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Critical analysis of a handmaids tale
Critical analysis of a handmaids tale
Techniques in the handmaid's tale
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(pg 4). These officials point of existence is to make sure the citizens of Gilead follow the rules or else they will be reported to face a consequence. Not only are the citizens physically watched, the women are tattooed with a number. Offred said, “four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse. It’s supposed to guarantee that I will never be able to fade, finally, into another landscape.
Outward conformity along with inward questioning, that is what the main character, presented in Margaret Artwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has to undertake in order to survive in a theocratic society. Stepping out of line in any way risks your life, so in a place where freedom of speech and basic human right’s no longer apply, Offered must comply with whatever rules they have in place and pretend to agree with the system, but in the inside, she cannot help but think about her past life, her husband, her daughter, before everything began. Flashbacks are integrated in the novel to not only compare the old society with the new one, but to also demonstrate this fake conformity Offred has to display to others and her internal struggle with giving up on escaping the Republic or just accepting her fate and playing by
The protagonist handmaid, Offred finds herself submerging into a pit of obstacles. A pit, that stations itself in the ruins of the Republic of Gilead, where all the handmaids (like Offred herself) are used for one single purpose, getting pregnant. Offred gets assigned to the home of the Commander and his “particular” wife, Serena Joy. Upon entering the scene in this fragile marriage, Offred first meets the Commander’s wife. In doing so, she over-analysis the different tasks Joy does as in taking care of the garden and having a somewhat “privilege” to knit.
In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the protagonist, Offred, expresses her wish that her “story [is] different,” that it is “happier,” or at least “more active, less hesitant, less distracted” than it is ultimately portrayed (267). However, as her story is told, these characteristics are evident in the way she talks and acts, especially around those with authority. Hesitant to express her true thoughts and feelings, and distracted by memories from her previous life, Offred attempts to piece together her role in the society that has taken her freedom. The result is a compilation of moments, of memories, both from her present, her past, and even speculation about her future.
Atwood clearly emphasizes this point through the inclusion of Offred 's inner thoughts; which in turn, help to illuminate to the reader the process of this deterioration. Atwood also shows how the Republic of Gilead uses totalitarianism tactics, which parallel those used in North Korea, in order to remain in control. In The Handmaid’s tale, a dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood uses imagery and allusion throughout the novel to illustrate how the republic of Gilead uses techniques to deteriorate one 's mind in order to maintain their power. Throughout the dystopian country
Through the environment of the Handmaid’s Tale, where women lived in a constantly patrolled zone and an area where they are not even allow to communicate conveys how the government of Gilead controls individuality through restriction of language. By removing women from their past identity and rewriting it with a new identity, represents the symbolism of palimpsest. Just like a palimpsest even though women identity have overlapped with a new given character, leftover of their name still persist in their memory as you can see when they exchanged names, silently, to each other - ‘Alma. Janine. Dolores.
There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (Atwood 91). This makes the reader believe that Offred has given into the social injustice at Gilead being the oppression of women.
The protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale is referred to as Offred (of Fred). Through the manipulation of literary devices such as juxtaposition, allusion, and descriptive diction, Margaret Atwood voices her concerns about our future, and reveals just how quickly and completely our present could transform. As chapter 33 begins, the Handmaids are off to the Women’s Prayvaganza (a portmanteau of pray and extravaganza). The event, juxtaposed to the ‘fun festival’ it resembles, is really a mass wedding with girls as young as fourteen married off to Angels (troops).
Offred initially feels a sense of loss due to her position as a fertile woman since the independence and individuality she once enjoyed has since been stripped from her by the Republic of Gilead. It is only through rebellion that Offred is able to slowly regain her sense of self and reject the role that Gilead forces her into. By rebellion, however, it is often more dangerous for the perpetrators than to the government’s grip on the people. Offred’s societal role as a handmaid in Gilead forces her to first obey, then causes her to question, which finally allows her to realize her
In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred has a continuous search for justice for her daughter, in a society in which her idea of justice is starts as one concept and changes to one that she never expected. Margaret Atwood writes Offred as a character who was at once strong-willed, and who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Her strength is dimmed at first, when her daughter and husband are first taken from her. Her strength, however comes back in full force when she finds the opportunity to get justice for her daughter. Offred uses the motivation of her daughter to spur a rebellious side of her that disappeared when the new leaders came into power.
This is an important quotation in the novel because of the simplicity of the diction Atwood utilizes to describe her body. It emphasizes the changeover from what Offred once thought of her body to what Gilead now brainwashed her into believing. Women appreciation has transformed from a wholehearted appreciation for the purity and simplicity of a woman to solely interest in their “central object”, their womb. Offred’s musings show that she has started to accept Gilead’s attitude toward women, which treats them as objects important only for the children that they can bear. Gilead, with these beliefs dehumanizes women and reduces them to “a cloud, congealed around a central
In both societies, the districts and categories have specific jobs and are identified by a color or style of clothing. There is a sense of being watched in both Panem and Gilead. In “The Handmaid’s Tale” this surveillance is called ‘The Eye’ but in “The
Jonesville is my home, and will always be my home. Both sides of my family have lived in Jonesville, my great-grandpa, Harley Miller built the Millers’ garage on US-12 and married my great-grandmother, then they lived in the little house on the corner until they both passed recently. My grandmother, Katherine Goschka, and my grandfather, Dean Goschka, both graduated from Jonesville High School. And then my mother, DeAnna Mann, graduated in 1989 and now works for Emily B. Williams Elementary in Jonesville as a kindergarten teacher. On my father’s side, my grandfather Bill Mann went to Jonesville High School, and my grandmother, Judy Mann, worked at E.B.W. Elementary until she passed away, there is a bench dedicated to her in entryway of the
One’s power can be abused due to indolence; it ruins the lowest social class. In the handmaid 's tale, the Handmaids are treated poorly, making the person no longer themselves. The reader learns that Offred is being told what to do and has no say for her opinion, since it is against the law to go against the government. According to the handmaid’s tale, "You go out through the door and turn right. There 's another door, it 's open.
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.
