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The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

1298 Words6 Pages

Women are beings of creation, the individuals given the burden and gift of fabrication. This obligation is powerful, yet it has been taken hostage by men. Men took power through force and have kept it, spanning from biblical times to our modern society. And with this power, men have used it to harm other women, usually for their own pleasure. Women throughout history have been sexualized, raped, abused, and killed, just for being women. This is what makes The Handmaid’s Tale so poignant: Everything that happened in the novel was based on real historical events. Using historical events surrounding the mistreatment of women, Atwood crafts a story that sheds light on society’s past and current actions towards women. The state of the handmaids in Gilead is similar to the treatment of enslaved women in America. It tells a …show more content…

Just like the other one. A slut. You’ll end up the same” (Atwood 287). Atwood purposefully builds Offred’s assigned household like one where enslaved people work and live among their enslavers. By alluding to slavery in America, Atwood makes her story more poignant and eye-opening to readers who at least know a little about the treatment of women throughout history. Native American women and their families had their children taken from them and placed in “fit” white homes, a situation kindred to how Offred’s child was taken from her. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred’s old life comes back to her in flashes and we are able to understand the trauma she went through. One of these situations is when her daughter was taken from her after they tried to escape Gilead. She specifically remembers what members of Gilead said to her about her daughter. They taunt that, “She’s in good hands.With people who are fit. You are unfit, but you want the best for her. Don’t you?” (Atwood

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(Atwood 187). Although Handmaids experience oppression by the Gilead regime, Atwood emphasizes the importance of unity and collaboration in the face of difficulties. The government of Gilead presents how hypocritical their society is toward women’s rights since the government uses a form of manipulation to make the Handmaid’s circumstances more tolerable. Additionally, Offred expresses how women do not have a right to their bodies because of the power others have over them as Offred states “I am abject” (Atwood 331). Offred expresses the removal of her individuality, autonomy, and basic human rights.

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From the website, I found some recommended community that talk about the "fertilization ritual" to eye-catching ways, and almost they excited to let people see what is “the uterus with two legs” in The Handmaid’s Tale. Also, my attention for author’s claim that this fictional society is not an invention, but a theocracy society and a totalitarian that was there and is still there in the world (Atwood 316). Even, the uterus is against the Margaret Atwood’s original intension, the reader wants to discover how female explores her power through their body, and restructure of her body by narration. But, the female body such as an inescapable theme still existed, through some biologically and physically reasons, the female was deprived of some

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Inferiority and superiority complexes between individuals exemplify the imbalance of power and is shown throughout the novel, Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood. “This is supposed to signify that we are one flesh, one being. What it really means is that she is in control, of the process and thus of the product” (Atwood 94). Throughout the ceremony, the process alone is supposed to demonstrate that both the wife and the handmaid are equal and one. That gives them a sense of equality and there is some sense of a balance between the women.

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Atwood reveals details about Gilead slowly to the reader. Through most of the text, I found this frustrating. I wanted to know every detail of what had happened, how it happened, who Gilead was at war with. However, he read is only let in slowly, and with only partial information. My interest always perked up when details were given about Gilead, its systems, and rules, or the coup that overthrew the American government.

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood highlights this justification as it *depicts the creation and execution of an oppressive system. * Offred is married to a man who has been previously divorced, because of this she is seen as “morally unfit” and as someone who has less value than a woman whose partner had not been previously married. This . *. is shown through the quote, “The regime created an instant pool of such women by the simple tactic of declaring all second marriages and nonmarital liaisons adulterous...” This degradation allows the Gilead to justify the worth of woman in their society and grants them the ability to decide whether or not they are fit to be Wives or are forced into the burden of being a Handmaid.

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In the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Gilead was a totalitarian government. In the story, politics was dirty, sexual feelings were not allowed, and women’s bodies were treated as objects that only exists to bear babies, so population would not go down. All these mostly applies to handmaids as they are assigned to bear babies for elite couples who have hard time making babies. They are not supposed to have sexual relations to somebody else. All of the women in Gilead are “deprived of their individual freedom and ordered to serve the state in different ways and functions” (Zarrinjooee & Kalantarian 67).

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The interchangeable conflict between Offred and Gilead’s societal expectations is represented through her ideas of trying to establish personal choice but also looks back at the precedence of her personal autonomy before Gilead existed at points. This relates back to how the understatement of grasping onto personal choice is also being interpreted and grasped in different

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When analyzing The Handmaid’s Tale, as a whole, these past and present comparisons add reinforcement to the idea of taking action about societal issues, such as feminism, freedom, and individuality The comparisons add a sort of fear into the reader’s minds. Atwood s revealing how everything we take for granted could be gone in a split second. The little bit of hope Offred still has comes from her longing and love for her daughter and her husband

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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.

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Margaret Atwood, author of A Handmaid’s Tale, wrote “Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some,”(Atwood 211), showing that nothing can be perfect for everyone. A Handmaid’s Tale tells of Offred’s life before the Republic of Gilead takes over the United States and shows her place in the aftermath of the theocratic takeover. Although Offred is finally released from her position as a Handmaid by Nick, it is unclear if she survived the journey to Canada at the end. Accoring to Merriam-Webster, a utopia is “an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect” (“Utopia.”).

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Throughout history, oppressive regimes have existed to expand the power of a few at the cost of many. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale tells the tale of Offred, a handmaid in the oppressive Republic of Gilead. Gilead strictly controls the actions of its people, especially its women, to expand the power of the men in control and combat falling birth rates. Their control consists of literal force and the use of psychology. Krickel, a psychologist, uses repression as a way to explain implicit biases.

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Due to women's’ freedom of speech being taken away, their freedom of thought is stronger than ever. Through this is where Offred gains her means of escape. Offered often rebels against the government through reading, which is forbidden for handmaids. In her room there is a cushion that has the word “faith” knitted in it. Knowing she’s rebelling gives her a sense of freedom.

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood depicts the future dystopian society, Gilead. There, the few remaining fertile women, called handmaids, are enslaved to a life of procreation to combat the dangerously low birth rates. The theme of oppression and rebellion is prevalent throughout the novel, and is best illustrated by Confutatis from Mozart’s Requiem. In his final hour as he composes Confutatis, Mozart begs God for mercy to be called one of the blessed to enter heaven. The compelling lyrics of Confutatis accompanied by intense orchestration parallel the lives of the Handmaids, who desperately seek to escape the oppressive world they are imprisoned in.

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Despite being stripped of her identity and forced into a subservient role as a Handmaid, Offred remains determined to survive and find her daughter. This is evident when Offred says, "I'll say anything they like, I'll incriminate anyone. Just don't send me to the colonies. I'll do anything," (Atwood 72). This willingness to do whatever it takes to survive demonstrates Offred's resilience in the face of Gilead's oppressive conditions.

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