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The Handmaid's Tale Essay

1223 Words5 Pages

The Handmaid’s Tale and the Environment The novel The Handmaid's Tale is a work of science fiction literature that details the intertwining of the global environment and human society. This is done through the breakdown of the environment by toxic human actions resulting in the breakdown of human society. As a result, there is no way to control or prevent the impact that the earth may have on humans and human society. The novel punctuates this point by using literary elements to express the parallel between Offred’s life and society’s view of the environment. Environmental status and human society are global, though both are often considered separate entities they are inherently impossible to differentiate. Global changes cannot help but create …show more content…

A dominance hierarchy is used by most social animals and involves the creation of ranking to form roles, due to limitation of resources and mating opportunities. A dominance hierarchy is also established in the novel by a secretive group called Gilead, which decides who can mate with the few females who are not sterile and who has access to land that still contains nontoxic resources. Each family is arranged into a despotic patriarchy with the man deciding the tasks of the women under him and dominating the household. This arrangement is similar to that of the African lion,which involves a leading male mating with several females in a pride. The male serves as a protector of the group while the females do the hunting in collaboration (Sarote). Both situations involve a defined leader over several subordinates and those subordinates carry out decided tasks. Each case also includes the dominant male having ideal mating chances for reproductive success as the lesser males are exiled and prevented from mating. Male lions taking over new prides are also known to commit infanticide on cubs with outsider genetics to make females ready to enter estrus and breed with them more quickly. The book parallels this concept with Offred’s daughter being taken from her and with the other Handmaids’ children being raised by the Wives instead of the Handmaids. These similarities show that humans,when seeking control, are easily susceptible to falling into social patterns present in other dominance

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