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Religious Language In The Handmaid's Tale

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Language is a building block when it comes to writing. It covers most aspects of writing, such as word choice, syntax, phrasing, etc. It’s the process that engages the audience. Ranging from a 10-volume series of World War II analysis to Dr. Seuss, language is malleable, in which it’s shaped to fit the theme at hand. It’s a powerful tool that can affect the emotion of the reader and the overall atmosphere drastically. If the writing is boring, with simple and empty words, no imagery, of course it would pain you to flip to the next page. On the other hand, if the writing has expressive word choice, has imagery that paints a vivid, living world in your head, you would race through the story to find out what happens next. Specifically I would like to bring attention to the fact that language is power, and in the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, this is a prominent idea that is illustrated throughout the entire book. Atwood made it so that power is created through religious language, freedom of speech, the speech …show more content…

This concept is evident throughout the entire book. In Gilead, religious language is what sustains the theocratic government. It also plays into the freedom of speech, where individuals are compelled to use when communicating and interacting, making it normal in their daily lives. There are many religious references in the book, such as the positions, the roles of individuals in the book, like the Angels, Guardians, Jezebels, Marthas, and the assigned names for the Handmaids that take away their sense of identity in the autocratic state of Gilead. The store names, as well, such as Daily Bread and All Flesh. Bread is a reference to the bible, where bread is considered a celestial food. As for flesh, it is a reference to a quote in the bible that people go through the stages of life, being born and carrying on until their death, like a flower in the field that sprouts and

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