ipl-logo

Symbolism In Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

2025 Words9 Pages

INTRODUCTION: I’d like to share a quote with you this morning. It is “Power politics is the diplomatic name for the law of the jungle” - Ely Culbertson. We have all seen events that prove this statement true in our short teenage lives. For instance, the election of Donald Trump and regime of Kim Jong Un have shown us the struggle for power in a relationship can reflect the shocking injustice man is capable of. Looking at these two images, we can see that red is a common color of power for it is the most striking. The government in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s tale not only follows the pattern of tyranny, but much like Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, it uses red to symbolize its power over society. Therefore, Using the handmaid’s wardrobe, …show more content…

Because of his paralyzation, he feels his body is a diving bell, weighing down his free mind, symbolized by the butterfly. I allegorized this as a representation of Offred for she has a free mind but is imprisoned by her own diving bell: her red cloak. Like the ensemble and flowers, cigarettes, specifically the glowing red end of a lit one, represent the power relationship between the Handmaid’s and the state. To give context, during the 1920s a revolution started for women to smoke for it meant she was challenging the taboo that women were not to smoke. Therefore, smoking symbolized power and independence for a women. With that being said, Atwood uses cigarettes to connote to power for every authoritative figure is seen with one. For instance, Serena Joy. Serena asserts her supremacy over Offred when she begins to smoke a lit cigarette upon meeting Offred for the first time. Offred implies her relationship with Serena saying “she then was a woman who might bend the rules… I looked at the cigarette with longing. For me, like liquor and coffee, they are forbidden.” Otherwise stated, Serena encompasses the authority to “bend the rules” whilst Offred must obey the limitations bestowed upon her by her red cloak. Offred further expresses Serena’s dominance when she quenches her cigarette with “one jab and one grind, not the series of genteel taps favored by many of the wives,” for this indicates Serena’s unequivocal declaration of power, whilst Offered gazes with a yearning

Show More
Related
417 Words | 2 Pages

An Image a Little Too Carefully Coordinated is a writing piece by Robin Givhan, a fashion editor that won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2006. She is considered to be a very blunt person that grew up in Detroit. Givhan has written about the clothes of presidential figures and been published as a prestigious writer. In this essay, Robin tries to convince her audience that the Roberts family, how they dress themselves, is distasteful and should be criticized by the public. Throughout, Givhan exemplifies the inappropriate attire displayed by our President's family and how they allow visitors to the White House to wear otherwise disingenuous attire.

Read More
657 Words | 3 Pages

All throughout the book “The Scarlet Letter”, symbolism is used. The Most important symbol is in the title The scarlet letter which can symbolize many different things, at many times throughout the novel, it symbolizes adultery, sin, hard work, skill, charity, righteousness, sacredness, and, of even, grace. Symbolism is used through the scarlet letter, to the colors red and black, to pearl, the prison door, the red mark on Dimmesdale’s, ect. Symbolism is a big factor when it comes to talking about “The Scarlet Letter”. The book is about a girl in jail named Hester Prynne, she's an adulterous who is about to be let out of prison so that she can it can be pardoned through town wearing the scarlet letter “A”, she is being forced to wear the letter as proof that she has committed the crime of adultery.

Read More
1108 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1888 Words | 8 Pages

The Fear Itself "Fear is a powerful stimulant" (Atwood 268). The novel Handmaid 's Tale is a story that takes place in a dystopian society where in order to increase the fertility rate women who are able to have children are distributed across the country and are encouraged to have babies from the Commanders. Like most of the dystopian novels, the focus of the story is how people are oppressed in the name of fear. Fear is used as a controlling mechanism to keep people in check and stop them from rising up. In the book, fear is too strong of a feeling that it creates the base of most of the emotions and actions.

Read More
952 Words | 4 Pages

In Margaret Atwood’s novel, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moira is depicted as the symbol for resistance to authority and represents hope to the Handmaids. Atwood presents her as a polar opposite to Offred. She is independent, strong-willed, and outspoken. Conversely, the pair can be argued to be doubles in the fact that they both ‘resist’ to the oppressive Republic in Gilead.

Read More
981 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

The majority of people ask the same question at some point in their life; who am I? The concept of identity is something many wrestle with their whole lives. Other individuals are confident of who they are. The Handmaid’s Tale follows a society that is stripped of individuality and identity. This question can no longer be asked because it cannot be answered.

Read More
1035 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
857 Words | 4 Pages

Margaret Atwood has seamlessly woven a tapestry of feminist elements - mainly regarding gender oppression - within her works. With that, using two of Atwood’s texts, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Year of The Flood, as the foundation for our literary research, we will be focusing on the commodification of the female flesh in both similar dystopian contexts. Commodification refers to the action or process of treating an object, or a person, as a raw material or product that can be bought and sold, or even treated as an object of which sovereignty can be held over by one. In both works, women are victimized and treated as sexual beings whose bodies and physical expressions can be freely used by the men who have power over them against their will. The two texts illustrate how society brings about the oppression of women and this exacerbates the commodification of women.

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
1587 Words | 7 Pages

You 'll end up the same.” Offred has longed to achieve her freedom, human rights, and proclaim her real name back, but the society strips it away from her. This also connects back to the theme because Serena was taking advantage of Offred with her power because of her laziness. Serena could have easily picked it up herself but since Serena has power over Offred, she is able to instruct her to do anything. Serena’s nasty attitude

Read More
649 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1101 Words | 5 Pages

Imagine a nation in which its government commands by a religion where women are separated into different titles and must conceive children for their commander. Their rights from before this regime, and anything deemed unholy by the government, are a thing of the past. This situation is the one represent in the Republic of Gilead, where the rules of society and its traditions are not taken lightly if broken. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood shows that an oppressive government leads to the inevitable neglect and remiss of the rules through Offred’s characterization, irony, and flashbacks. Offred 's character development can show that her actions change .

Read More
988 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
882 Words | 4 Pages

Smoking has been a long time habit round the world. However, in the past, smoking cigarette was very popular and known to be a cool recreational drug, and was widely accepted by the community across the world. Today smoking has been less widely accepted and more restricted because of the many health risks that are linked to smoking cigarette. These days, people are well educated and more knowledgeable about the health risks of smoking.

Read More

More about Symbolism In Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

Related Topics

Open Document