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Examples Of Classism In The Handmaids By Margaret Atwood

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Women’s Oppression The issue of sexism and classism of women is well described in the Handmaids tale novel by Margret Atwood. In this paper i would like to discuss the issue of both sexism and classism In Atwood novel. The men have all the rights to do all what they want. On the other hand, women could not do so. Women are oppressed in the society they lived in. Nevertheless, women are also classified into many classes. Their status will be different Depending on which color they wear. In the republic of Gilead there was no quality nor justice. In there women are classified by their clothes. The uniforms that they are required to wear represents their status and functions within society. Uniforms can not changed : " Some people call them habits, a good word for them. Habits are hard to break" (24-25). …show more content…

Therefore, the novel classified women as three main classes. The upper class are the Wives of the commanders who wears blue gowns. Which represents the Virgin Mary: "the Wives wear the blue of purity, from the Virgin Mary" (XVII). The Handmaids should wear a white Headdresses "wings" and a red habits as a representative of Blood as Offred said "my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us" (8). Martha’s, wear dull green, like a surgeon's gown " Martha's dress, which is dull green, like a surgeon's gown of the time before" (9) . The lower classes are the ecnowives "the women of the poorer man" as Offred says "These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everythings; if they can." (24). These dresses code or classification means that women are no longer individuals. They are like a classified

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In today’s societies, many laws require men and women to be treated equally. However, women are still treated as second class citizens, after centuries and centuries of being considered as an inferior gender. Through the first, second waves of the feminist movement and now through the #Me Too movement, women are now being liberated and are speaking out while some are still in the shadows. In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a Theonomy has overthrown the U.S government. The novel tells the story of Offred, a Handmaid who is forbidden to use her birth name and must follow the males who she serve’s.

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The public's beliefs can be influenced by a faith, and fear can be used to prevent people from expressing opposing views. the expectations placed on women's clothing and how they are perceived as inferior humans. These norms, laws, and rules all seem to be rather familiar, they seem almost identical to the ones from the book. Our current reality is not all that different from Atwood's ideas in The Handmaid's Tale. However, it is possible to interpret Atwood's literary work as a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing those in positions of authority to abuse the legal system.

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Everything about the characters in The Handmaid’s Tale from their names to their clothes is used to symbolize their roles in the book and the handmaids aperal is no exception. The handmaids all wear the same clothes, a red, ankle length skirt, red gloves and a white bonnet. The red of the handmaids’ clothes is described by Offred as “the color of blood, which defines us” (Atwood 8). The color of blood defines the handmaids because menstrual bleeding symbolizes fertility, which is what the handmaids are used for, they are nothing more than babymakers. Their fertile bodies are not the only aspects of the handmaids that the clothing symbolizes.

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In the society of Gilead, women are defined only by the roles they can execute with their gender, such as wife or handmaid. The women of Gilead are stripped of their individuality when forced to be renamed and divided into functions that are reflected by the color of their dresses and the stores women shop at. An example of this is the store “Milk and Honey”, the name signifies fertility and is only accessible to handmaids. Gilead’s oppression of female individualism reveals the power that names can have in influencing perception. Language can then be used to segregate or discriminate individuals of different genders.

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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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The suffocating society of Gilead is presented where individualism is completely taken away from them, and what it means to be human has been completely eroded away from what we know today. To be human today means, to be honest, affectionate, caring, understanding and to have passions. However, being too passionate for something only leads to chaos as seen through Victor 's overpowering desire for knowledge that led to chaotic results. Offred 's identity and individualism have been completely stripped away from her as he legal rights, name and clothes have been destroyed. She 's just another cog in a machine as she is labeled as a handmaid, only valued for her "viable ovaries".

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In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the Republic of Gilead actively represses women by forcing them into very narrowly defined, ultra-conservative gender roles. This totalitarian government strips women of all rights and protections, and imposes severe punishments for defiance. Pollution and disease had caused severe infertility in this society, drastically reducing birth rates. In an effort to reverse a drastic population decline, this thoroughly misogynistic and power-hungry regime, takes full control over the human reproductive process. Furthermore, the leadership uses various dehumanizing methods to achieve complete subservience of women to men.

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Imagine living in a world where roles are given, freedom is taken, and you must abide to the rules unjust to everyone. Would you fight back, or reluctantly follow these oppressive rules? Offred is an independent and emotional woman who is forced into labor. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women are forced into certain labor based on their fertility and status in this new society. Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country.

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In this written text, the emphasis will be on Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale and as well as the way Atwood portrays women and how it can be argued to show the oppression of women. The main purpose is to analyze the way women are treated throughout this book and depict why they are represented this way in the society in Gilead. Then, comparatively, observe the men’s domination over women and how they govern this society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are stripped of their rights, suffer many inequalities and are objectified, controlled by men and only valued for their reproductive qualities. The Gilead society is divided in multiple social group.

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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.

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Furthermore, the author displays a dystopian society completely dominated by a totalitarian and theocratic state. The main subject of this novel is the role assigned to women, mainly represented by the handmaids. In Gilead, the made-up country where the novel takes place, women are completely subjected by the government, and especially by men, who clearly have a higher status than women. Moreover, women’s freedom is entirely restricted, as they cannot leave their house at their will, they are forbidden to hold properties or jobs, they cannot read or write, and they are treated as sexual slaves whose only purpose in life is to bear children for elite spouses. The other option is a miserable, short life at the Colonies (a type of concentration camp), and death.

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