One’s sense of self is often defined by his/her freedom to do, act, or speak how they please. Without the basic civil liberties that we, being Americans, take for granted in the present day such as the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of protection, we would not be the self-respecting, unique individuals that many are today, but rather a mass of indistinguishable American citizens. In America, and democracies with similar ideologies, the freedoms granted to each citizen allow the diversification of each individual person. However, in some countries with a harsher, civil-liberty-abusing government, it may be difficult for people to find their sense of self with the absence of their freedoms. The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, details the lives of women within one of …show more content…
While the men, for the most part, live easily in that they can enjoy the freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, they are trapped in a mental sense, as they have no form of real communication or relationship with anyone other than business cohorts. Women, however, are both physically as well as mentally trapped. Specifically, the section of women known as the Handmaids are not only stuck working in submission for a household of people they did not choose, but they are also physically confined to the house, as well as the daily silent excursions to the town center. Handmaids are women reserved for repopulating the diminished population of the Republic of Gilead. Because they are the only reproducing class of women within the republic, they are more oppressed than all other citizens, as the government would like to protect the women as vessels for carrying the future of the Republic. Through the eyes of Offred, Atwood is able to highlight how entrapment can lead to a greatly diminished sense of self and loss of