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The Handmaid 's Tale, By Margaret Atwood

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Atwood 's novel, The Handmaid 's Tale depicts a not too futuristic society of Gilead, a society that overthrows the U.S. Government and institutes a totalitarian regime that seems to persecute women specifically. Told from the main character 's point of view, Offred, explains the Gilead regime and its patriarchal views on some women, known as the handmaids, to a purely procreational function. The story is set the present tense in Gilead but frequently shifts to flashbacks in her time at the Red Center. With the dark tone of the novel and the distant future, this novel The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood explores the theme loss of identity throughout the handmaids in the theocratic state of Gilead. The social milieu of The Handmaid 's Tale represents a totalitarian and patriarchal society. In the novel the society is represented through many rigorous laws such as forbidden education and critical thinking. Women are downplayed significantly in this society. For example, they cannot own property or vote, they are identified by their masters name, and they are forbidden to write and obtain an education. On the other hand, men are given much more sovereignty. They are able to write and get an education, they can vote and own property and are identified by a legal name. Another idea in the social milieu is the idea of a repressive religious system. It was in place by having biblical laws in place to preserve Christian faith by using biblical texts to further emphasize on

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