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Handmaids Tale Quotes

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood is a novel about a society that has replaced the United States of America and in a totalitarian state where the power is held by a group of powerful people. Offred is the main character that in the book is a handmaid for the commander in chief. A handmaid is a woman who bears children for couples that cannot conceive. When the handmaids get at a certain point in their cycle they are to have meaningless sex to whomever they are assigned to. The Handmaids Tale has a very personal connection to biblical references and historical references of the past. The historical references in the Handmaids Tale are significant because they show the reign of control throughout the novel by referring to biblical times, …show more content…

The role that men are seen to have greater authority over women is something that is highly portrayed throughout this novel. Men are always seen as inferior to women because that is how are society has been taught to see women. Women are viewed as just care takers and stay at home workers while men do actual labor. In the Handmaids Tale, Gilead is ran by men and powerful men that control women in which they have to do as they say. In Genesis 2:18, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Implying that the male species was supposed to portray an image of God and women were created to be their helpers. In Gilead, the handmaids are their to just bear children and have to do as the higher authorities say this is a direct correlation with biblical ties because throughout the bible women were always seen as property of men. In the bible, women are owned by their father until they are married in which most times has to be approve by their fathers. These Handmaids get no choice in what they have to do and who they get to do it with it is portrayed that these Handmaids are just property of the people that they are assigned to sleep

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177 Words | 1 Pages

In the book; Called The Handmaid's Tale It shows a lot about the sexual objectification of women, In which in this chapter states this quotes We are not each others anymore. instead I am his. (pg 182). This Quotes shows about the objectification of women because going back into the book where this scene were taking place, When Offred lost her job, She points out, she felt like she lost her sense of equality in her relationship with Luke, Rather than it’s being a balance where they can both support and depend on each other, She was not entirely dependent on him for support,or comfort and finances, She could no longer take care of herself, or him, which meant that he was entirely in control of her, Margaret Atwood which is the Author of the book

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1310 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the protagonist Offred expresses how exposed beliefs and practices by the Gilead government affect the lives of Handmaids, relaying

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170 Words | 1 Pages

The princess directed her lover to the lady because of the sincere love that she had toward him. “....and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong.”  Due to the intense emotion that she had for him, the princess would not wanted to see her lover suffered. “From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it.” We see in this quote that when the lover had been put to jail she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

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276 Words | 2 Pages

Cat Power’s “The Greatest” encompasses many of the themes of powerlessness in The Handmaid’s Tale. If we imagine the song coming from the point of view of Offred, or any handmaid, the song becomes a reflection on Gilead and its effects on the handmaid’s psyche. Offred reflects often on the past and in these reflections the beginning traces of Gilead, warning signs, are present. For example, a woman attempts to steal Offred’s daughter claiming that “the lord told her too” (find actual quote) (Atwood 72). Despite these warning signs Gilead still came as a surprise to Offred, a shock like the “rush of a flood”.

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997 Words | 4 Pages

Women are expected to be quiet birthing machines and accept the role that society has given to them or be exiled forever to the colonies. The society of unwomen is brutal, cold, and a miserable place for people to live. So the women of Gilead have a choice to either follow society 's expectations and become a handmaiden or retreat to become an outcast in the society of unwomen. When Offered wants to escape the grueling life of a handmaiden she realizes she can’t be a part of society unless it’s as they wish her to be. Just like in Boy Erased Offered is not free to be her true self because she will be forced to become an outcast.

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235 Words | 1 Pages

The novel about the handmaid's tale is a book writer Margaret Atwood is about the when a religious movement that force all women to be treated unfairly. The women were in a low class to men. The women had different classes in which they were treated for which class they were in. The ecowives where wives they were wives to poor men. The handmaid are the people who are the one the are able to have a child.

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514 Words | 3 Pages

“The Handmaid’s Tale”, a dystopian fiction novel by Margaret Atwood, was written about two decades ago, however the passing of time does not change the quality of this unique story. The story takes place in a Republic of Gilead, a futuristic United States, in which a Christian theocracy has overthrown the old government and are now forcing everyone to live by their beliefs, word by word. Offred, a young woman who is assigned with the duty of being a handmaid, a person who bears children for their assigned couple, lives with her commander and his wife, Serena, in his mansion. The commander is an elderly man who has a high position in the government and he once a month has to have sexual intercourse with Offred due to the declining birth rates in the Republic of Gilead. Serena is the assigned wife of the commander, although she can’t bear children herself due to her age, she waits for Offred to hopefully become pregnant in order to finally have the child that she has always desired to have.

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1286 Words | 6 Pages

In the book, it shows what it was like to be fired as a woman by your employers. One day the boss of Offred came in and said to all the women “I have to let you all go” (Atwood 176). They were forced to fire the women because they were making money and didn’t want them to have any financial power. In the book, the handmaids are also stolen from their finances and property. “Women can’t hold property anymore, it’s the new law” (Atwood 178) was the rumor that was going around all over.

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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.

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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.

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533 Words | 3 Pages

The relationship between language and power within The Handmaids Tale will be used over the course of the novel to further convert and condition the society of Gilead to follow it’s theocratic ideologies through fear and intimidation. Furthermore, protagonist Offred will continue to reflect on and argue the beliefs of the new United States throughout the text in attempts to hold onto the world she knew before; not allowing the republic to take control of who she is now and erase who she was. This malicious regime, intimidates this former egalitarian society into following inhuman practices and regulations through the introduction of social institutions such as “The Eye” and “The Guardians” (Atwood, 17,20). The guardians, seen as the hands of God, are the

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996 Words | 4 Pages

Handmaid’s whom are the fertile women in the Gilead society, are stripped from all freedom and rights, banned from knowing any form of literature and have to be submissive to men, allowing their bodies to be sexually used to produce children. In contrast, women who are not fertile such as Wives have their freedom taken away too as they are confined to doing assigned jobs around the house. In contrast, the Aunts and the Commanders are shown to have the highest rankings in the Gileadean society. They are powerful figures, with privileges such as the Aunts being allowed to read and write and the Commanders being permitted to get married and have a handmaid's assigned to

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1615 Words | 7 Pages

The factors that show and shape inequality between men and women in the republic, can be categorized into the following: the men’s ownership over women, the deprivation of their freedom and rights, the belief that the women are merely tools and that their existence is viewed somehow as wrong. The clear superiority of men over women is especially distinct when we take a look at the Handmaids; their own names have been stripped from them, to be replaced with a label that merely tells who she is expected to produce the offspring of. This shows that the only part of their identity that is remotely valued or considered of significance, is who they belong to. The Commanders’ Wives, as appears in the books, are seen to have more power than other classes to females, and even they are not exempt from strict rules and regulations that surround women and restricts their

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711 Words | 3 Pages

Rebellion in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine not being able to do what you used to do because some actions are forbidden in this new society. In the Handmaid's Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are limited to certain actions. Throughout the story, Offred’s actions are rebellious because she has broken so many rules. Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellion by showing the Commanders and Offred’s affair developing throughout time and the actions of both characters.

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988 Words | 4 Pages

The subjugation of women is evident in the Gilead system as each Commander is given a handmaid whose name is “Of” the Commander’s name. Handmaids have no identity of their own and are similar to sex slaves at the mercy of

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