The Oppression Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

Throughout the plotline of The Handmaid’s Tale, the protagonist June, otherwise known as Offred lives in the oppressive society of Gilead where women are treated as commodities and their primary purpose is to bear children for wealthy couples who cannot conceive naturally. Offred's life consists of daily rituals and strict rules that she must follow or face severe punishment. She struggles against her oppressors while trying to maintain hope for herself and other oppressed women around her. Her oppressors consist of the Commanders, Aunts, and The Wives. They set up such a society to have complete control over all of the women in Gilead. From teaching the women to serve their oppressors and do as they say to making laws prohibiting activities

As early as when Offred arrived in Gilead. At the Red Center, Offred sees her old friend Moira, and they discover a system where they can talk to each other in minimal privacy. By doing this they are already breaking the rules of speaking about the outside world. They manage to go to the bathroom at the same time where they talk about the outrageous actions they have to do and how cruel it is. Eventually, as time passes they repeat this until one day Offred returns to the bathroom and Moira isn’t there. Weeks pass and Moira is nowhere to be found. Offred wonders where she could have gone so she starts to ask around. Moira managed to escape Gilead by manipulating Aunt Elizabeth into giving Moira her Aunt's outfit. She snuck out the front entrance and just kept walking. “Moira had raised her hand to go to the washroom, during Exercises. She had gone. Aunt Elizabeth was on washroom duty. Aunt Elizabeth stayed outside the washroom door, as usual; Moira went in. After a moment, Moira called Aunt Elizabeth: the toilet is overflowing, could Aunt Elizabeth come and fix it…She had both hands on the lid when she felt something hard and sharp and possibly metallic jab into her ribs from behind. Don’t move, said Moira, or I’ll stick it all the way in, I know where, I’ll puncture your lung…and Moira took off her own clothes and put on those of Aunt Elizabeth, which did not fit her

According to Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian society of Gilead has haunted her. The idea of women being used only for reproduction is terrible. With so many of the horrific themes that haunt the novel being discussed, she brings up how Gilead had little control when it would have been easy just to take the control they did not have. “There would be resistance to such a regime, and an underground, and even an underground railroad. In retrospect, and view of 21st-century technologies available for spywork and social control, these seem a little too easy. Surely the Gilead command would have moved to eliminate the Quakers, as their 17th-century Puritan forebears had done” (Source 2). Also she brings up the fact on how the oppressive society has flaws in its social “pyramid”. “But Gilead is the usual kind of dictatorship: shaped like a pyramid, with the powerful of both sexes at the apex, the men generally outranking the women at the same level; then descending levels of power and status with men and women in each, all the way down to the bottom, where the unmarried men must serve in the ranks before being awarded an Econowife” (Source 2). These two pieces of evidence are very important as they show how the structure of Gilead had its cons in resistance and shape of society which causes the lack of control and