The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

Throughout the course of world history on Earth, humans have always worked harder and harder in order to improve society and make it more perfect, although it still hasn’t been done quite yet, because it is merely impossible to achieve perfection in a world with close to seven billion people. There is a very distinct difference between a utopia, which can also be known as perfection, and a dystopia, which can also be known as a tragedy; and the outcomes normally generate from the people in charge or the authority that sets up the foundation, the rules, and the regulations for a society. In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Republic of Gilead is created by a powerful authority group called the Eyes after a huge government take over and the assassination of the US president. It’s very strict rules and goals are set up to protect women, to increase childbirth, and to keep all violence, men, and powerful social media under control. The novel is set in a first person point of view and the narrator, Offred, tells her story to us readers about her experiences as a handmaid and how her life was completely turned upside down. Throughout the course of the novel Offred reveals many sides of herself; although her thoughts do not remain consistent, her personality and opinion tends to change revealing, that she is hesitant and strong because she learns to make the best of what she has and silently overcome the system of the Republic of Gilead.

In the book The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the foremost theme is identity, due to the fact that the city where the entire novel takes place in, the city known as the Republic of Gilead, often shortened to Gilead, strips fertile women of their identities. Gilead is a society that demands the women who are able to have offspring be stripped of all the identity and rights. By demeaning these women, they no longer view themselves as an individual, but rather as a group- the group of Handmaids. It is because of the laws that have been established that individuality has been demolished. From these points that will be raised, it can be concluded that a handmaid’s role in Gilead is more important than their happiness, and mental wellbeing.

In her book, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Margaret Atwood describes a dystopian society in which all of the progress in the feminist movement that was made during the twentieth century is reversed and the nation is reverted back to its traditional patriarchal ways. The story is told from the point of view of Offred, a woman who was separated from her husband and child and forced into the life of a handmaid. In this book, Atwood explores the oppression of women through her use of literary tools such as figurative language, symbols, and literary allusions.

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the dystopian society of Gileadean society is described. The role of women and the oppression of women by men cannot be missed while reading the novel. Due to the dropping fertility rates, fertile women are trained to be a Handmaid by the Aunts in the Red Center. The job of the Handmaid is to conceive a baby with the Commander, so the Commander and the Wife can nurture the child. Atwood uses the oppression of women in the Gileadean society to show her thoughts about the danger of historic events and the developments in society nowadays. The novel projects the struggle of Offred, who is a Handmaid herself, against the totalitarian restriction of her society and her desire for happiness and

“The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation” by Eudora Welty. In the book, The Handmaid’s Tale, the series of past and present events are not in chronological order like most books. The book is constructed like the mind, it is in no particular order. However, the passage at chapter 41, page 307-308 if read thoroughly with the use of texture can bring out new interesting findings. When studied with the use of literal content, plots and characters connect the passage. Analysing this passage critically, gives out insights into characters and the narrator’s life. Through an exhaustive deconstruction of textures, literal

A form of mental oppression within The Handmaid’s Tale is showcased through the lack of individuality. The fact that in the first chapter, the characters are forbidden to use their real names let alone speaking them, leaving them with the only option which was “to lip-read… watching each other’s mouths. In this way [they] exchanged names from bed to bed (Part 1, Chapter 1, Page 14).” By conveying their names, they are able to hold on to and preserve what little individuality and identity they have left. Ultimately, it reveals how much power this new society has managed to gain and how much the main character clearly lacks within the situation. Moreover, the stative verb “exchanged” and the abstract noun “names” makes the action of telling each other their names come across like a business transaction. This actually highlights the way Gileadean society functions as woman are thought of as nothing but merchandise, objects, that can be sold or this case given away or exchanged to others in order to benefit the rest of society. Furthermore, the fact reflects the society that Atwood grew up in as women were generally thought of as just caregivers which would have significantly lowered self-esteem and brainwashed them into thinking that this is all that they can do; Offred begins to think this very

In American society, people deem it unjust to hinder someone due to their gender, race, religion, and more. However, in the past and presently, there are societies that restrict people due to these same characteristics. Atwood criticizes the idea of having these restrictions through her work, The Handmaid’s Tale. With this work, Atwood establishes connections between disparate historic events, which share similarities. Atwood’s book explicitly relates to slavery due her commentary on the power dynamic through her character, Offred. Offred resembles a slave during the 19th century through her emotional, physical, and mental conditions, commenting on the disregard society has for its imperious control over people.

Power: a simple five-letter word with numerous definitions. Power a noun. Power meaning the ability or right to control people or things (“Power”). Throughout the history of human existence it has been human nature to crave and want power. The feeling of being in control and not having to answer to anybody is an indescribable feeling. But being in power can also lead to undesirable decisions. In the 19th century, Lord Acton a British historian said “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, readers are exposed to a dystopic novel where individuals use the influence of their societal roles to manipulate others. There is no coincidence that Atwood’s novel can be considered a speculative fiction. Nor is it a coincidence that The Handmaid’s Tale is still relevant today. Abuse of power is relevant in not only Atwood’s novel, but also present in numerous societies today across the globe.

The Handmaid’s Tale is filled with stimulating, thought-provoking themes. The book can be analyzed with many different considerations, each of them leading into an individual theme. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the theme of control is prevalent, and is significant in that it establishes many of the premises that contribute to the main conflicts of their society. In this essay I will discuss how the theme of control results in conflict regarding the way they dress, their identity, and the rights that they have.

“But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.” (Atwood 125), is a beautiful quote by Margaret Atwood used to portray the struggles and the agonies of women suffering from the unequal Gileadean hierarchy, which indirectly connects to our modern world issues with feminism such as pay gaps and property ownership laws. In the book The Handmaid’s Tale, it is not difficult to spot from the beginning that women are treated inhumanely. They are seen locked up in a gymnasium surrounded by gunmen and other groups of women called ‘Aunts’ with electric tasers, and the names all seem to be pre-made, as all names mentioned at the end of the first chapter possess polysyllabic first names and monosyllabic last names, except one, June. It seems that the new groups of people called Sons of Jacob overthrew

The Women's Rights movement in America has been a consistent struggle since its founding in the early twentieth century. The social revolution received its greatest opposition in the nineteen sixties to the late nineteen eighties. It was during this time Margaret Atwood published her novel The Handmaid's Tale, the story tells of a futuristic utopian society in America, religiously based, that has effectively taken all human rights from women to accomplish their goal. In the now country of Gilead, the feminist American movement has been reversed completely.

Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaids Tale, is a story of a dystopian society set in the land of Gilead. The premise of The Handmaids Tale is the creation a masculine dominated civilization in which not only are the rights of women oppressed, but the basic rights of humanity. Everything, even and up to sex, has been desensitized, which destroys the concept of family, as men have sex with and impregnate handmaids, not their wives, as a means of conception and reproduction. While the officials of the Republic of Gilead attempt to suppress all evidence of the past, it is impossible to do so. The novels main character, and narrative voice, is a handmaid named Offred. Early on in the novel, she describes her home in this future, tyrannical society. The glimpse she provides, through symbolism, demonstrates to the reader the main themes of the novel, and allows the reader to identify the failures of Gilead in upholding its principles. A closer look at chapter two of The Handmaids Tale foreshadows many of the thematic elements established throughout the novel. The idea of family, represented by the Late Victorian house, the necessity of both the wives and the handmaids, represented by the color of the flowers, and the notion of time, represented by the grandfather clock are the books integral themes.

The Handmaid’s Tale is one of the most prestigious books of Margaret Atwood, and many readers believe that this is a feminist novel. Also, like the author, Margaret Atwood, indicated in the preamble of the book: “If you mean a novel in which women are human beings- with all the variety of character and behavior that implies- and are also interesting and important…then yes. In this case, many books are feminist.” Actually, her words were accepted by many people, the Handmaid tale is a feminist book because the book is described from the side of the women and shows the discrepancies of women, the book demonstrates how women suffer the cruel state actions of Gilead, and the book reveals a series of stereotypes on women as well.

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story of fiction that takes place in a future where the ability to reproduce healthy babies is scarce. The novel focuses on a future where traditional values are strictly enforced by a totalitarian government leaving women powerless. This dystopia touches upon several aspects of life that shape society such as religion, government, gender roles, equality and more. Margaret elaborates on the outcome of a society that solely depends on traditional roles and its effect on women. The traditional values that govern this dystopia are similar to those seen in today’s society except they are taken to a further extent that prohibits any other way of living.

In a modern-day society, there are ideologies that select groups of people are to be subjugated. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood plays on this idea dramatically: the novel describes the oppression of women in a totalitarian theocracy. Stripped of rights, fertile women become sex objects for the politically elite. These women, called the Handmaids, are forced to cover themselves and exist for the sole purpose of providing children. The Handmaid’s Tale highlights the issue of sexism while also providing a cruel insight into the manipulation of power seen in the modern world.