Sexism In The Handmaid's Tale

Women are not oppressed! Any person who does not live under a rock knows this is not true, and authors are no exception. The job of any good author is to abstractly interpret world events and issues through their literary and provide a philosophical and socio-political outlook (Malak. 11), this is especially true authors of Dystopic novels. Writers like George Orwell and Margaret Atwood, use their works to depict social issues and political issues like sexism (Atwood), and surveillance (Orwell and Atwood) in society. In Atwood's book The Handmaid's tale, the main character Offred is a woman living in a theocracy who has been denied the right to own property, to work, and to read. She is also a handmaid, one of the few fertile women left in a future world whose only job is to provide children for whichever wealthy family they are assigned to. This book touches upon many daily issues that women face in modern society. Through Atwood's excellent use of symbols, this allows readers to make real world connections, thus, making the characters, plot, and setting seem more substantial. The most straightforward symbols in

She uses the handmaids clad in red to allow readers to deepen their emotional connection and understanding of Offred so that she seems like a physical person. She uses the phrase "Nolite te Bastardes carboundorum" to give readers a sense of hope for change and freedom. Lastly, she uses the Eyes to remind readers that the situation in the novel is not the result of her fanciful imagination but the result of real problems faced by women. Atwood wrote an extremely wonderful novel that not only made people question the existence of modern sexism but she also used this to her advantage and created an unforgettably realistic novel that critics cannot stop talking