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Societal Truths In The Handmaid's Tale

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Recommended: The case for moral relativism

The historical notes are really pushing the audience to think relative to the society they are examining. It is an old Greek philosophical method known as moral relativism. We live in a society that is founded on natural law which is considered to be god given or unalienable as the declaration states. Societal truths are based on the laws that govern the culture of society and decide what is right and wrong. There is a huge difference between natural law and code law. The Gileadean society had a breakdown in government protecting the law. The reason Gilead existed was due to a lack of government protecting the laws set forth by the people. The trouble is deciding what is right or wrong while considering the change in cultural practices or moral compasses. All moral ideas are subjective so generally whichever society “wins” gets to pick a universal truth. The society that gets to write the history books and lectures like Dr. Pieixoto get to anoint a truth. The nice thing is that they at least know that they need to be careful with this power. Why should the winner be careful in judging the past? Obviously when we judge a past society we can come to some quick truths. Who would question that Hitler was evil and killed people? Who questions that genocide is bad? There are still people that question those facts. So …show more content…

It attacks the ideas of basic beliefs that are the basis of United States government. It questions the foundation or fundamentals of our country. Look up Ben Franklin’s view on the principles of religion, these are the ideals that all religions share. America was founded on the same principles as every major religion in the world. That there is a God/divine authority that upholds a moral code just like Islam or Judaism. It is rooted in human nature which throughout time will never change. While culture changes relative to time human nature will never

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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

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Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” (“History Quotes” par. 23). There is something to be said about a civilization that does not analyze its past flaws to correct it future mistakes. By not studying the past, both the laudable and the unmentionable, there is no way for a person, country, or race of people to avoid making similar errors as a result of ignorance. Examining history provides each generation with the tools for it to construct its own values, opinions, and solutions to essential humanitarian, political, economic, and social problems. However, sometimes analyzing history is not enough, especially whenever its warnings are largely ignored or underestimated.

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In Gilead, societal norms have become extreme in their modest ways; they call for polite practice, but will punish any misbehaviors with death. One example of this is The Wall. As Offred and Ofglen take their prescribed walk, they seem to continuously find themselves there. While society continues its “perfect” ways, former doctors and scientists are punished with death on The Wall for the rest to see. From the wall there are “bodies hanging, by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders” (Atwood 32).

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856 Words | 4 Pages

One of the factors used by the characters in the two novels for their survival is conformity. An example of conformity that plays an important role in the two novels is clothing. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the classifications of each individual are conformed by different clothing. The Handmaids wear red dresses, Marthas wear green, Wives wear blue, Ecowives wear stripes dresses of the three colours, and Commanders and the Angels wear black clothing. According to Offred from The Handmaid's Tale, “The wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen” (Atwood 9).

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1854 Words | 8 Pages

Conformity in the Handmaid’s Tale A Japanese proverb says, “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down”. As seen in several historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials or the Holocaust, this concept illustrates the idea that nonconformity will get punished or suppressed. During the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler’s populist regime led to subservience out of fear because resistance was too dangerous.

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

Often, we see a society’s cultural values reflected in its citizens. For example, the United States values equality, a standard that is shared in all facets including gender. The opposite is true of Gilead, a fictional society in Emily Bronte’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel’s main character, Offred, is subjected to degrading treatment simply because she is a woman. It becomes apparent that this repeated degradation has affected the protagonist’s mind.

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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.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

The story of “The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood is about the story of the instability of society, how easy it is to be brought down, and how little effort is need to change our society into a oppressive society. The book is showing us that our society is fragile and that anything especially fear can be a motivating factor that leads to bad actions that can harm society. The belief that even a modern society such as ours could fall by the simple emotion of fear that people would have too much power this can be seen in many real life scenarios such the Cold War the spread of communism led the U.S into taking bad actions for the people replacing many elected leaders from other countries because they seem to spread communism and who would replace them with dictators backed by the U.S this idea is one that has existed since the earliest societies. Fear is a very strong emotion that can change a person 's mind and could influence how they act to the world around them. In the book this is shown in great detail as their modern society also falls to the fear that women are getting too much power which leads the men to take control slowly changing everything and in the end taking the freedom of all from both men and women but mostly women.

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783 Words | 4 Pages

“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body”. When Margaret Sanger spoke these words, she was expressing her belief on a woman’s right to have an abortion. This quote, however, speaks to the fact that women are oppressed on more than just abortions. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Atwood portrays the dehumanization of sexuality through both the characters and events within the novel, therefore proving that women will always be considered less than men will. Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939.

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1251 Words | 6 Pages

The novel has created a society in which the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. As mentioned above, Gilead was depicted as perfect by using the book of Genesis. The Handmaid 's tale holds several biblical references , some are obvious than others but most of them have been altered. The most important in a state of opinion would be. “It’s the usual story, the usual stories.

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, argues that women are instruments of the patriarchy, that women know this, and that women allow the system of oppression to live on. Her fictions ask, “What stories do women tell about themselves? What happens when their stories run counter to literary conventions or society’s expectations?” (Lecker 1). The Handmaid’s Tale is told through the protagonist, Offred, and allows readers to follow through her life as a handmaid while looking back on how life used to be prior to the societal changes.

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The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about a society set in a future world where women’s rights have been revoked. Many values change with this new regime of controlled women and strict laws. Despite the changes in the world it maintains many conservative, religious beliefs while also containing liberal, feminist beliefs simultaneously. Society in the futuristic world of Gilead is structured heavily off of readings from the Bible and traditional views of gender that have been in place for a long time. An example of the Bible being an important part of society is the idea of the Handmaids came from a passage in the Bible about two women, Rachel and Leah.

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934 Words | 4 Pages

Unrestrained government control; limited or absolutely no freedom; no power to make your own choices. These things sound like the makings of a nightmare, which luckily is all they are. However, this is the reality that protagonists in dystopian novels must face. There are many other methods used in dystopian novels that fit this nightmarish life, including, a gender hierarchy, arranged marriages, and women having children to give to other families. Dystopian societies, conveyed through The Handmaid's Tale and Bumped, often control women’s relationships and bodies to stay in power.

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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.

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In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Atwood Margaret, the main character Offred recalls her life as a handmaid in Gilead. Atwood uses populous themes to foreshadow the Handmaids’ beliefs and their power. One of the most prominent themes in the novel, which shows in chapter 6 titled “Shopping”, is the theme fertility vs infertility in Gilead, which fertility is Offred source of strength and her captivity. This theme is shown in Chapter 6, when Ofglen and Offred are returning from shopping, Oflen wants to pass by the church because it will take them longer to get to their location. While they are passing by the church, which is now a museum, they have a quick view about the natural world.

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