setting also portrays the will and intelligence of women. Offred seeks knowledge as she meets with the Commander; she longs for touch and intimacy as she risks everything to spend her nights with Nick. Moira strives to leave the confines of the regime as she continuously found ways to escape. Even as she is recaptured, she chooses to stay at Jezebel’s to live. Although given death if no child is beared, Handmaids voluntarily “prayed for emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with self-denial, semen and babies” (194). Despite their role to bear children and given death if they failed to do so, essentially, Handmaids have a choice in whether they accept that death or survive by finding ways to get pregnant. These instances show that women are not merely simple creatures who are controlled by men because what they do is still a decision of their own. Nevertheless, all of the progress that women fought for is gone: their reproductive rights, economic rights, social rights. Women are not allowed to get abortions, and they are forced into bearing children for their Commanders. Women have no outside jobs; they merely complete chores for their household. They are given no social power; they are monitored for what they say and what they can do in public. Such strict confines of

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.

Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, follows the story of Offred, the protagonist and narrator, living in a dystopian New England set in a near future America. The overthrown totalitarian government called the Republic of Gilead now concentrates on women, depriving them from their rights and ranking them by class, and returning to a more primitive time period. The handmaids, a position that Offred has been assigned to, now must serve for reproductive purposes for the barren elite ruling class. Atwood uses the female body as a theme throughout her book as a way to _.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the author, Margaret Atwood, creates a dystopian society that is under theocratic rule. From this theocracy, each individual’s freedom is, for the most part, taken away. The Handmaid’s Tale creates a dystopia by placing restrictions on the individual’s freedom, using propaganda to control its citizens, and by having citizens of Gilead live in dehumanized ways. Furthermore, the creation of a hierarchal system in Gilead caused its citizens to lose the ability to feel empathy towards one another. In the search to create a perfect society, Gilead caused more harm and problems than expected which created a dystopia rather than a utopia.

After reading the Handmaid's Tale, I felt that Societal Complacency was the most critical aspect to the success of the Gilead Society. The Republic of Gilead is a run by a strict Old Testament religious doctrine. This government does not tolerate anyone who does not conform, it is run mostly by fear. Fear of death or the wall or being sent to radioactive colonies. This new government is cruel towards women, it robbed them of their humanity under the guise of protecting them. This new republic has forced women to give up jobs, forbidden them from reading, they control or regulate sexual activity as well as reproduction and birth, they have also prohibited or limited speech between women and even renamed women so that it fits in with a more

In the novel, society is taken over by a religious group. This group repurposes what is believed to be the United States of America, because of dangerously low reproduction rates. Everyone is constantly overpowered, manipulated, and forced into conforming to this new society in place that will ideally increase the population to an appropriate number. Even though The Handmaid’s Tale was written in 1986 people are still being controlled by society. It is important for American People to understand that society manipulates and deceives us because using power to control people takes away your freedom.

To begin, the red color of the handmaid’s dresses represents the immorality of the services they provide to the powerful commanders and their wives. In Gilead handmaids are mandated to have sex with their commanders in the hopes of baring a child. Giving birth to a healthy child is the ultimate goal of the handmaids that they must devote themselves entirely to in order to be safe under authoritarian rule. The red color of their dresses is a constant reminder to themselves and others that their importance is their fertility. Offred the protagonist states, “everything except the

A Critical Analysis of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In this dystopia novel, it reveals a remarkable new world called Gilead. “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, explores all these themes about women who are being subjugated to misogyny to a patriarchal society and had many means by which women tried to gain not only their individualism and their own independence. Her purpose of writing this novel is to warn of the price of an overly zealous religious philosophy, one that places women in such a submissive role in the family. I believe there are also statements about class in there, since the poor woman are being meant to serve the rich families need for a child. As the novel goes along the narrator Offred is going between the past and