The Handmaid 's Tale Essay

In a society where women are completely oppressed they have two choices: To conform and survive, or to rebel and risk execution. Conformity would entail suppressing their morals and their personal rights to adapt to Gilead’s social standards. Would one choose self-inflicted isolation by disassociating oneself as a human being to survive, or gain more rights and disregard all morals by working for the government? This society is represented in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale. The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead, a dictatorship, formerly known as the United States of America. The government controls all aspects of the lives’ of its citizens, with its harshest regulations directly affecting women.

Margaret Atwood's renowned science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was written in 1986 during the rise of the opposition to the feminist movement. Atwood, a Native American, was a vigorous supporter of this movement. The battle that existed between both sides of the women's rights issue inspired her to write this work. Because it was not clear just what the end result of the feminist movement would be, the author begins at the outset to prod her reader to consider where the story will end. Her purpose in writing this serious satire is to warn women of what the female gender stands to lose if the feminist movement were to fail. Atwood envisions a society of extreme changes in

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

   As the saying goes, 'history repeats itself.' If one of the goals of Margaret Atwood was to prove this particular point, she certainly succeeded in her novel A Handmaid's Tale. In her Note to the Reader, she writes, " The thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the society depicted in The Handmaiden's Tale except the time and place. All of the things I have written about ...have been done before, more than once..." (316). Atwood seems to choose only the most threatening, frightening, and atrocious events in history to parallel her book by--specifically the enslavement of African Americans in the United States. She traces the development of this institution, but from the

Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Moira = == = = We first meet Moira "breezing into" (P65) Offred's room at college.

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.

It is necessary for the government to impose a certain amount of power and control of its citizens in order for a society to function properly. However, too much power and control in a society eliminates the freedom of the residents, forbidding them to live an ordinary life. In the dystopian futuristic novel, The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the theme of power and control through an oppressive society called the Republic of Gilead. The government established power and control through the use of the wall, military control, the salvaging, the particicution, and gender.

Offred's memories are a way for her to escape a society riddled with hopelessness. The authoritarian society of Gilead prevents her from

Written in 1985, the dystopian, fictional novel; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood depicts a totalitarian theocracy society set in the United States of America that covers many facets of being a modern woman in this patriarchal world, that range from domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, to less-involved topics. Though the novel was originally published in the year 1985, its’ explicit scenes draw an eerie image of what the future may look for women following the election of President Donald Trump. Altogether a woman’s socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and educational level affect the probability that she will experience any form of violence throughout her lifetime. One’s socioeconomic status is not always a reliable source to determine

Psychological criticism has roots as far back as the fourth century BC, when Aristotle “commented on the effects of tragedy on an audience, saying hat by evoking pity and fear, tragedy creates a cathartic of those emotions” (Dobie 54). More recently, however, psychological criticism has been shaped and influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud. He developed theories concerning “the workings of the human psyche, its formations, its organization, and its maladies” that, while further refined by other theorists, are still the basis of the modern approach to literary criticism (Dobie 54). Freud’s theory of the tripartite psyche is used to classify and define the conscious and unconscious mind into the id, ego, and superego. When examined using this theory, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel about a patriarchal totalitarian government that has replaced the United States of America, is particularly interesting.

Lack of Difference from Women in The Handmaid’s Tale and Women in Modern Day Society

    Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer.

Do you agree that although The Handmaid's Tale is written from a feminist point of view, the portraits given of men are surprisingly sympathetic while those of women are often critical?

American author Lloyd Alexander once described reading as “one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.” Throughout my life, I can say with certainty that I’ve always loved to read, and could agree with this quote wholeheartedly. However, when I dove into Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a book I had been unfamiliar with and expected enjoy, I found more aversions than I did adventure. I was not prepared for often non-sequential storyline, indefinite details, and overall confusion that would hobble my once high hopes for the piece. Yet despite my preliminary dislike, there were certain aspects that impressed me as I plodded through the pages, and perhaps in the end there were just enough praiseworthy components to amend my

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