ipl-logo

Dystopian Society In The Handmaid's Tale

953 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The importance of individualism in the handmaid's tale

In the dystopian society of Gilead, each person is assigned a role, one purpose in life. Each role plays a specific part in this totalitarian theocratic state that used to be known as the United States of America. If this were to become a reality, what would your role be? What would become of your family? Here is what I believe would become of my family, the roles each of us would play, and how we would respond if Gilead were to become a reality. I don’t believe my family would do too well in a world such as this one. First of all, we would probably do everything in our power to avoid being caught up in that world. We would probably try to flee the country just like Offred, Luke, and their daughter tried to do. My family, much like many others …show more content…

My father, for starters, is strong. I believe he would be a guard. He is very protective and brave. Worst case scenario he would be made a Commander. My younger brother, on the other hand, would play more of a role similar to Nicks. He has the gentlest soul, which would not lend him any help if he were to be a guard. I could picture him doing the yard work and being a good chauffeur. He would be the one in this society that would secretly be working for the underground Mayday resistance, fighting against the totalitarian command. For my mom, she would definitely be a Martha. She loves cooking, cleaning, and taking care of us. She would be more like Cora in The Handmaid’s Tale than Rita, hopeful and content in her role. As for me, I would rather just not have this type of world become reality. If I really had to decide or choose a role I would play, though, I would probably be either a Handmaid or a Martha. I would definitely rather be a Martha, however. The Handmaid’s lead such a boring life, and have only one purpose in life, to get pregnant. I would much rather spend my days cooking and cleaning rather than sitting in an empty room with nothing but my

Show More
Related

Theme Of Control In The Handmaid's Tale

1526 Words | 7 Pages

Control. This is something all humans naturally hope to obtain whether it be over their life or others. This control, however, is built off most times off their own opinions and thinking. This is one of the growing problems within our society today but also in the dystopian society of The Republic of Gilead in the book written by Margret Atwood, The Handmaids Tale. In The Handmaids Tale, Atwood describes the ignorance of a rising government when coming to the birth-rate issue within their society and their inability to rethink will cause a whole society to forget their once ordinary lives to only being controlled.

Read More

Conforming To The Gileadean Society In The Handmaid's Tale

595 Words | 3 Pages

In the book The Handmaid’s Tale a new society is created and put into standards. These people strengthen and maintain power of the society. The people in the society have little to no say in the society and have to conform to the society even know that they don’t agree to the rules. Offred’s surroundings control her as she has to follow the Gileadean society because there is no possibility of appealing against it because she has fear of appealing and that there will be big consequences if she breaks the rules and Offred conforms to the Gileadean society because if she doesn’t there will be consequences. Offred has little to no freedom or rights but she can’t really do anything about it.

Read More

Sexism In The Handmaid's Tale

1446 Words | 6 Pages

Women are not oppressed! Any person who does not live under a rock knows this is not true, and authors are no exception. The job of any good author is to abstractly interpret world events and issues through their literary and provide a philosophical and socio-political outlook (Malak. 11), this is especially true authors of Dystopic novels. Writers like George Orwell and Margaret Atwood, use their works to depict social issues and political issues like sexism (Atwood), and surveillance (Orwell and Atwood) in society.

Read More

Racism And Classism In The Handmaid's Tale

746 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Control Of Women In The Handmaids Tale

678 Words | 3 Pages

In the Handmaid 's Tale power is used to control the women and sort them into certain gender roles. Each women in the society of Gilead is assigned a certain job that is stereotypical of a woman 's job such as cooking, sex, and reproduction. These women are the lowest class in Gilead and have no control. The men have superior power of the women but the women such as Ofgeln and Offred gain control in power in their lives. Men have an upper hand in the control of these women.

Read More

Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

801 Words | 4 Pages

There are two ways people will react to when their freedom is taken away. They will either accept it or rebel against it, which is what a lot of the female characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale accomplished. Shown through Offred’s repetition of certain events, Moira’s tone of being a fighter, and Serena Joy’s desperation, the reader can see that lack of freedom leads to rebellion. Offred, the novel’s narrator, now lives in a world where women are powerless. She has had her freedom taken away, and at times follows the rules, but ends up rebelling in many powerful ways.

Read More

The Handmaid's Tale Analysis

952 Words | 4 Pages

In Margaret Atwood’s novel, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moira is depicted as the symbol for resistance to authority and represents hope to the Handmaids. Atwood presents her as a polar opposite to Offred. She is independent, strong-willed, and outspoken. Conversely, the pair can be argued to be doubles in the fact that they both ‘resist’ to the oppressive Republic in Gilead.

Read More

Why Is The Handmaid's Tale A Dystopia

493 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead, which has replaced the United States of America, is a dystopia. In fact, the degradation of the environment with a huge impact on humans’ health and their ability to reproduce; the low birth rates and the shrinking of the population has weakened the government. Taking advantage of the situation, a group of radicals Christians has seized the power through a coup and installed a totalitarian regime. In Gilead, women are deprived of almost every right they once had in the United States; they are not allowed to read, talk without permission and cannot even think about working. They are reduced to the reproductive function and are only valued if they can still give birth.

Read More

Dehumanization In The Handmaid's Tale

783 Words | 4 Pages

“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body”. When Margaret Sanger spoke these words, she was expressing her belief on a woman’s right to have an abortion. This quote, however, speaks to the fact that women are oppressed on more than just abortions. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Atwood portrays the dehumanization of sexuality through both the characters and events within the novel, therefore proving that women will always be considered less than men will. Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939.

Read More

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

Read More

Arguments Against Standardized Testing

1686 Words | 7 Pages

The use of standardize tests have been increasing dramatically since 2002. It is mostly due to the implement of NCLB which assigned annul testing in all fifty states. In addition to that, NCLB use the standardized test score to indicate if students learn what they should have learned. Nonetheless, standardized tests are not a reliable measure of student performance. For instance, mass testing are usually conduct in multiple choice.

Read More

Patriarchy In The Handmaid's Tale

1122 Words | 5 Pages

Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, argues that women are instruments of the patriarchy, that women know this, and that women allow the system of oppression to live on. Her fictions ask, “What stories do women tell about themselves? What happens when their stories run counter to literary conventions or society’s expectations?” (Lecker 1). The Handmaid’s Tale is told through the protagonist, Offred, and allows readers to follow through her life as a handmaid while looking back on how life used to be prior to the societal changes.

Read More

The Handmaid's Tale Feminist Analysis

649 Words | 3 Pages

The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about a society set in a future world where women’s rights have been revoked. Many values change with this new regime of controlled women and strict laws. Despite the changes in the world it maintains many conservative, religious beliefs while also containing liberal, feminist beliefs simultaneously. Society in the futuristic world of Gilead is structured heavily off of readings from the Bible and traditional views of gender that have been in place for a long time. An example of the Bible being an important part of society is the idea of the Handmaids came from a passage in the Bible about two women, Rachel and Leah.

Read More

' The Handmaid's Tale: A Dystopian Society?

807 Words | 4 Pages

How would you feel if you were controlled by a society? In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are told what to do and what not to do. Margaret Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellious actions by showing the rules being broken by the Commanders and Offred’s relationship as it’s developing. Although, society tells them they are restricted to certain actions, they disregard these rules and do what they desire.

Read More

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.

Read More

More about Dystopian Society In The Handmaid's Tale

Related Topics

Open Document