The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will

In the book The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the author depicts a dystopian system of the future. Within it, both the men and the women have become oppressed. The men are prohibited from developing friends and personal relationships with the women and each other. The women are stripped of having personal, financial and educational independence. However, ultimately both sides suffer from the restrictions on sexual freedom and the ability to love.

The Handmaid's Tale is set in the early twentieth century in the futuristic Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States of America. The Republic has been founded by a Christian response to declining birthrates. The government rules using biblical teachings that have been distorted to justify the inhumane practices. In Gilead, women are categorized by their age, marital status and fertility. Men are categorised by their age. Women all have separate roles in society, and although these roles are different, they all share the same theme: Every woman is confined to the home and has a domestic duty. Marthas are cooks and housekeepers, and handmaids have one duty, which is to reproduce, growing and giving birth to babies to the childless

In a time when complacency is commonplace; A Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is an important read. The dangers of not paying attention to the occurrences of injustice are front and center throughout the entire story of a woman suddenly stuck in a world ruled by religious zealots. Offred, as she's known now, speaks of the small signs that everyone ignored, constantly looking the other way on any infractions that didn't personally affect them.

They commit adultery by having sex commander while they are married and it's against the rules. They are taken away handmaid's power to speak about the irrelevant portrayed women who have to obey rules and while also breaking them to

In a “A Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, readers see a world go from what it once used to be to total totalitarianism. In this now cruel world called Gilead, we see people stripped from their original identities, and no longer free. Furthermore, they are brainwashed to believe and abide by new regulations and rules, and the ones that rebel or no longer are of any use for the government end up dead. Besides the narrator who is now named “Offred” in this new society, her past friend “Moira” from the pre-totalitarian world, is a central figure of hope in the story. Moira becomes a rebel and fights to win back her freedom, but ultimately that thirst to outsmart the government, leads to her ultimate destruction.

It is not permitted to endure natural conversations between people, resulting in any exchange of words to be merely a scripted manifestation. By eliminating freedom of speech, the government in The Handmaid’s Tale is taking away a basic human necessity, which is human interaction and socialization. By providing the handmaid's with poor access to this basic need, they are becoming dehumanized by alternatively turning into robots. Instead of evolving to new conditions and growing as individuals, they are in reverse being taught to limit what they say and know, ultimately giving them a poor quality of life. As a result of following such strict ideals, the handmaids have become brainwashed by the standard conversations they perform daily. The mass hysteria causes them to lose their knowledge from the past and in turn become mindless followers. Consequently, they lose own identity and freedom of individuality. In addition to this, not everyone in the novel has their freedom of speech and use of language limited. Those above the handmaid’s on the social hierarchy such as the Aunts,

In Gilead Handmaids are seen as adulterous, harlots and are hated by everyone because of their role, “But the frown isn’t personal: it’s the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for.”(pg.19 ) they are especially hated by the wives of commanders.

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a warning to the world that by classifying women by their fertility and stripping them of their rights, one can easily create a terrifying dystopia where all fabrics of society suffer the erosive consequences of female subjugation.

THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN ATWOOD’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND THEIR WAYS OF RESISTING THE REGIME

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is set in a future time period where the United States is under the control of the Gileadean regime. A terrorist attack leads to the collapse of Congress, the suspension of the Constitution, and the establishment of a theocratic totalitarian government. Men and women are given roles within society; they are Commanders, Eyes, Handmaids, and Marthas. In this novel, Atwood explores a prominent social issue, feminism. The suppression and power of women are examined through the setting and characterization of the novel to help understand the meaning of the novel as a whole.

Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, details army captain Ben Willard’s adventure though the jungle to kill deranged Colonel Walter Kurtz. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is set in the early 1890’s and presents Marlow’s curiosity for Kurtz; he travels through the Congo in search for him and witnesses the perils of imperialism and the effects it has on both the colonizers and the colonized. Although Apocalypse Now and Heart of Darkness are wholly different genres of timeless entertainment, they both present the dominant theme of man’s innate savagery and the ability to descent into madness when subject to the right conditions. Both works heavily emphasize the vulnerability that man has of falling under the spell of darkness.

The Handmaid’s Tale is a distillation of the real-world events that were happening before the book was published. In this novel, she talks about a handmaid living in the Gilead Republic, newly formed republic that is controlled by a theocratic dictatorship government. Theocratic dictatorship is a type of government in which laws are based on a particular religion. One leader, a dictator, rules the government, and there is neither power nor person above the leader. In the Gilead Republic, the system forces its citizens to obey its laws, and follow its agendas absolutely. Thus, the theocratic dictatorship changed the ordinary ways of life because it forced its people to live with in a patriarchal system

1. Forms: In my interpretation , Plato indicates “Forms” as an existence of “Absolute Truth”. He doesn’t clearly define what “Forms” are, but he believes that “Forms” do exist. I personally under some circumstances believe in the existence of “Forms”. For example, during the class, Dr. Haney gave an example about the definition of “Largeness”. He mentions that each individual has his own definition of largeness, and this definition is unique for each person. Thus, all together, the “Largeness”, according to Plato, isn’t large. I don’t quite understand why it is not. For instance, in my opinion, the individual’s definition is unique, however, it’s all based on some basic standard. For example, we all define largeness based on comparison on sizes or dimensions. Depends on what we compare to, our definition of largeness would be different. Thereby, all definition would share somewhat the idea of “Largeness”. Or in another words, I believed that “Forms” according to Plato is something in common, sharable idea. It is partially sharable, thus not additive. Some might ask, if its only partial, how could it be “absolute”? I would say that it depends on our own definition of “absolute”. To me, “absolute” means that it’s something viewed or existing independently, and “absolute” doesn’t relate to other things. Thereby, “Largeness”, for example, as in the comparison to something is unique and independent on any individuals.

Each reader if effected differently by the texts they have the opportunities to study and to each the most influential authors and texts will vary. Throughout the study of the school year and the many texts represented in the curriculum several can be seen as exemplar texts which have made an important and lasting impact on society and literature. In consideration of this fact, five texts stand above the rest including The Iliad, Plato’s Republic, Beowulf, Paradise Lost, and A Modest Proposal. Each text influenced the world after it was written and continues to be taught in great detail, separating it from texts of lesser importance. The emphasis of these texts throughout the curriculum is clear and continuously these texts and their authors reemerge in other works of literature. However, the influence and importance of each text can only be determined by the readers as they are the ones to feel the effect. It is these five previously mentioned texts that possibly have had the greatest impact on the culture, history, and literature of not only their geographical locations but on the world as a whole.