The Handmaids Tale

he Handmaid’s Tale is a modernist novel by Margaret Atwood. It explores a dystopian future in which society has become an extreme hierarchy. Each individual has been assigned a role with it’s own regulations, which if not met lead to the person 's disposal. Offred, the main character, has known a time when life was still ‘normal’ but as society changed she had to take on the role of a Handmaid. A Handmaid’s purpose is to be impregnated and bear children for her superiors. Do not go gentle into that good night is a poem by Dylan Thomas. He too discusses the theme of purpose, but in a very different way. Both use structure, characterization, and imagery to provide a wide perspective on the theme of purpose.

The literary masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, is a story not unlike a cold fire; hope peeking through the miserable and meaningless world in which the protagonist gets trapped. The society depicts the discrimination towards femininity, blaming women for their low birth rate and taking away the right from the females to be educated ,forbidding them from reading or writing. These appear in Ethan Alter’s observations that:

Parents typically don’t want their children reading in depth books about sex; however, The Handmaid’s Tale offers great fictional examples that teach sexism and the mistreatment of women, yet these examples can lead some in the wrong way. Therefore depending on the view in society, The Handmaid’s tale should be banned or kept to certain areas of the world because of the unfair treatment of women.

In her book, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Margaret Atwood describes a dystopian society in which all of the progress in the feminist movement that was made during the twentieth century is reversed and the nation is reverted back to its traditional patriarchal ways. The story is told from the point of view of Offred, a woman who was separated from her husband and child and forced into the life of a handmaid. In this book, Atwood explores the oppression of women through her use of literary tools such as figurative language, symbols, and literary allusions.

One of Atwood’s bestselling novel is The Handmaid’s Tale, a disturbing dystopian fiction novel. The Handmaid’s Tale is a complex tale of a woman’s life living in a society that endorses sexual slavery and inequality through oppression and fear. The female characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel demonstrates how these issues affects women’s lives. Offred is the individual with whom we sympathize and experience these issues. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood addresses her perception of the ongoing feminism issues during her time; reproduction rights, workforce inequalities and gender discrimination. Atwood uses her talent to write The Handmaid Tale to express her view on past, present, and future women’s issues.

In the words of Erika Gottlieb "With control of the past comes domination of the future." A dystopia reflects and discusses major tendencies in contemporary society. The Handmaid 's Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel follows its protagonist Offred as she lives in a society focused on physical and spiritual oppression of the female identity. Within The Handmaid 's Tale it is evident that through the exploration of free will and femininity, the dystopian novel presents an understanding that the future is determined by the actions taken in the past and the present. These actions are closely related to the novel 's context and the characteristics that are present in the dystopian genre.

Racism is man’s gravest threat to man- the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason,” (Abraham Joshua Heschel). Harper Lee met the topic of racism head on in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee shows that injustice is commonly sprouted from racism, and racism can often blind one’s thoughts.

In the dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred is forced into being separated from her family members when Gilead is established. Afraid of descending into insanity as a Handmaid, Offred tries to forget about her past and the family she once spent all of her time with. Offred recalls her mother as a rebellious and determined woman who did not need anybody’s help. After realizing how risky pregnancy is for her mother’s reputation, Offred could recognize her mother’s own sacrifices. Instead of being bitter at the separation from her daughter, Offred views her child as a beacon of light for the future of Gilead. Offred is able to value different forms of motherly admiration and endearment because of the suppression she

German sociologist, Georg Simmel, once stated, “The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.” A little after a century following his death, his remark still reigns true today. With the advancement of technology and mass media we struggle to find what makes us different as social constructs triggers us to act a certain way. Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, presents its readers with a dystopian society called Gilead, in which citizens are constantly under surveillance. Instead of adapting to the belief system of the totalitarian

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

Our narrator's brother had been walking in the direction of Chelmsford to hopefully find some of his friends and take refuge. While he was walking along a quieter path, he came across a taxing scene. Two women were being pulled from their pony chaise by several men. One of the women, a Mrs. Elphinstone, was throwing a fit merely for the plot of it all. The other lady, a slender woman, was engaged in trying to harm her attacker. The narrator’s brother quickly put himself in the fight to try and help the woman, but in the end, it was she who helped him escape the fight. The ladies told the man their story, that they were attempting to get a train once they reached Edgware. They had tried waiting for George, Mrs. Elphinstone’s husband, and that

The display of a dystopian society is distinctively shown in The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. Featuring the Republic of Gilead, women are categorized by their differing statuses and readers get an insight into this twisted society through the lenses of the narrator; Offred. Categorized as a handmaid, Offred’s sole purpose in living is to simply and continuously play the role of a child-bearing vessel. That being the case, there is a persistent notion that is relatively brought up by those leading the Gileadean regime; women have gained more than they have lost. Yet, this is a clearly distorted idea being that women in this society are excessively restricted from freedom. Women are restricted to the freedoms that they once had.

A dystopia in fiction is a society created by human misery, portrayed as existing in the future, and presenting conditions of life affected from oppression, deprivation, or terror by a corrupt government. However, the most frightening aspect of dystopias is an author’s ability to emphasize blind, yet honest ‘truths’ within the text. Authors write dystopias to bring into light the contemporary issues facing a cultural context. This type of fiction is raw; it satirizes extreme scenarios of a horrible reality that could possibly occur. To express her own critique on anti-feminism during the 1980s, Margaret Atwood demonstrates an extreme right wing government control over politics and religion in her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. This dystopia is

In Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood writes about a dystopia society. Atwood used situations that were happening during the time she began writing her novel, for example, women’s rights, politics, and in religious aspects. Atwood’s novel is relevant to contemporary society. There are similarities between Atwood’s novel and our society today, which lends to the possibility that our modern society might be headed to a less intense version of this dystopia society.

The Sumerians were the most successful ancient civilization. The first reason is they created the first written language. The second reason is they achieved many things. The last reason is that they invented many things.