Imagine a nation in which its government commands by a religion where women are separated into different titles and must conceive children for their commander. Their rights from before this regime, and anything deemed unholy by the government, are a thing of the past. This situation is the one represent in the Republic of Gilead, where the rules of society and its traditions are not taken lightly if broken. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood shows that an oppressive government leads to the inevitable neglect and remiss of the rules through Offred’s characterization, irony, and flashbacks. Offred 's character development can show that her actions change . Over the course of the novel offred goes from an obedient handmaid to a careless, desperate rule breaker. In chapter 11 when a visit to the doctor finds offred faced with a decision to have a baby with the doctor or not she declares, “it is too dangerous… No. I can’t” ( Atwood 61). In this situation, Offred 's decision to not break the rules shows how scared she is of the consequences and how obedient the regime has made her. Also considering the benefits that come with having a baby in Gilead, it shows just how more cautious and by the rules she is. However towards the end of the book Offred 's actions change drastically and she ends up doing things that are definitely not allowed. In chapter 36 when Offred is offered lingerie by the commander her reaction is, “Yet there is an excitement in this thing, it
The Handmaid’s Tale Text-to-text “The Angels stood outside it with their backs to us. They were objects of fear to us” (Atwood 4). This quote strongly relates to the peacekeepers in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
In Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, one of the many social issues explored was the rebellious actions of humans when their independence, freedom, and nature is taken away and controlled. In the theocratic government of Gilead fights to keep sex and sexuality apart by destroying pornography and sexual clothing, killing gays, lesbians, and abortion doctors, and force the society to participate in sexual rituals under the impression that they are supported by the Bible. This control causes a nation-wide fear of giving into human impulses and expressing freedom of speech, however due to the rebelliousness of human nature, this control and fear doesn’t hold. Atwood portrays this through symbols, simile, and humor.
Often, we see a society’s cultural values reflected in its citizens. For example, the United States values equality, a standard that is shared in all facets including gender. The opposite is true of Gilead, a fictional society in Emily Bronte’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The novel’s main character, Offred, is subjected to degrading treatment simply because she is a woman. It becomes apparent that this repeated degradation has affected the protagonist’s mind.
Offred is a rebellious individual who makes a habit of breaking rules just for her own pleasure. The novel takes place in the Republic of Gilead which is a totalitarian society. Has multiple rules that restrict the lives of many people in the Republic. The Commander or the highest one in control, is the leader of the Republic. Within the Republic there are Handmaids, Aunts, and many more.
Sexual acts for pleasure ,for both man and women, have been forbidden. The new regime has also caused the Commanders relationship with Serena to be damaged, due to them acquiring handmaids. This causes the Commander to form a relationship with Offred, in order to satisfy his needs. He soon manipulates Offred into having sex with him. The irony of this situation rests in the fact that most of the laws, based on the Bible, of Gilead were enforced in order “to protect women,” yet Offred is not being “protected” due to her fear that the Commander might expel her if she does not sleep with him.
Thesis- Margaret Atwood criticizes what we all know and have, Women's Rights, but Atwood takes them away even the most important parts of all women, being able to own a house, or having a bank account, even being able to speak your mind. In The Handmaid's Tale everything was normal equal rights between women and men, and than all of a sudden women can’t own any property, bank accounts get shut down, you can't leave without permission, as well as getting cut from jobs. In the new government commanders wives have to wear blue, and the handmaids wear red, it keeps them apart from each other and as well as people knowing who's who.
One of the most important parts of a story, book, novel, or events in general is its characters. Every story has a variety of characters with different ways of seeing the world. In The Handmaid’s Tale our main character is Offred, a woman in her early thirties suffering in a society everyone wants her to think of as a utopia. Offred, although she is the main character of the story, she is not described as what you would usually describe as a “traditional heroine”. Atwood would have liked Offred to be a more active character in her story
Offred simply is combined “Of” and “Fred” since her master’s name is Fred and the handmaids are treated to be properties of who they serve. In order for her to get pregnant, Offred must have sex with the Commander occasionally following the a ceremony. In the ceremony the master must read a verse from Bible and go to the bedroom with his wife while the handmaid is waiting inside. Offred has a little freedom to exercise just like every other women in the
Conflict can be described as the struggle between two opposing forces, whether the forces being person vs person, person vs self or person vs society. Good examples of conflict can be found in almost any book. Margaret Atwood’s novel, the Handmaid’s Tale is a source of all three types of conflicts. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a society where females are given specific duties and are restricted from reading, writing, talking to others and looking at themselves in mirrors. The protagonist, Offred whom is also the narrator in the novel faces conflicts with herself, with other people, and the society that she lives in.
In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred has a continuous search for justice for her daughter, in a society in which her idea of justice is starts as one concept and changes to one that she never expected. Margaret Atwood writes Offred as a character who was at once strong-willed, and who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Her strength is dimmed at first, when her daughter and husband are first taken from her. Her strength, however comes back in full force when she finds the opportunity to get justice for her daughter. Offred uses the motivation of her daughter to spur a rebellious side of her that disappeared when the new leaders came into power.
Society can both be really great and progress forward, but at times society can turn for the worst and progress backwards. In Margaret Atwood’s Fictional book The Handmaid’s Tale. The main character Offred in the Republic of Gilead as a handmaid. In the book the purpose of a handmaid is to reproduce and bear children for older, wealthier men whose wives cannot have children. In addition to being a handmaid Offred and all the women of Gilead are not allowed to read, write, own money, or dress immodest.
It seems the older Wives are seeking to hang onto their attractiveness and fertility by decorating themselves with flowers and tending gardens. Serena Joy seems to enjoy mutilating the flowers ; flowers being the symbol for the Handmaids. This shows her hatred for the Handmaids . What the Handmaid’s never get to experience is freedom as they are supposed to blindly follow the rules set for them. In the text, the Eyes of God are Gilead’s secret police.
Handmaid’s whom are the fertile women in the Gilead society, are stripped from all freedom and rights, banned from knowing any form of literature and have to be submissive to men, allowing their bodies to be sexually used to produce children. In contrast, women who are not fertile such as Wives have their freedom taken away too as they are confined to doing assigned jobs around the house. In contrast, the Aunts and the Commanders are shown to have the highest rankings in the Gileadean society. They are powerful figures, with privileges such as the Aunts being allowed to read and write and the Commanders being permitted to get married and have a handmaid's assigned to
(83). But when the Gilead was made and she was forced to stay home “She stays in her home, but it does not seem to agree with her.” (84). Serena Joy who was once a star and active speaker fell to the oppression towards female in the time of the Gilead. Her personality changed as well, one would think she is a loyal to her husband but offered Offred to have sex with Nick.
Furthermore, the author displays a dystopian society completely dominated by a totalitarian and theocratic state. The main subject of this novel is the role assigned to women, mainly represented by the handmaids. In Gilead, the made-up country where the novel takes place, women are completely subjected by the government, and especially by men, who clearly have a higher status than women. Moreover, women’s freedom is entirely restricted, as they cannot leave their house at their will, they are forbidden to hold properties or jobs, they cannot read or write, and they are treated as sexual slaves whose only purpose in life is to bear children for elite spouses. The other option is a miserable, short life at the Colonies (a type of concentration camp), and death.