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Current Events In The Handmaid's Tale

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In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, there are many moments that establish Gilead, the fictional world the novel is set in, as a corrupt society. Gilead is incredibly segregationist, with minorities and women specifically being targeted. It has an incredible lack of reproductive rights for women, and sexual shaming and blame are very prevalent. Margaret Atwood herself stated that she based The Handmaid's Tale only on events that have happened in the past, so aspects of the novel will always exist and can happen again (Atwood Emma Watson interviews). Like Atwood predicted, themes in this novel are still relevant in today's society. Once Gilead replaced the United States, those who would did not conform to the new government's standards were shipped off or killed. This does in fact mirror the past- it is incredibly similar to the way Nazi's gathered up Jewish, queer, and disabled people, and carried out a mass genocide. The Sons of Jacob, who overthrew the government and suspended the …show more content…

The fact that The Handmaid's Tale is based on past events and is still referenceable thirty years later shows the importance of this story. In an piece she wrote on the novel in regard to the current political climate, Atwood stated "In this divisive climate, in which hate for many groups seems on the rise and scorn for democratic institutions is being expressed by extremists of all stripes, it is a certainty that someone, somewhere - many, I would guess - are writing down what is happening as they themselves are experiencing it Or they will remember, and record later, if they can." (atwood on a what it means in age of trump). There might be even more Offreds and books like The Handmaid's Tale in the future. Overall, the themes of segregation, lack of rights, and sexual repression are relatable and can be found frequently in the novel and within the world at

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Outward Conformity In The Handmaid's Tale

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Outward conformity along with inward questioning, that is what the main character, presented in Margaret Artwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has to undertake in order to survive in a theocratic society. Stepping out of line in any way risks your life, so in a place where freedom of speech and basic human right’s no longer apply, Offered must comply with whatever rules they have in place and pretend to agree with the system, but in the inside, she cannot help but think about her past life, her husband, her daughter, before everything began. Flashbacks are integrated in the novel to not only compare the old society with the new one, but to also demonstrate this fake conformity Offred has to display to others and her internal struggle with giving up on escaping the Republic or just accepting her fate and playing by

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Some people did not employ African Americans just because their race. Women were also treated unfairly during this time. Women are now allowed to vote during this time but they are thought to be housewives, mother and caregivers. It was hard for them to get decent jobs and were mostly rejected. Curley’s wife was treated very unfairly in this book.

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Flannery O Connor's Use Of Setting Analysis

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Equality In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

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The battle for equality has been a problem for many years. Many people have strived for many changes throughout history, which directly and indirectly changed how people treat each other. As people strive towards equality, more struggles with reference to sexism, ableism, and racism awaits. The novel takes place in the 1930s, the Great Depression. The Great Depression is the worst economic downfall in U.S. history.

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Outcasts In To Kill A Mockingbird

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And just like in To Kill a Mockingbird those who do not fit into societies boxes are shamed and avoided by their families and former friends. The Handmaid 's tale conveys that society looks at people as expectations, measurements, and archetypes it causes people to be outcast unless they

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Use Of Figurative Language In The Handmaid's Tale

1108 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the protagonist, Offred, expresses her wish that her “story [is] different,” that it is “happier,” or at least “more active, less hesitant, less distracted” than it is ultimately portrayed (267). However, as her story is told, these characteristics are evident in the way she talks and acts, especially around those with authority. Hesitant to express her true thoughts and feelings, and distracted by memories from her previous life, Offred attempts to piece together her role in the society that has taken her freedom. The result is a compilation of moments, of memories, both from her present, her past, and even speculation about her future.

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Conflict In The Handmaids Tale

1436 Words | 6 Pages

Conflict can be described as the struggle between two opposing forces, whether the forces being person vs person, person vs self or person vs society. Good examples of conflict can be found in almost any book. Margaret Atwood’s novel, the Handmaid’s Tale is a source of all three types of conflicts. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a society where females are given specific duties and are restricted from reading, writing, talking to others and looking at themselves in mirrors. The protagonist, Offred whom is also the narrator in the novel faces conflicts with herself, with other people, and the society that she lives in.

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The Religion Influences In The Handmaid's Tale

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From my personal research, the events in the novel were influenced by negative situations that involved the American society prior to the 1980’s. These negative aspects of Gilead’s religious society in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ were drawn from similar issues facing the American public prior to the 1980’ s. These issues were based on religious concepts that were thought to greatly improve the American population's standard of living. The main ideas that influenced the creation of certain events and

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Racism And Classism In The Handmaid's Tale

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What would become of the world, if our current societal flaws, such as sexism, racism, and classism were ingrained and executed at a systematic level? This is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale set out to explore. The novel, which claims to be speculative fiction, is set in the theocratic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA), where birth rates are rapidly declining and women have been marginalized by the patriarchal regime, forbidden to read, write or love and valued only if they are able to procreate. They are separated into classes, including Wives, Marthas, Aunts, Unwomen, and Handmaids, distinguishable only by the color of their clothing. The Handmaids are renamed by combining ‘of’ and the name of the Commander that they have been assigned to, stripping them of any individuality.

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Works of literature often portray ideas relating to Marxist theory, this is why in a dystopian society, class distinctions dominate the social climate, using Marxist ideologies as a tool to define the lives of the narrator and those around her. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, ideologies from Marxist theory dominate the society in which Offred, the narrator, lives in, evidenced by the strict class systems and limited interaction between them. In writing the novel, Atwood makes a point to create a world that could exist using technology and ideas already accessible in today’s society, meaning the events that take place in The Handmaid’s Tale could happen in present day. Offred lives in a reality where class distinctions dominate society, and women, especially fertile women. These women are displaced downwards, although there are those women who attempt to resist the grip of society.

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Theme Of Identity In The Handmaid's Tale

802 Words | 4 Pages

The society is functioning, but the morals of the system are questionable. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood uses the theme of identity to emphasize the power individuality, lack of identity results in rebellion and that identity is something you don't know you have until it's gone. Even in our normal, non-dystopian society, our world tries to tell us who we are. In The Handmaid's Tale they

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Totalitarianism In The Handmaid's Tale

1251 Words | 6 Pages

The Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of

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Examples Of Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

711 Words | 3 Pages

Rebellion in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine not being able to do what you used to do because some actions are forbidden in this new society. In the Handmaid's Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are limited to certain actions. Throughout the story, Offred’s actions are rebellious because she has broken so many rules. Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellion by showing the Commanders and Offred’s affair developing throughout time and the actions of both characters.

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Political Issues In The Handmaid's Tale

988 Words | 4 Pages

In the 1980s, United States was experiencing the rise of conservatism. Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservative religious groups were gaining popularity. In response to the social and political landscape, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published a fictional novel The Handmaid’s Tale in 1986; a genre of dystopian novels. The storyline projects an imaginary futuristic world where society lives under oppression and illusion of a utopian society maintained through totalitarian control. Dystopian novels often focus on current social government trends and show an exaggeration of what happens if the trends are taken too far.

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Examples Of Satire In The Handmaid's Tale

1472 Words | 6 Pages

Satire is used in literature to criticize and point out society’s flaws. The criticism is usually masked in humour. Irony is commonly used in satires to expose flaws, an effective example is John Smith’s A Modest Proposal, he effectively uses irony, to communicate his argument about the poverty in Ireland at the time. Similarly, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale she criticizes the society that women live in. Atwood uses allusions to the Old Testament, Cultural Revolution, Salem Witch Trials, and the Taliban to satirize the oppression of women in political, religious and social aspects.

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