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Handmaids Tale Patriarchy

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Picture your whole world is turned around into a dehumanizing and corrupt disaster. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian story narrated by Offred, a handmaid who had her life and her rights ripped away from her. The story is set in Gilead, a city with a totalitarian government that took over the United States to restore and control their citizens for reproduction purposes. Everything was constructed on fertility and health, Handmaids were selected based on how fertile they were. They would be assigned to a Commander and his wife, to produce children through ceremonies. The Marthas and Aunts were in control of the Handmaids, they would consistently have eyes on them so no Handmaid could break a law. Handmaids were designed …show more content…

In Gilead, men had the ability to maintain ultimate control over women. “... a group of authoritarian men seize control and attempt to restore an extreme version of the patriarchy” (Atwood 14). Women would fall under mens discrimination and unfair lifestyle due to the unfair authority that they held over women. Many individuals would create this image of women in their head and would force women to fit into their standards and expectations. “Studies of sedentary flesh, painted by men who’d never been there.” (Atwood 78). All women in Gilead were expected to fit into a certain persona that was created by men with biased beliefs, and the patriarchy that allowed …show more content…

Men would do anything to gain and maintain their control over women, that could even often lead to brutality. “...was the opinion from the outset that the best and most cost-effective way to control women for reproductive and other purposes was through women themselves” (Atwood 288). Everything that women lost, both their lives and rights, was all for reproduction. Their whole purpose was to produce healthy children for the nation, nothing more. “The control of women and babies has been a feature of every repressive regime on the planet.” (Atwood 14). The handmaids were expected to essentially have no life or relationships, their only objective was to produce as many children as they could with their assigned commander. Handmiads and the other women did tend to disobey that standard by secretly making connections with other people. It was challenging for them to not create relationships with others, especially since they were with each other at all times and had shared trauma. On top of that, they needed to have something to kill the extra time that they had and socializing would be the easiest, but also the most dangerous way to do so. Men did not only just think they were dominant over women, they unfortunately did have complete control over

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181 Words | 1 Pages

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, ‘The Commander’ is the head of the household where his handmaid Offred lives. They live in a society where women are oppressed, and men rule. The commander inaugurates an inappropriate relationship with his handmaid throughout the novel, and on page 243 the two characters share a significant moment. The quote above in which the commander is speaking to Offred, he attempts to depict, justify, and make clear of the reasons and the framework behind Gilead clear to Offred. He explains a mans inability to feel emotion in their past lives, and how they created Gilead in order to restore human emotion.

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918 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the novel The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood portrays a world built upon the ideals of male leaders through the lens of a woman subject to the terrors that this world inflicts. In response to falling fertility rates and progressive ideologies, a group of powerful men are motivated to concoct a society based entirely upon their religious ideals to further both their reign over the female population and their success as leaders. Through the experience of a woman living at the expense of these ideas, Atwood communicates the negative consequences of idealism in the hands of a man, and the consequences of a religion-based idealistic world. Throughout the Handmaid's Tale, Atwood portrays a dystopian world by the name of Gilead, where

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998 Words | 4 Pages

Through this dialogue, Atwood exposes the absurdity and cruelty of a society that denies women their basic reproductive rights and the reader is able to comprehend and apply the importance of reproductive autonomy for all individuals. Ultimately, Atwood also seeks to modify traditional attitudes and beliefs surrounding power dynamics within relationships and society. In Gilead, power is highly centralized and held solely by a select group of men, with women completely subservient and lacking any agency or power of their own. Atwood uses the character of the Commander, Offred's male owner, to illustrate how traditional power dynamics can be used to exploit and manipulate others. Through the Commander's interactions with Offred and his thoughts and actions, Atwood highlights the corrupting and destructive effects of unchecked power and encourages the reader to feel the importance of equality and mutual respect within relationships and society.

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643 Words | 3 Pages

The Commander and the Aunts claim that women are better protected in Gilead, where they are treated with respect and kept safe from violence. However, while Gilead claims to suppress sexual violence, it actually institutionalizes it. An example is Jezebel’s, the club that provides the Commanders with prostitutes to service the male elite. Another example is the Ceremony that compels Handmaids to have sex with their Commanders. Foster suggests, “...sex can be pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination, enlightenment, the whole works” (158).

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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.

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead, an ultra-misogynistic dystopia, has taken over what can be assumed to be the United States. Women are separated into categories based on their age, fertility, and general use to the regime. Any women who does not fit the qualifications for any of the categories or violates rules against sexual activity is deemed an Unwomen and sent to the a supposedly treacherous place known as the “Colonies”. Men are also forbidden from having sexual relations unless given position of Commander, a rank that seems to hold the most power and privilege in society. The systematic oppression of these people is surrounded by religious justifications and biblical references.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Rebellion; the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood is a novel. The novel takes place in Gilead a dystopian society. Everyone in Gilead has an important role to play within the society, however, it seems as if none of the characters seem content with their role, due to the restrictions they face. In the novel, the lack of freedom leads to rebellion as shown by the characterization, interior dialogue, flashbacks, and foreshadowing.

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981 Words | 4 Pages

Some of these methods include destroying identity through classification, objectification, and indoctrination. Most women of Gilead are sufficiently repressed that they seem to accept their assigned roles, at least outwardly resigned to their fate. Atwood uses gender roles in The Handmaid’s Tale to show the lengths to which misogynistic totalitarian governments will go, to protect their dictatorships. The Republic of Gilead is a hierarchical society which requires complete submission of women to men. By taking away women’s paid jobs, confiscating their property, draining their bank accounts, and giving them no recourse, the male leadership leaves women in a fully dependent and subservient position.

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1035 Words | 5 Pages

This year is the 30th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Atwood 's dystopian classic, The Handmaid 's Tale. The novel is told from a first person account of a young woman, Offred. In an age of declining births, she is forced to become a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, the imagined future in the United States. The Handmaids are to provide children by the substitution of infertile women of a higher social status. Through the creation of different characteristics of female characters – ones who are submissive yet rebellious, and like to take advantage of their power - Margaret Atwood portray themes of love, theocracy, rebellion, and gender roles.

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996 Words | 4 Pages

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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1141 Words | 5 Pages

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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1008 Words | 5 Pages

According to Alanna A. Callaway, Gilead’s entire power structure relies on the disunity of women. Although Gilead’s system oppresses women, it is the few women in power that make the caste system dangerous for Handmaids. The patriarchal power structure of Gilead needs women to regulate each other, suggesting that gynocentric misogyny, or women hating women, is far more dangerous than traditional misogyny (Callaway 2008). This being said, the genuine threat in Gilead is not from the men in power, but the

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1117 Words | 5 Pages

Purpose: Statement of Problem/ key issues The purpose of this case study is to identify the alternative means of marketing the Bryant Pharma product Seflex. The company is looking for an immediate boost in the sale of the brand. The vice president of the marketing division of geriatric products of Bryant Pharma came up with a marketing strategy in which interview style commercial about the benefit of Seflex will be produced in which Jeanne Alyson a 1940s movie icon will talk about the benefit of Seflex and how it reshaped her life. The problem is Joe Bryant, the new CEO of the company is not satisfied by current promotional programming and consider them as “Off Brand” Background/Situation Analysis:

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988 Words | 4 Pages

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the novel critiques gender inequality and autocratic authority. The hierarchical class of men consists of Commanders, Angels, and Guardians. In particular, the Commanders are the highest-ranking social group in Gileadean society. The Commanders are represented as powerful men. They have leadership roles, autocratic governance, and are oppressors controlling the Gilead regime.

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1472 Words | 6 Pages

Atwood connects the political events to show how Gilead gained control and keeps their control by establishing fear into the women. Gilead stays in control by limiting speech to religious references, keeping the women from talking about the oppression they are suffering. Additionally, women are blamed for the social issues that were present in a pre-Gilead society such as rape, abortion and adultery. Women get the blame for the issues and men do not suffer consequences since it is in their nature to cheat. Atwood uses allusions to the Old Testament and historical events to satirize the oppression of women in political, religious and social

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