Power in The Handmaid's Tale As you read through the handmaid’s tale you see the relationships of the characters develop and the fight for power, however small that glimpse of power may be. The images of power can be seen through out the novel, but there are major parts that stand out to the reader from the aunt’s in the training centre to the secret meetings between the Commander and Offred. The first we see of the struggles of power between people is when the novel opens and we first see the aunts of the red centre with their electric cattle prods and their stern moral teaching and their stern looks. The aunts are given small amounts of power by the male dominated regime, like the ability to carry the cattle prods but no other weapons. "No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards…" This extract shows the us that even the Aunts with there limited power can not carry guns as the regime will not trust them with that amount of responsibility or power due to their gender, it is even remarkable that the aunts are given the little power that they have considering how the regime feels about the role of the woman in their society. This little amount of power gives the aunts the feeling that the are superior to the other women in the society it also allows them to push their views and opinions onto the handmaids that they are also entrusted to look after by the regime which from what we see they do well and try and treat the handmaids like daughters that they will punish if the women disobey any of the rules of the regime. As seen by the way they treat Moria after her first attempt to escape from the red centre. The aunts are also very confident within them selves and the position that they h... ... middle of paper ... ...entioned forms of Offred’s power were not physical power. She also has the most physical power as she is the person who carries the baby and gets pregnant. Then later in the novel after Serena suggests about seeing Nick. Offred is given a cigarette and then a match and with that match Offred could burn the house down killing the Commander and Serena and then trying to escape. She could burn herself so that she no longer has to live or suffer the indignity of being continually raped by this society. From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
In conclusion, the films and novel named above reveal the three unlikely elements that fuse to illustrate the advancement of power. As rank, pride and gender inequality become significant power increases and elevates the person holding that power. Though many crave power, few know how to maintain it with these same elements.
Thesis: In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood characterizes Handmaids, as women with expectations to obey the society’s hierarchy, as reproducers, symbolizing how inferior the Handmaid class is to others within Gilead; the class marginalization of Handmaids reveals the use of hierarchical control exerted to eliminate societal flaws among citizens.
made evident at the very beginning of the book were the handmaids are under surveillance while
There are two possible events that can occur with Offred's arrest and readers have the ability to open the book to new possibilities. If Offred is arrested, she will likely be tried for treason and killed. However, if she escapes into freedom, she will have a new lifestyle away from Gilead. She is different from Winston as she only wants to survive and survives because of her memories of her past Conclusion:
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 process of subjugation is a very detrimental thing as seen in three sources examined; the non-fiction article NBC News “‘I was broken beyond repair’ Elizabeth Smart recalls kidnapping ordeal” by Tracy Jarrett (2013), the film Memoirs of a Geisha directed by Rob Marshall (2005) and the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985). In the non fiction article NBC News “‘I was broken beyond repair’ Elizabeth Smart recalls kidnapping ordeal” told the story about Elizabeth Smart and her kidnapping. This article explains how she is taken from her room in the middle of the night and brought to a campsite where she is raped by Brian David Mitchell and forced to do everything he asked of her. In the film
Margaret Atwood's futuristic “The Handmaid's Tale” refuses categorization into a single style, or genre. To me it blends a few approaches away from a predictable sci-fi or thriller fiction. Throughout the novel their were a few determinants or factors that decisively affect the nature or outcomes of certain events and how people behave or interact with one another.
.... Since Wives do not have the ability to have a baby, they ask Handmaids to sleep with their husbands once a month to bear a baby. Their husbands cannot see Handmaids except for every month’s Ceremony. Because the husband cannot kiss and touch Handmaids when they have sex, the husbands go to night clubs to dally with Jezebels. In this society, women each have a function and become the victims of patriarchal ruling. Once we lapse in dealing with the gender relationship, what will the situation be for the entire human society? In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood puts this worry into her feminist dystopia, a real nightmare. Although the sufferings everyone undertakes in the novel will not occur in the real world, the novel conceives a unique, horrible social panorama, exaggerating and magnifying the gender tension in the real world, containing the criticism of reality.
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make change.
Offred, among other women depicted in this novel, tries to overcome this dominion. In her own way, she attempts to do this by ensuring the Commander’s expectations of her behavior which could result in her freedom. Thus, there is a present power struggle between the Commander and Offred throughout The Handmaid’s
Prior to meeting Nick, Offred abhorred her life as a handmaid. She was depressed and she even mentions thoughts of killing herself. Even though the Commander spends time with her, Offred still did not grew to love him or find comfort in him, as seen during the night the Commander slept with Offred; Even the commander was disappointed by Offred’s lack of enthusiasm. However, ever since Offred slept with Nick, she became enamoured with him. Nick became her source of content and joy; she idolized him. Even though she hated her role as a handmaid, she became used to it if it means she can stay with
Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer. However, one of Atwood's most successful books, The Handmaid's Tale, stands in stark contrast to the ideas of feminism. In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment.
Imagine a world where you are confined to a room, you have no say in what your day to day life holds, you have no say in anything that happens in your life. This is not an imagination it is reality for the Handmaids in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood. In this story the narrator Offred describes what it is like to be her about her existence in an oppressive organization in a theocratic dictatorship world. “A theocracy dictatorship is a form of government in which a deity is officially recognized as the civil ruler and official policy is governed by officials regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group” (Wikipedia). In this story the dictatorship takes place in Gilead, we
Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, the author Margaret Atwood gives the reader an understanding of what life would be like in a theocratic society that controls women’s lives. The narrator, Offred gives the reader her perspective on the many injustices she faces as a handmaid. Offred is a woman who lived before this society was established and when she undergoes the transition to her new status she has a hard time coping with the new laws she must follow. There are many laws in this government that degrade women and give men the authority of each household. All women are placed in each household for a reason and if they do not follow their duties they are sent away or killed. Atwood bases the irrational laws in the Gilead republic on the many
Handmaids did not know they would end up where they are but now they are all in the same boat with different strategies to stay afloat. Some women rebel from the status quo, from what’s expected, and others fall in line to avoid the consequence of attempting to acquire what they truly desire which is freedom. Freedom to dream, love, express, and to be what they desire to be. This internal conflict is similar between a handmaid and housewife. Offred describes a moment where she thinks of stealing something from the Commanders room.” It would make me feel that I have power. But such a feeling would be an illusion, and too risky.” (81, Atwood) Offred yearns for merely the idea of power, the ability to makes one’s own decisions. In the article “A feminist 1984” by Cathy N. Davidson, she describes Atwood’s world where women were objectified. “Democratic freedom is replaced by brutal coercion, and women are reduced to a strictly biological role as two legged wombs” said Cathy Davidson, this quote supports the fact that women’s qualities only included their ability to reproduce. In the 1960’s this held true as well. Women were only expected to maintain the household and take care of children. In this dystopian novel reality is stretched to a point but the main truths still lie within the