Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Roles of women in the handmaids tale
Roles of women in the handmaids tale
Women rights
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Roles of women in the handmaids tale
Roles of women in the handmaids tale
Women rights
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In this essay, I will be talking about all the hardships that Lyddie had to push through and how bad their lives were back then. Many young girls, working as young as ten, had many harsh conditions already. Starting in chapter 3, which was the cutler's tavern, Lyddie got her first job. Even in the beginning, you could tell it was going to be a harsh time for the rude comments given by the owner. For example, “ “Go along” the woman was saying.
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.
When Offred finally arrives at the Commanders home, she is assigned a room, exclusively for her. Having her own room is significant for her as for the first time since her indoctrination as a handmaid, Offred finally has something that belongs to her, the individual. By saying “mine”, Atwood intentionally uses active voice in this instance (instead of writing it “It was my own room, which is passive). The structure change by intentionally using active voice shows how possession of something can only come from action, rather than passivity. Offred got this room by becoming a handmaid, which she became as consequence of trying to escape Gilead.
As the novel progresses, Offered explains the restrictions put on her through government . In fact early in the novel when she's being guarded by the angels “If only they would look-If only we could talk to them- That was our fantasy “(Atwood 4). ‘If only” is emphasized because circumstances would be different if the interaction was “allowed”. It's significant because socializing is the only way to get through life, there's no way around it.
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).
Symbolism can be defined as the use of symbols that an author uses to suggest more than the literal meaning of the object .Symbolism often allows the reader to understand the text better and connect with the story on a different level. In The Handmaid’s Tale, symbolism can be seen in various parts of the novel. One of the most common type of symbolism that can be identified in the text is through the use of colours. One of the most obvious symbols in the novel is the uniform that every Handmaid is supposed to wear.
Offred is suspicious of what the handmaid 's did. She looks at their hands, and a clue is given to her when she sees “black gloves”(Atwood 275). She ponders what they could have possibly done to have warranted such action from the authorities. Her speculation shows how the society of Gilead functions. The government of Gilead wants the handmaids to see that the prisoners are being hanged, as their suspicion is how Gilead gains control of them.
In the novel, the main character Offred tells her tale as a handmaid and, how her and the other characters rebel towards the oppressive government. Offred, the only source of information, therefore the reader only knows what she tells them.
In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the Republic of Gilead actively represses women by forcing them into very narrowly defined, ultra-conservative gender roles. This totalitarian government strips women of all rights and protections, and imposes severe punishments for defiance. Pollution and disease had caused severe infertility in this society, drastically reducing birth rates. In an effort to reverse a drastic population decline, this thoroughly misogynistic and power-hungry regime, takes full control over the human reproductive process. Furthermore, the leadership uses various dehumanizing methods to achieve complete subservience of women to men.
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.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a postmodernism novel that deal with skepticism. In the novel there is the presence of a metanarrative speaking about theocracy which is in control of the clergy or the people of God. At the time that Margaret Atwood wrote this story, Regan was in office and had a lot of back support of the Moral Majority whom preached that the political state of the United States should follow the Old Testament. The Republic of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale, would be the outcome of what will happen if there is no separation of church and state in the United States. Offred, the woman protagonist of the story, tells the reader of what life is in Gilead.
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.
“Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.”- William Gaddis. People take advantage of power when it is entrusted to them because of their own greed, which as a result lead to societal deterioration. In the story, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, the higher-ups from Gilead abuse the power that is given to them, ruining the life of the citizens in the society. This was the cause for the need of higher birth rates and fixing conflicts in the world, but this was handled immorally.
In the 1980s, United States was experiencing the rise of conservatism. Under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, conservative religious groups were gaining popularity. In response to the social and political landscape, Canadian author Margaret Atwood published a fictional novel The Handmaid’s Tale in 1986; a genre of dystopian novels. The storyline projects an imaginary futuristic world where society lives under oppression and illusion of a utopian society maintained through totalitarian control. Dystopian novels often focus on current social government trends and show an exaggeration of what happens if the trends are taken too far.