Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Oppression theme in handmaids tale
Symbolism in the handmaid's tale
Characterization in the handmaids tale
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Oppression theme in handmaids tale
Symbolism in the handmaid's tale
Characterization in the handmaids tale
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, there is a wall that’s main purpose is to put fear in the people of Gilead. To illustrate, the gate has “sentries and there are ugly new floodlights mounted on metal posts above it, and barbed wire along the bottom and broken glass set in concrete along the top”(Atwood 31). As a result, the barbed wire fence is a way to show fear towards the people of Gilead and to express that they are not the ones in charge. Moreover, it states, “Beside the main gateway there are six bodies hanging, by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders”(Atwood 32). The purpose of the people hanging is to show that it is impossible for anyone to escape and
Both texts ‘The Handmaids Tale’ and ‘The Bloody Chamber’ were written during the second wave of feminism which centralised the issue of ownership over women’s sexuality and reproductive rights and as a result, the oral contraceptive was created. As powerfully stated by Ariel Levy, ‘If we are really going to be sexually liberated, we need to make room for a range of options as wide as the variety of human desire.’ Margaret Atwood and Angela Carter both celebrate female sexuality as empowering to challenge the constraints of social pressure on attitudes of women. Both writers aim to expose the impact of patriarchy as it represses female sexual desire and aim to control it thus challenge contemporary perspectives of women by revealing the oppression
The protagonist handmaid, Offred finds herself submerging into a pit of obstacles. A pit, that stations itself in the ruins of the Republic of Gilead, where all the handmaids (like Offred herself) are used for one single purpose, getting pregnant. Offred gets assigned to the home of the Commander and his “particular” wife, Serena Joy. Upon entering the scene in this fragile marriage, Offred first meets the Commander’s wife. In doing so, she over-analysis the different tasks Joy does as in taking care of the garden and having a somewhat “privilege” to knit.
Fear is defined as the emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. The emotion of fear is present in everyone's lives and we all have a variety of fears that are unique to us. However, in the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood, the society the book takes place, Gilead, is structured in a way to create a fear into the people who reside there. The way this type of economy is shaped has multiple characteristics that lead it to believe that no change can be brought upon it to overcome any fear that it gives off. This literary text delves us into the setting of the book and begins to instate fear into us, the readers.
Dystopian novels have an entrancing factor that allows them to captivate the American public like no other genre. The mass popularity gained by these novels can be seen dating all the way back to 1950’s with the publishing of George Orwell’s 1984, and through the present day with the publication of various dystopian novels such as Divergent, Maze Runner, and The Hunger Games. The main reason why these dystopian worlds resonate with so many people is because they address present day problems in outlandish but conceivable ways, "whatever its artistic or philosophic qualities, a book about the future can interest us only if its prophecies look as though they might conceivably come true. "(Beauchamp). While The Handmaid 's Tale focus on a variety of issues, such as the mistreatment of women, it also realistically illustrates the mental deterioration that occurs during prolonged periods of isolation in captivity.
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.
The hostility and tension of Arnarfell was beginning to wear at Rurik’s nerves, compounded even further by the fact he refused to indulge in this rage by provoking a fight with Bjorgolf. But it was pleasantly surprisingly to hear Ylva state he was right. He continued to glance over his shoulder at her, eyebrow raised and grey eyes keen on hearing all she had to say. He was finding this partnership to be quite begrudging, yet necessary when it came to information. There was a stab of worry that shot into his gut when Ylva revealed her thoughts, stating the size of the farm was unnatural, and that his labourers and men were outsiders.
What would become of the world, if our current societal flaws, such as sexism, racism, and classism were ingrained and executed at a systematic level? This is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale set out to explore. The novel, which claims to be speculative fiction, is set in the theocratic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA), where birth rates are rapidly declining and women have been marginalized by the patriarchal regime, forbidden to read, write or love and valued only if they are able to procreate. They are separated into classes, including Wives, Marthas, Aunts, Unwomen, and Handmaids, distinguishable only by the color of their clothing. The Handmaids are renamed by combining ‘of’ and the name of the Commander that they have been assigned to, stripping them of any individuality.
Symbolism can be defined as the use of symbols that an author uses to suggest more than the literal meaning of the object .Symbolism often allows the reader to understand the text better and connect with the story on a different level. In The Handmaid’s Tale, symbolism can be seen in various parts of the novel. One of the most common type of symbolism that can be identified in the text is through the use of colours. One of the most obvious symbols in the novel is the uniform that every Handmaid is supposed to wear.
Outline Research Question/ Topic: What is the effect of alienation and isolation in the works of George Orwell 's 1984 and Margaret Atwood 's the Handmaid 's Tale? Introduction: Isolation refers “a person or place to be or remain alone or apart from others”, and through the literary classics The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and 1984 by George Orwell, the theme of isolation plays a key factor in molding the plot into the controversial novels that they are today.
Often, we see a society’s cultural values reflected in its citizens. For example, the United States values equality, a standard that is shared in all facets including gender. The opposite is true of Gilead, a fictional society in Emily Bronte’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel’s main character, Offred, is subjected to degrading treatment simply because she is a woman. It becomes apparent that this repeated degradation has affected the protagonist’s mind.
There are two ways people will react to when their freedom is taken away. They will either accept it or rebel against it, which is what a lot of the female characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale accomplished. Shown through Offred’s repetition of certain events, Moira’s tone of being a fighter, and Serena Joy’s desperation, the reader can see that lack of freedom leads to rebellion. Offred, the novel’s narrator, now lives in a world where women are powerless. She has had her freedom taken away, and at times follows the rules, but ends up rebelling in many powerful ways.
In Margaret Atwood’s novel, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moira is depicted as the symbol for resistance to authority and represents hope to the Handmaids. Atwood presents her as a polar opposite to Offred. She is independent, strong-willed, and outspoken. Conversely, the pair can be argued to be doubles in the fact that they both ‘resist’ to the oppressive Republic in Gilead.
A Disappearing Act or A New Beginning When starting a new chapter in your life, something new appeals to the senses. Either it’s buying something that has been thoroughly thought about or moving to a new town or state to feel refreshed. While some people want to start a new life, others just want to disappear. Due to situations in their personal life, the only option they seem to have is to leave and have a normal life.
Offred does not claim her story to be completely true, leaving a room for ambiguity and doubt. In a search for accuracy, she constantly changes her stories, twists and recreates them in a new way. For instance, thinking about her husband Luke, she imagines him being dead, imprisoned, and escaped and believe in “all three versions of Luke, at one and the same time”(121). Another example is her description of her encounter with Nick in several completely different ways and the further confession that “it didn’t happen that way either” (317). Offred admits her story is a reconstruction, because “it’s impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was” (158).