The Oppression Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

A patriarchal horror where women are forced into certain roles, Offred tells her story of how her life became a nightmare. Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a science fiction novel . The novel is based on Offred, a handmaid, who tells her life in the new society, Gilead. The novel reveals that a patriarchal society leads to oppression of women as shown through the characterization of Moira, plot elements, and the formation of Gilead. In the novel the female characters are treated unfairly since they are considered submissive and unequal. An example would be be the handmaid’s. Moira, a character in the novel goes from being a happy feminist to an unhappy woman in the new society. She constantly tries to escape failing each attempt and in the process get her feet whipped so hard she was not able to walk.When she tries escaping again she gets caught and is given two options, die in the colonies or become a prostitute for rich men. Moira is not given many options proving that a patriarchal society leads to the oppression of women.

In the novel there are a lot of events that prove the point. An example would be the women’s salvaging where the women are killed in public because they broke a rule. Not to mention that the rules are very easy to break. They have rules such as not being able to talk to another man. They are humiliated in public. Not to mention that the salvaging has the purpose of warning other females the consequences of their actions will get them killed. They may not be hurting all the handmaids physically but they will if they have