In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the author introduces a dystopian future in which a second American Civil War has broken out due to declining birth rates and environmental disasters. Resulting in the rise of the Republic of Gilead, that enforces rigid social roles and enslaves the few remaining fertile women. In an effort to educate and warn those who listen to her story, the narrator tells of her experiences and thoughts during a time when she was deprived of all freedoms. Atwood conveys the theme, status defines worth within this totalitarian regime; this message is shown through the significance of the title, point of view, and symbolism throughout the novel. The title of this novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, plays a significant …show more content…
In which the narrator acknowledges that to the women of higher status, “we are hers to define, we must suffer her adjectives”(Atwood,114). Which also implies that there is a hierarchy within the Republic of Gilead based on their contributions to the society, Handmaid’s being on the bottom within the hierarchy. Shown through the difference of power between the wives and the handmaids, Offred states, “ You can only be jealous of someone who has something you ought to have yourself ” (Atwood,161), explaining the difference in power and worth between the woman in Gilead. The word, Handmaid, is often used in the book to refer to the fertile women who are taught and expected to obey their established “household” leaders. Determining the handmaid’s worth as bottom of the hierarchy, unworthy of liberty, and lack of agency. Handmaid’s are unable to retain any freedom or rights, stripped of their names and generalized as a whole group based on their “rare and hard to get”(Atwood,114) abilities. Of which will become, “Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia,.... This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will be "(Atwood,33) trying to