The Handmaid's Tale

"Rebels defy the rules of society, risking everything to retain their humanity. If the world Atwood depicts is chilling, if 'God is losing, ' the only hope for optimism is a vision that includes the inevitability of human struggle against the prevailing order." -Joyce Johnson-

Throughout the course of world history on Earth, humans have always worked harder and harder in order to improve society and make it more perfect, although it still hasn’t been done quite yet, because it is merely impossible to achieve perfection in a world with close to seven billion people. There is a very distinct difference between a utopia, which can also be known as perfection, and a dystopia, which can also be known as a tragedy; and the outcomes normally generate from the people in charge or the authority that sets up the foundation, the rules, and the regulations for a society. In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Republic of Gilead is created by a powerful authority group called the Eyes after a huge government take over and the assassination of the US president. It’s very strict rules and goals are set up to protect women, to increase childbirth, and to keep all violence, men, and powerful social media under control. The novel is set in a first person point of view and the narrator, Offred, tells her story to us readers about her experiences as a handmaid and how her life was completely turned upside down. Throughout the course of the novel Offred reveals many sides of herself; although her thoughts do not remain consistent, her personality and opinion tends to change revealing, that she is hesitant and strong because she learns to make the best of what she has and silently overcome the system of the Republic of Gilead.

Margaret Atwood is author that is most famously known for her use of feminism in her literary works. The Handmaid’s Tale is among one of the most well known books for its critique of feminism. Feminism is described as the advocating for women's rights for equality to men on all levels, including social, political, and economical. Atwood’s novel centers around a dystopian culture in which women’s rights are disregarded by the state, men, and fellow women. After the birth rate started to decline, the state decided to take control by creating a new society in which reproduction was the main focus. The men did not lose their right when the new society was formed, creating a patriarchal society. A disunity was created within the various rankings of women in

The Handmaid’s Tale is about Offered as she shares her thoughts and experiences in a journal-like form and provides some advice. Offred is a lower class female who has been taken from her husband and daughter at 5 years old to be a handmaid for the red commander at the red center. The point of this center is to reproduce with the Commander

In the book, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, the story begins in an old school gym. In the beginning, the narrator’s name is unknown, and she was surrounded by other women. Her life is completely controlled by a married commander. While preparing for the lit circle discussion, I discovered that the book is a little complicated to read, as the language used throughout the book was old and hard to understand. I realized that although the word choices may seem easy, there are many connotation meanings behind them.

"The Handmaid's Tale" written by Margaret Atwood paints a realistic picture of a what a government ruled by a Christian theocracy would look like. In this country, men are the ones with power and women have virtually no rights. In the country of Gilead, there are many possible positions in society that a woman may be assigned. Furthermore, one of the lowest positions in society is the handmaid; their sole purpose is to bear children for their Commander. One such handmaid, is the narrator of the novel, Offred.

The central social hierarchy within the novel is the gender hierarchy, placing men in a position of extreme power. This is evident in every aspect of the book, as the entire Gilead society is male dominated. The Commander is at the top of the hierarchy and is involved with designing and establishing the current society taking control of a nation of women, and exploiting their power by controlling what is taught, what they can teach themselves and the words that they can use. Soon all of the women will become brainwashed, simply because it is made nearly impossible to defy the rules

And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?' And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her”(Genesis 30:1-4). Unlike, Rachel the handmaids in the novel had no choice whether they wanted children or not. Reproduction was forced upon them. Due to the envy she had toward her sister Rachel desired to have children, but she wasn’t able to have them herself. In return, she gave her husband Jacob a maid to procreate with. Now Gilead gives Commanders and their Wives a handmaid, which is adultery. A man should only have intercourse, but bare children with only his wife.

This art piece is based on a famous illustration by Benjamin Franklin during the revolutionary war. He created this as a symbol for the thirteen colonies, in hopes to create unity during the war against England. After seeing this on my american government field trip I was immediately inspired to create a distorted version of it for the Gilead. One of the main themes in Gilead is unity and coming together for the common good so this image is a perfect inspiration for that. Furthermore, the Gilead evolved from the “time before,” or America as we know it and the United States evolved from the colonies. Both represent an evolution from a previous nation that had a core issue.

To be free is to do or say whatever you want, but to be safe is to know or feel that you are not in danger. In Mencken's quote, he implies that a normal person prefers to be safe over having freedom. I partially disagree with Mencken’s because I would prefer to have my own freedom instead of being promised to be safe, but others might think differently.. In the handmaid's tale, everyone in Gilead lives in a very strict society where certain people have jobs to do and there are many rules that people have to follow or they will be executed and/or punished. This shows us that even though Gilead is supposed to protect everyone and keep people safe, people still break the rules and cause them to get punished or even murdered.

We first start seeing the changes in the movie The Handmaid’s Tale. Before it was a movie it was a book written by Margaret Atwood in 1984 and published in 1986. The book won two awards: The Governor General's Award in 1985 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. In 1990, because of the book’s popularity it was made into a movie. The movie has the same setting as the book, a dystopic world in America where religion and state are mixed while fertility is in high demand.

Although the prologue is rather short, it alludes to many clues to the story. Not following the normal, traditional story of Narcissus, where he drowns and dies, the story continues on and the lake becomes sad due to Narcissus’ death as he enjoyed seeing his own reflection in his eyes. Overall, the short story portrays that although dangerous, vanity can be good, which could become a major theme in the book. Also the prologue introduces a mystical aspect, a world where magical creatures and goddesses roam.

Freedom to and Freedom From In Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, much of the power held by the authoritarian government lies in its control over women’s bodies. The government uses the birthrate decline as a tool to create a society where politics and sexual reproduction go hand in hand. While Gilead does show absolute control on women, there are various instances when Offred narrates about the women who were brave enough to fight the regime. For example, when Offred talks about Moira’s escape, she portrays Moira’s embodiment of resistance. Gilead had taught women to walk “with heads bent down, [their] eyes on [their] hands or the ground,” but when Moira escaped the Red Center she “stood up straight and looked firmly ahead

Imagine knowing that a group of people are attempting to take full control of society and the way to live life, but there is nothing that can be done to stop them from accomplishing it. That’s exactly what has been occurring to societies around the world for centuries: Hitler in Germany, Stalin in Russia, and Idi Amin in Uganda, but still continues due to a leader or Regime’s clever techniques to gradually attain power in society without the acknowledgement of citizens. Similarly, in the dystopian novel “The Handmaids Tale,” a staged terrorist attack kills the President, which leads to the government being taken over by the Republic of Gilead, who ultimately transforms the state of Gilead into a women’s nightmare. The women in the novel are forced to be sex slaves in society, in order to produce babies for the infertile men in the state of Gilead, where fertility rates are significantly low. However, the Republic of Gilead forces citizens to follow their theocratic ideology through misleading the entire population with their clever techniques to accomplish their goal of having full power and eventually form a totalitarian society. Thus, in “The Handmaids Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, misinterpreted references to the bible’s scriptures and manipulative techniques are used by the Regime of Gilead to form a totalitarian society.

The first episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” is fairly relatable to the actual book. The episode projected the book with valid informations. The show helped the viewers understand the situation that is going on. However, I think that the beginning may be a bit confusing for viewers that has not read the book. The first scene was Offred trying to escape with her family.