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Examples Of Oppression In The Handmaid's Tale

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A Tale of Oppression and Resistance
The Effect of Feminist Criticism and Reader Response Theory as viewed in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale

Kate Evenhouse

AP Literature & Composition
Ms. Surles
30 May 2023

A Tale of Oppression and Resistance
The Effect of Feminist Criticism and Reader Response Theory as viewed in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale

Women throughout history are in a constant power struggle fighting for their rights as an equal human being to men. Despite their tireless efforts, they are often belittled, silenced, and oppressed by a patriarchal society that values their voices and contributions less than those of men. The three waves of feminism portray this fight and show significant progress, but …show more content…

Readers create certain assumptions that align with the form of literary criticism known as feminist criticism. In the book “Critical Theory Today a User-Friendly Guide,” author Lois Tyson defines feminist criticism as “the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women” (Tyson). In literature, men have manipulated women into thinking they are inferior and make this the protocol for structuring pieces of work. Male authors distinguish their women characters as delicate, emotional, and sexual while their male characters are powerful, dominant, and emotionally controlled. Feminist criticism analyzes how women are suppressed in a patriarchal form of society and questions why this is the norm for literary works. Tyson writes, “Because the works of (white) female authors (and of all authors of color) do not describe experience from a (white) male point of view, they were not considered universal and hence did not become part of the literary canon” (Tyson). The patriarchy’s dominance in literature can marginalize womens contributions, perceiving them as insignificant. Even though men may try to hide this oppression behind excuses, it is important that women recognize and address the problem at hand. Not only do gender roles affect literature and how it is created, it also used "successfully to justify inequities, [...] such as excluding women from equal access to leadership and decision-making positions, [...] paying men higher wages than women for doing the same job, [...] and convincing women that they are not fit for careers in such areas as mathematics and engineering” (Tyson). All of these actions are rooted in the deep beliefs of men's supremacy which now help gender roles shape and enforce the inequality between men and women.

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