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An Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale

1378 Words6 Pages

The present paper focusses on Atwood’s widely acclaimed and thought provoking novel ‘‘The Handmaid’s Tale’’(1985)focused on the theme of the domination and ruthless governing of women by men. The novel presents a world where freedom of women is impeded on account of the new Christian Government’s extreme policies.It portrays a futuristic picture of the new republic that throws away the U.S. Constitution and establishes the Republic of Gilead in which women are viewed only as reproductive machines.Portraying females as the leading characters, and environmental crisis as its background, the novel depicts people suffering from tragic environmental pollution in a totalitarian country.It is a place where the females are forced into a submissive position leading the whole society fall into abnormality. The aim of the paper is to evaluate ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’as an ecofeminist novel. The purpose is to assess the patriarchal domination of women and the capitalistic …show more content…

It depicts a futuristic, grim and authoritarian society where women are not accorded even the primary rights. Atwood names it as the 'Republic of Gilead ' administered by a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. The novel is a dystopian vision of a future in which Christian fundamentalists have executed the President, machine gunned the congress blaming the assassinations on Muslim fanatics and suspended the constitution. The new leadership is a dictatorship of extreme right wing religious radicals, with a goal of repopulating the country after infertility reached crisis low levels due to the ravages of war, radioactive material, etc. They have driven away and persecuted “undesirable” populations such as Jews, blacks, and homosexuals. Women are denied every right and used only for procreational purposes. The new Gileadean society has created a new social order in which women are treated as

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