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The Handmaid's Tale A Dystopian Society

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In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwoods, she creates a dystopian society in order to showcase two very important themes which are freedom and women. In this novel the value of women was degraded and they were only seen for one purpose, and who is to have children. Handmaid’s are women in society who are chosen (if able) to have children for the elite couples in society. Handmaidens are chosen if you have the ability to bear children. If not chosen, women were seen as valuable to the society and you weren’t needed. Gilead was formed due to the decrease in birthrates, and the fact that the structure of the government wasn’t liked. The end result made women a political instrument to be used to carry children and to control the reproduction …show more content…

Women are categorized into The Wives, Aunts, Martha's, Handmaid's, The Econowives, and The Unwomen. This is the order of the hierarchy of women in this society. Each of these women had a very important role and some were seen as more important than others. The Commander’s Wives are the most important group of women in this society. They are seen as elite because they are married to very powerful men. “There are several umbrellas in it: black for the Commander, blue, for the Commander’s wife” (9). They are at the top of the hierarchy and are the most powerful women in Gilead. They are always wearing the color blue, this allows the society to know who is married to the Commander. They are also expected to bear children, and if they can’t they are assigned Handmaidens. “Many of the Wives have such gardens, it’s something for them to order and maintain and care for” (12). The Aunts are the next important in Gilead. They are in charge for enforcing the rules and ways to the Handmaids and are forcing them to accept their job even though they might not want to. These women are the firm believers of Gilead and the values and beliefs that are instituted in the society. The Aunts are always seen in brown clothing. “You have to get your vitamins and minerals, said Aunt Lydia. You must be a worthy vessel”

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The Commanders get a Handmaid who is to be the one who has their baby. The Handmaids are heavily protected because they are the only women that have viable ovaries. Fertility is illustrated throughout the society through flowers, the color red or hard boiled eggs. Flowers. Such a simple everyday object.

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Paragraph 1: In Gilead the hierarchy of society is divided according to the roles laid upon them by the commanders. The commanders wear black as they are the ones that are associated with the highest authority and the ones that are supposed to be feared in the society. Implementing their power they categorized the rest of the society into Wives that the second respected in the society, followed by the rest of the society that include wives, aunts, etc. Paragraph 2:

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Thus, this can also be seen as another example of how women are not equal since they belong to men. A quote to prove the Handmaid’s uniforms can be seen through a passage in Atwood’s novel titled The Handmaid’s Tale which

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The Handmaids must submit to their Commanders as they hold the dominant role. The Handmaids are also sacrificing their bodies and fertility to their Commander and his wife in order to give them a child. They have all been renamed with names that signify the Commanders they serve: Offred, Ofglen, Ofcharles, Ofwarren, etc. These names show the Commanders’ possession of the Handmaids. In The Handmaid’s Tale, sex symbolizes the Handmaid’s sacrifice and submission and the Commanders domination and control over the Handmaids in

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“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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Aunt Lydia’s more relevant quote in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, is the two freedoms, who gives the reader an accurate insight of the Gilead society. This quote exposes the contrast between the freedom before and after the settlement of the Republic of Gilead, and the mentality of the brainwashed nation. It is well known that the Gileadean era is a dystopia, but the reader must study deeper into both societies –Gileadean and pre-Gileadean- to understand which one is really worse. Before the appearing of the Republic of Gilead, freedom was seen as a person’s desire, however, on the Gileadean era, freedom is a collective idea. On the current community, freedom is settled by laws based on moral and social values, but ignoring the

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Handmaid’s whom are the fertile women in the Gilead society, are stripped from all freedom and rights, banned from knowing any form of literature and have to be submissive to men, allowing their bodies to be sexually used to produce children. In contrast, women who are not fertile such as Wives have their freedom taken away too as they are confined to doing assigned jobs around the house. In contrast, the Aunts and the Commanders are shown to have the highest rankings in the Gileadean society. They are powerful figures, with privileges such as the Aunts being allowed to read and write and the Commanders being permitted to get married and have a handmaid's assigned to

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How would you feel if you were controlled by a society? In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are told what to do and what not to do. Margaret Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellious actions by showing the rules being broken by the Commanders and Offred’s relationship as it’s developing. Although, society tells them they are restricted to certain actions, they disregard these rules and do what they desire.

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