Women In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

Over the past 200 years sexual liberation and freedom have become topics of discussions prevalent within western culture and society. With the recent exploration of sexuality a new concept of sexual and gender identity has emerged and is being analyzed in various fields of study. The ideology behind what defines gender and how society explains sex beyond biology has changed at a rapid pace. In response various attempts to create specific and catch all definitions of growing gender and sexual minorities has been on going. This has resulted in the concept of gender becoming a multi- layered shifting hypothesis to which society is adapting. Since the 19th-century, philosophers and theorists have continued to scrutinize gender beyond biological and social interpretation. Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale captures the limitations and social implications forced upon a set gender based on societal expectations. Gender is a social construct that limits the individual to the restrictions and traditions of a society, or if it’s an individually formed self-identification of sex and sexuality that is formed autonomously. Evidence of gender establishment can be seen within literary works and supported by various schools of gender and sexuality theory.

From very early on in the book, the significance of gender roles is set out in order to allow the reader to comprehend the idea of the castes in this patriarchal society. The transition between the “time before” and what Offred describes as “now”, is essential in order to realize the changes that occurred. After the “Sons of Jacob” start the revolution, people’s rights are put in limbo as the constitution is suspended. Women’s rights become almost non-existent, and the division begins. Since her attempted escape, Offred is brought back into Gilead and do her duty as a fertile woman, and become a handmaid. She is very limited in what she can do, and in order to not be sent away to the

For my ISP I have chosen to cover the topic of men and women being reduced to political objects or instruments by the misuse of power. From the first chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood makes it clear to the reader each character introduced has a distinct role in the society the novel is set in. Gender roles seem to play a major part in the class division of the totalitarian government style of The Handmaid’s Tale and although our government style is very different, class division and gender roles still present major issues in our world today. Throughout the beginning of the novel language is used as a tool to oppress peoples rights and freedoms leading to class division and specific gender roles.

In Margaret Atwood’s novel a “The Handmaid’s Tale” they are placed in the future in Massachusetts, near Harvard university in the republic of Gilead. In Gilead they believe that women are nothing but servants to men, and their only purpose is for reproduction. In the story women are kept in a gymnasium and where they slept on army cots, and everything that they could use to cause self-harm is eliminated. That way they are not able to commit suicide by any means. Women in this story are basically forced into having sex with whoever deems it necessary for breeding purposes. For instance in the story Offred is assigned to the commander’s household where she routinely went on shopping trips, cleaned, and was forced to have sex with the commander

Margaret Atwood’s depiction of the handmaids’ struggle to be a part of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale shows a clear example of how a person might be exploited in order to benefit the privileged class. People are

Throughout history, women have always struggled with maintaining a status equal to that of men in both the workforce as well as home life. Traditionally, women have been forced to be shut into the house performing grotesquely dull action such as constantly cooking, cleaning and caretaking while the man is out bringing home the money due to the female’s ability to reproduce readily. This outdated status of women, however, is taken to an extreme in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood where the women are demoted as practically slaves to the system. While numerous pieces of literature have addressed slavery across the world in different lights, very few have explored the enslavement felt by women to men in the ages prior to present day. By

In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, life in the newly formed dystopian society of Gilead is partial to the rights of women. Once the college town of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gilead has produced laws that prohibit women from writing, reading, conversing in a casual manner, having jobs, purchasing items, and even forming intimate and meaningful relationships. They are brought down to just a means of reproduction. Those who reproduce are called Handmaids and one such Handmaid is Offred. Her way of adapting to such a drastic change of lifestyle is to separate her mind from her body, to dissociate herself from what’s happening around her and to her. Pollock, the author of The Brain in Defense Mode, cites a definition of dissociation

Margret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’ is a dystopian novel focusing on the totalitarian state of Gilead. Although the state of Gilead can be superficially seen as patriarchal where men are the only oppressors, considering the context from the time when the novel was written, we can see Atwood’s concerns for the future. The novel describes the life story of protagonist Offred through her first person narrative and use of flashbacks and Atwood primarily portrays gender roles through her use of language and symbolism throughout the novel, which reiterate the oppressive and authoritarian state that the handmaids are obliged to live in. Similarly, Atwood portrays largely negative attitudes towards hierarchy through the use of techniques such as

In The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood’s dystopic fiction she uses diction,point of view,and plot structure to actually say that in society women hold all the power although it may seem like men hold all the power by having high-ranking jobs such as president governor and even CEO’s but Atwood challenges these stereotypes in her novel by having women unknowingly have power over their male superiors with neither sides knowing about the power women hold all the power

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, The Handsmaid’s Tale is a powerful piece of composition that surfaces the political ideals and social movements during Atwood’s period of life. Though an important primary focus of the tale is the oppressing consequence of patriarchal control of women in Gilead’s society, Atwood, through extensive detailing of Gilead’s power structure, reveal that a deeper and problematic expression of the novel is the disunion that exist amongst the female characters. Such disunity ultimately prevented the females from empowering their own kind and successfully rising against the powers that subjugated them. Atwood’s piece, though perhaps a criticism of her perceived failed feminist movements that occurred during her time is also a prognosticating urging for women in any liberating movements to form soliditary ties among one another.

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood explores the role that women play in society and the consequences of a countryís value system. She reveals that values held in the United States are a threat to the livelihood and status of women. As one critic writes, “the author has concluded that present social trends are dangerous to individual welfare” (Prescott 151).

Works of fiction offer for their readers a respite from their own societies and personal problems, allowing them to explore other worlds. Despite this fact, the label fiction being stamped on the back of the book does not completely detach the story from reality. One cannot deny the deeply political and real undertones of many pieces of literature we read; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is no exception. Set in the dystopian future of America, the main character Offred and her colleagues have to navigate the restrictive and emotion inhibiting civilization that values women only for their ability to give birth. Like many dystopian novels, Atwood’s story plants a question in its readers, making them wonder if perhaps Offred’s world is

Margaret Atwood is a well known author, and she is especially venerated for her novel called The Handmaid’s Tale. The Handmaid’s Tale is both a critique and embodiment of the feminist theory, specifically of the second wave; her publishing in 1985 was influenced by this time period. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the Republic of Gilead when the women are oppressed is viewed as a dystopia, but before it was reorganized, women were viewed as a threat to men. Women in the Republic of Gilead only have one of six roles. They are either a Wife, Jezebel, Martha, Econowive, Daughter, Aunt, or Handmaid; if they are neither of these six roles, then they are exiled and viewed as “unwomen”. The men, on the other hand, possess high prestige as a Guardian, Angel, Commander, or Eye. Throughout her novel, she uses the actions of powerful women protesting and fighting back against a society that has become corrupt and oppressive for women. For example, the main character’s mother is loud and proud in her memories, having attended protests for abortion and

Gilead’s society is oppressive and unjust to the point that the oppression causes delusion for the women. Gilead, through extensive efforts, tries to simmer their civilians by claiming that the incessant restrictions are for their own good. No restrictions are more stringent than those bestowed on the women, and more specifically, the handmaids. Although, Gilead claims to be built on a principal set of values, its principles are ignored and challenged to ensure everything runs smoothly in the eyes of Gilead’s patriarchy. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the Republic of Gilead, a corrupt government adamant on supporting a better way of life for females, undermines their very own beliefs. "There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don 't underrate it" (24). Gilead presumes that they offer females with freedom from both sexual harassment and the indiscretion of men, but instead Gilead only supports the harassment and indiscretion.

“There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from,” (Atwood 24). The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, is a novel set in the near future where societal roles have severely changed. The most notable change is that concerning women. Whereas, in the past, women have been gaining rights and earning more “freedom to’s”, the women in the society of The Handmaid’s Tale have “freedom froms”. They have the freedom from being abused and having sexist phrases yelled at them by strangers. While this may seem like a safer society, all of the “safeness” comes at a drastic cost. Atwood depicts a dystopia in The Handmaid’s Tale