The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood And Brave New World

“Refiguring Aztlan” means that there is more meaning to Aztlan than just a homeland. It was used as a concept to improve cultural and social issues. It was also used to recover land. It also meant that there were no borders. Aztlan was used to unite the community, but it was also used to separate. It was a concept used as an identity. Some of the issues I read on Chapter 10 on Vigil were that U.S. citizens whine about Mexicans taking away their jobs, but Americans don’t even have jobs similar to what Mexicans have to do for a living. Mexicans are paid very low wages, and have jobs as gardeners, janitors, senior- care workers, day laborers, etc. Americans don’t have those types of jobs, so I don’t see how Mexicans are taking away their jobs.

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.

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.

Written by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel set in the near future where the United States is overthrown and a military dictatorship forms called the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is a society that reconsolidates power and creates a new hierarchical regime that limits women entirely of their rights. The rulers of this dystopia are centrally concerned with dominating their subjects through the control of their experiences, time, memory, and history. A woman called Offred narrates the story and works as a Handmaid for reproductive purposes only. In her storytelling, Offred describes flashbacks consisting of portions of her life before the revolution. These flashbacks are the only thing that keeps her going in this

“There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from,” (Atwood 24). The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, is a novel set in the near future where societal roles have severely changed. The most notable change is that concerning women. Whereas, in the past, women have been gaining rights and earning more “freedom to’s”, the women in the society of The Handmaid’s Tale have “freedom froms”. They have the freedom from being abused and having sexist phrases yelled at them by strangers. While this may seem like a safer society, all of the “safeness” comes at a drastic cost. Atwood depicts a dystopia in The Handmaid’s Tale

In the book The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the foremost theme is identity, due to the fact that the city where the entire novel takes place in, the city known as the Republic of Gilead, often shortened to Gilead, strips fertile women of their identities. Gilead is a society that demands the women who are able to have offspring be stripped of all the identity and rights. By demeaning these women, they no longer view themselves as an individual, but rather as a group- the group of Handmaids. It is because of the laws that have been established that individuality has been demolished. From these points that will be raised, it can be concluded that a handmaid’s role in Gilead is more important than their happiness, and mental wellbeing.

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

Throughout the book, the author uses figurative language, specifically similes, to explain the maltreatment and abuse of women in the Republic of Gilead. In describing the conditions at the red center, the narrator explains that Aunt Lydia said to “think of it as being in the army” (7). By this she meant that every woman in the center would wear the same clothes, use the same blankets and pillows, adhere to strict regulations, and have no personal items. The center was tough to get through but even harder to get out of. The women were not allowed to be exposed to anything that could potentially harm them because the “Aunts” and the “Eyes” know that they would take the chance. If the women are being sent to a place where they would rather kill themselves than continue on or try to escape, then it leads one to believe that they are being horribly

: In the novels, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, negative impacts of a totalitarian government can cause a corrupt society through the conflict of the authority's censorship over knowledge, with the help of theme to suppress an individual’s lack of identity, and by characters to show the governments control over relationships.Firstly, the use of conflict is portrayed by both authors to illustrate the government’s censorship over knowledge to present their so called “stable society” that they are aiming to achieve. Point 1: To begin with, all handmaids are prohibited from reading, writing and any form of modernization, and this is attempted by the authorities in charge to stabilize of what can and cannot be utilized

Even though the women who can bear children are “cherished”, the babies are not which can be seen when babies are referred to as “shredders” and “unbabies.” Furthermore, it is interesting that the babies are not “cherished”, but the women who can bear children are because it is illegal to have an abortion and can lead to the doctor being killed who performed it. If the handmaids do not get pregnant within three months then they move down in the hierarchy. It is argued who has it worst in the society, however they all share something in common, being oppressed. The handmaids are not allowed to read, go out into public on their own and even have access to everyday things such as lotion. It is seen as vain and people say, “who are they trying to impress?” when they use such items. Offred steals butter to use as a substitute for lotion because she does not have access to it. Lastly, their names perfectly symbolize their oppression: Offred is Fred’s handmaid; she is “of Fred.” Everyday liberties people take for granted and this dystopia shows what it would be like to live under these harsh laws that can lead to execution.

A woman’s power and privileges depend on which societal class she is in. In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale each group of women are each represented in a different way. The three classes of women from the novel are the Handmaids, the Marthas and the Wives. The ways in which the women are portrayed reflect their societal power and their privileges that they bestow.

The concept that women are not on the same level as men has always been a notion throughout society. Since existence, the prominent barrier between the two genders has been apparent. Atwood’s novel “The Handmaids Tale” vividly manifests the idea of sexism and inequality that women are exposed to and by doing so, her depiction of a dystopian society cleverly criticizes the behavior towards women in the present day. Although Atwood exaggerates these issues throughout the book, she undeniably demonstrates what could be the result of inequality in the future making the reader question the imbalance between male and females in today’s society. It is virtually impossible to read this eye-opening novel without becoming aware of these issues.

Events and ideas circulating in a writer’s environment shift and mold his perspective, and ultimately provide the basis for his works of literature. Writers who experience similar socialization often have similar writing styles and themes they strive to convey. Modernism stretched from the late nineteenth century to the early 1940s. Modernist writers criticized tradition and institutions, attempting to find meaning and individuality in a chaotic world. Postmodernists tend to mock modernist styles, and the very possibility of meaning and absolute truth. Postmodernism began around 1939-1945, at the beginning of World War II. Writers from the period embrace chaos and the constant change and subjectivity of the universe. The Handmaid’s Tale and Brave New World both clearly articulate the common themes and styles of their respective times. Written by Aldous Huxley in 1943, Brave New World uses literary techniques typical to modernism and more often postmodernism to convey Huxley’s conviction that people find happiness in their ability to make their own choices as individuals within society. Human impulses, which drive individuality and choice, are necessary, though when uncontrolled they bring chaos to society. The Handmaid’s Tale was written about forty years later, and although Margaret Atwood borrows some stylistic techniques from modernism (similarly to Brave New World), the four-decade gap is still evident as she has clearly moved into the heart of postmodernism. Through

Gileadean women are divided into seven classes based on hierarchy and identified by the color of their clothing. However, “They are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can” (Atwood 24). The commanders’ wives wear blue. Their responsibilities are to bear children, and if they are not able to reproduce, they are to take on a handmaid and stay loyal to their husband. Aunts wear brown clothing, they work for Gilead, enforcing, teaching, and supervising the handmaids; urging them to accept their new way of life. The Marthas clothe themselves in green dresses and aprons. They are the household servants, in charge of the cooking and cleaning. Handmaids wear red, symbolizing their fertility. Their sole responsibility is to bear the Commanders’