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The Struggle Between Men And Women In The Handmaid's Tale

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Imagine living in a world where roles are given, freedom is taken, and you must abide to the rules unjust to everyone. Would you fight back, or reluctantly follow these oppressive rules? Offred is an independent and emotional woman who is forced into labor. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women are forced into certain labor based on their fertility and status in this new society. Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country. Offred is a handmaid given the task to procreate with a Commander. She is one of many of the women who are basically imprisoned into labels and must abide by many limiting laws. She is given multiple options to break the rules by people who, even though they are blessed, also …show more content…

The Commander and his Wife have high social status and are the most blessed in this new society. They are given so much privileges, yet they still break rules. The Commander and his Wife hardly get affected by the new regime and its oppression towards everyone. Yet this oppression is the reason why they still break the rules. Serena is fed up with Offred being forced to have a child for her. She decides it is best to break the rules and tells Offred “ Maybe you should try another way?” (Atwood 205). She’s willing to break the rules and have Offred become pregnant. She does this because she is upset to have someone else birth their child. She, like other high class citizens, is displeased on these new rules. The Commander and his club members also feel this way. He meets with Offred in secret because “what he wants is intimacy” (Atwood 211). The Commander continues to meet Offred to read, play Scrabble and even go to Jezebel’s. He knows doing this would result in his dismissal of his position or even death for both of them. He continues to meet with Offred regardless. He ignores this because he yearns for something the past took away. The freedom to feel and experiment. This dystopia continues to greatly affect the society, regardless on who benefits or

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The resurfacing images appearing whenever they have the desire of being an “Unwoman” is the result of having to follow the regime’s bitter orders. In addition, an extreme guideline is given to the Handmaids which restricts their freedom of speech with each other. The women are dictated to not speak to one another which forms a frightening perspective in their eyes of what could be the regime’s true goal for them. Since the maids are all roommates, Offred reflects on the

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Conflict can be described as the struggle between two opposing forces, whether the forces being person vs person, person vs self or person vs society. Good examples of conflict can be found in almost any book. Margaret Atwood’s novel, the Handmaid’s Tale is a source of all three types of conflicts. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a society where females are given specific duties and are restricted from reading, writing, talking to others and looking at themselves in mirrors. The protagonist, Offred whom is also the narrator in the novel faces conflicts with herself, with other people, and the society that she lives in.

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She is used by Commander for sex and companionship and had an affair with Nick (higher preganancy chance). Most of her actions are being forced “Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”(151) meant the sex between the narrator and commander is unbearable to the point of watching your husband having sex with another women right infront of you. Her only defiance done totally by herself is “I will use the butter later that night.” (113), everything else including escaping the Gilead, having an affair with Commander, having an affair with Nick and leaving the Commanders house are all stimulated by others. Offred represent those who does not stand against oppresion, being pushed around and used for sex.

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“You wanted a women 's culture. Well, now there is one. It isn’t what you meant, but it exists. Be thankful for small mercies.” (Atwood 124) Offred is looking back on her past life to a story her mother once told her.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

She knows that there are laws, but she is so desperate that she is willing to break them by suggesting this to Offred, “Maybe you should try it another way”(Atwood 204). She encourages Offred to break the law and have sexual intercourse with another man and plant it as the commander’s child. Her desperation make her take desperate actions and how she achieves to rebel against the government. The Commander the one above all and on top of the official classification of Gilead-Men. He has power and in control of the household.

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Furthermore, one act of rebellion was when she goes to the Commander’s office and he says, “‘I’d like you to play a game of Scrabble with me’” (Atwood 138). Not only is Offred breaking the rules by being with the Commander, she also

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981 Words | 4 Pages

Some of these methods include destroying identity through classification, objectification, and indoctrination. Most women of Gilead are sufficiently repressed that they seem to accept their assigned roles, at least outwardly resigned to their fate. Atwood uses gender roles in The Handmaid’s Tale to show the lengths to which misogynistic totalitarian governments will go, to protect their dictatorships. The Republic of Gilead is a hierarchical society which requires complete submission of women to men. By taking away women’s paid jobs, confiscating their property, draining their bank accounts, and giving them no recourse, the male leadership leaves women in a fully dependent and subservient position.

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No one will see you. I'll sit here." Offred has been given a command by Serena Joy to meet Nick late at night which breaks the law. She has to follow Serena’s step by step procedure, however she also needs to listen to the laws that were made by the government. As a lower class citizen she will be severely punished, since her only job is to be a tool for sexual reproduction.

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Throughout history, women have often been subjected to prejudice and an inferior status to men. Due to sexist ideologies of men believing that women are not capable of controlling their own lives, women have often been reduced to the status of property. This concept is prominent in many pieces of literature to demonstrate the struggles women have to go through in a predominantly, male structured world. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the author illustrates a woman’s battle in an extreme society ruled by men to express the misogyny occurring in the time period when it was written, 1894. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia summarizes Atwood’s story as one that “depicts one woman’s chilling struggle to survive in a society ruled by misogynistic fascism, by which women are reduced to the condition of property.”

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Thirdly, the classification of women into different classes prevents them from identifying their upmost enemy: masculine power. The relationship between the different groups of women creates a powerful atmosphere of suppression. In fact, Gilead promotes the act of woman against woman. Wives and Aunts controls and enforces the disciplines of the patriarchal society to other women, so one can clearly see that even women takes advantage of power. For example, Serena Joy, the Commander’s Wife who lives in vain hope for traditional womanhood, is the true traitor against women.

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1462 Words | 6 Pages

Despite being stripped of her identity and forced into a subservient role as a Handmaid, Offred remains determined to survive and find her daughter. This is evident when Offred says, "I'll say anything they like, I'll incriminate anyone. Just don't send me to the colonies. I'll do anything," (Atwood 72). This willingness to do whatever it takes to survive demonstrates Offred's resilience in the face of Gilead's oppressive conditions.

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Prior to the revolution Offred had a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with her husband, Luke. This contrasts when the Commander makes his advances on Offred, as his advances are virtually unavoidable by Giledean law. Offred describes when the pair set off on an adventure to a club for the Commanders, his request for a kiss was a “sheepish one” and he asks for one but only “‘As if you meant it’” (Atwood 163). Offred shows pity for the men.

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711 Words | 3 Pages

The Commander and Offred’s relationship is non-existent at first, but then it develops over time. They start initiating a secret affair in his office which is forbidden against both of them. They are not allowed to be near each other because it’s

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Imagine a nation in which its government commands by a religion where women are separated into different titles and must conceive children for their commander. Their rights from before this regime, and anything deemed unholy by the government, are a thing of the past. This situation is the one represent in the Republic of Gilead, where the rules of society and its traditions are not taken lightly if broken. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood shows that an oppressive government leads to the inevitable neglect and remiss of the rules through Offred’s characterization, irony, and flashbacks. Offred 's character development can show that her actions change .

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The subjugation of women is evident in the Gilead system as each Commander is given a handmaid whose name is “Of” the Commander’s name. Handmaids have no identity of their own and are similar to sex slaves at the mercy of

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