The Oppression Of Gender Roles In Handmaids And Hills Like White Elephants

How is control shown and differentiated in both stories based on gender roles and the power dynamics?

The Handmaid’s tale portrays the oppression of gender roles by exerting the power dynamics and control within relationships. Such as the oppressive Republic of Gilead taking control over the women and assigning them gender roles like Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. Conversely, in Hills Like White Elephants, the male American character attempts to manipulate the female character’s decision. We can differentiate their impact on gender roles by looking at Offred’s and Jig’s choices. The girl who is called Jig at one point in the story has a choice to abort the baby through the influence of the American man while Offred cannot since the whole novel

By comparing them, one can gain insight into the perspectives of the gender roles present.

Offred is similar to Jig because both characters find themselves in situations where they are being controlled based on their reproductive abilities. The totalitarian society of Gilead controls Offred by first making her a Handmaid, then stripping away her reproductive rights, by maintaining strict surveillance on all her activities, and finally forcibly separating her from her family as well as changing her real name. Offred yearns for basic human recognition when she says, “I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me." (Atwood 97). In this quote, Gilead’s control over Offred is clearly symbolized because they have stripped of her real name and assigned her the

The girl has a choice to abort the baby due to the influence of the American man while Offred cannot abort her baby if she happens to conceive one because the regime of Gilead gives them high importance due to infertility rates. The evidence that is present that backs up the fact that Offred cannot go through abortion is when she acknowledges, “We are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans. On the contrary: everything possible has been done to remove us from that category.” (Atwood 136). This quote emphasizes on how the Handmaids’ sole purpose is for procreation and solidifies Offred’s role in this society. It also highlights the importance that is placed on her to fulfill her duty and that is why abortion is not an option in Gilead. As for Jig, she is lenient towards the idea of going through with the abortion because she has that choice offered by the American man. This can be seen when she says, “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” (Hemingway 231). This following quote serves as evidence that Jig has agency in making the decision to abort the baby or not. She also seeks reassurance from the man in hopes of returning her their relationship to its previous state. This indicates that Jig can make a choice even though the man is seen as being oppressive towards her according to his