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Handmaid's Tale: Feminist Movements Of The 1960s And 1970s

211 Words1 Pages
A historical event that may have influenced Margaret Atwood is the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s. There are many instances throughout The Handmaid's Tale where women are controlled and forced to comply by the men that rule their government. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, the second wave of feminism arose. A specific catalyst for the second wave was Betty Friedan’s 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are defined solely on their ability to become Wives, Marthas, or Handmaids,whereas men are defined by their military rank/position of power. “One of them is vastly pregnant; her belly under her loose garment, swells triumphantly…She's a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire, we covet her.” (26) It
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