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The New Government In The Handmaid's Tale

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The Handmaid's Tale is a story that is set in the near future. After a military coup and the assassination of the President, a group of right-wing fundamentalists takes over and establishes the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic state of absolute control. The rules of this state are very rigid, and every aspect of society is controlled by religious fanatics. The main goal of the new government is the increasing of the white population as pollution and war have resulted in a graphic drop of the birth-rate. Victims of this main goal are the women in Gilead, who are deprived of their legal rights and pushed back into their traditional roles as mothers or servants. According to age, fertility and background, they are divided into several classes (Wives, Aunts, Handmaids, Marthas, Econowives and Unwomen). Young and fertile women are the Handmaids in this new state. They have to live in the households of former high-ranking officials or other influential members of society (the Commanders and their Wives) and are …show more content…

The new state is a patriarchal, conservative state, whose ideology is based on a certain religion. All other religious groups (such as Quakers, Baptists, Catholics or Jews) and other minorities such as homosexuals or Blacks are not only treated in an intolerant way but they are also persecuted. Everyone else has a certain role in society and has to pretend to believe in the state if they want to survive. A very significant characteristic of the state that Offred describes is that the new ideology is based upon biblical ideas from the Old Testament. The new regime uses the literal interpretation of the Bible as a pretext to suppress the population. Therefore, biblical influences in The Handmaid's Tale as the ideological basis of the Republic of Gilead are a recurrent theme throughout the book that deserves further

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Outward conformity along with inward questioning, that is what the main character, presented in Margaret Artwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has to undertake in order to survive in a theocratic society. Stepping out of line in any way risks your life, so in a place where freedom of speech and basic human right’s no longer apply, Offered must comply with whatever rules they have in place and pretend to agree with the system, but in the inside, she cannot help but think about her past life, her husband, her daughter, before everything began. Flashbacks are integrated in the novel to not only compare the old society with the new one, but to also demonstrate this fake conformity Offred has to display to others and her internal struggle with giving up on escaping the Republic or just accepting her fate and playing by

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in this ethnic group. · The Appalachian culture is dominantly patriarchal. The women and men both of this culture have roles. The males of the family tend to make the major decisions in the family; however the women have a strong influence on the family too. The women are the nurturer of the family and provide care at home.

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Through the environment of the Handmaid’s Tale, where women lived in a constantly patrolled zone and an area where they are not even allow to communicate conveys how the government of Gilead controls individuality through restriction of language. By removing women from their past identity and rewriting it with a new identity, represents the symbolism of palimpsest. Just like a palimpsest even though women identity have overlapped with a new given character, leftover of their name still persist in their memory as you can see when they exchanged names, silently, to each other - ‘Alma. Janine. Dolores.

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There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (Atwood 91). This makes the reader believe that Offred has given into the social injustice at Gilead being the oppression of women.

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What would become of the world, if our current societal flaws, such as sexism, racism, and classism were ingrained and executed at a systematic level? This is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale set out to explore. The novel, which claims to be speculative fiction, is set in the theocratic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA), where birth rates are rapidly declining and women have been marginalized by the patriarchal regime, forbidden to read, write or love and valued only if they are able to procreate. They are separated into classes, including Wives, Marthas, Aunts, Unwomen, and Handmaids, distinguishable only by the color of their clothing. The Handmaids are renamed by combining ‘of’ and the name of the Commander that they have been assigned to, stripping them of any individuality.

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Symbolism can be defined as the use of symbols that an author uses to suggest more than the literal meaning of the object .Symbolism often allows the reader to understand the text better and connect with the story on a different level. In The Handmaid’s Tale, symbolism can be seen in various parts of the novel. One of the most common type of symbolism that can be identified in the text is through the use of colours. One of the most obvious symbols in the novel is the uniform that every Handmaid is supposed to wear.

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Regina Carla L. Silva 2015-01293 The Handmaid’s Tale The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead which is formerly the United States of America. The name comes from a place from the Bible. It is a totalitarian, theocratic government.

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In The Handmaid’s Tale, the effects of suspicion on a society, on handmaid’s, are clearly visible; it can also be seen that the government’s method of control leads to the creation of a dystopia. The Handmaid’s Tale proves that a society built on fear and shaped by suspicion achieves near total control of the population by the ruling class, the government of Gilead in this case. In chapter 42, Aunt Lydia describes how they will no longer announce the crimes that the prisoners have committed at the Salvagings. Once Offred learns this she states, “Now we are left to our own devices, speculation” (Atwood 275). Therefore, through Offered, the reader is able to see how the handmaid 's will now have suspicions of what the prisoners did to get hanged, since they are no longer being told.

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Works of literature often portray ideas relating to Marxist theory, this is why in a dystopian society, class distinctions dominate the social climate, using Marxist ideologies as a tool to define the lives of the narrator and those around her. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, ideologies from Marxist theory dominate the society in which Offred, the narrator, lives in, evidenced by the strict class systems and limited interaction between them. In writing the novel, Atwood makes a point to create a world that could exist using technology and ideas already accessible in today’s society, meaning the events that take place in The Handmaid’s Tale could happen in present day. Offred lives in a reality where class distinctions dominate society, and women, especially fertile women. These women are displaced downwards, although there are those women who attempt to resist the grip of society.

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However, Atwood depicts the Republic of Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Both “The Hunger Games” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” are dystopian novels that have many similarities, however they have some differences. Collins’ and Atwood’s novels hold similarities in their ideas of societal categories, identification of these sections, constant surveillance, and public punishments. In both societies, the citizens are split into groups. In Panem, there were 13 districts and in Gilead, there were many categories of men and women.

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Maya Angelou, a writer, professor, actor, director, singer, civil rights activists, and poet, released “Caged Bird” as a part of her fourth poetry book Shaker Why Don’t You Sing? in 1983. The title references both her critically acclaimed autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Sympathy”. “Caged Bird” shares many similarities with “Sympathy” as they both contrast the beauty of nature and Earth with the cruelty of life as an encaged bird, desperate to live freely but unable to escape their rigid cell. An allegory to slavery, segregation, and the injustices Black Americans face, Angelou adds to this image, a second bird.

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1251 Words | 6 Pages

The Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of

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One’s power can be abused due to indolence; it ruins the lowest social class. In the handmaid 's tale, the Handmaids are treated poorly, making the person no longer themselves. The reader learns that Offred is being told what to do and has no say for her opinion, since it is against the law to go against the government. According to the handmaid’s tale, "You go out through the door and turn right. There 's another door, it 's open.

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Rebellion in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine not being able to do what you used to do because some actions are forbidden in this new society. In the Handmaid's Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are limited to certain actions. Throughout the story, Offred’s actions are rebellious because she has broken so many rules. Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellion by showing the Commanders and Offred’s affair developing throughout time and the actions of both characters.

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It projects a patriarchy of elite white men who repress the majority of the population through sexist and racist policies. In this puritanical state, Commanders are political leaders and lawmakers who support and contribute to the rise of Gilead. Each Commander possesses a big house, a Wife, Marthas, a driver, and a Handmaid, epitomizing wealth and power. The Gilead society uses Biblical allusions to justify the role of the Commanders. During the Women’s Prayvaganzas, the Commander expresses, “For Adam was first formed, then Eve” (221) where Eve was made as a helper and to complement Adam as a servant rather than function as an equal.

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