REFLECT Dystopian Characteristics The book I am reading is called The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. In the first half of the book the main character, Offred, is just getting used to her new life as a handmaid. Handmaid’s are the women who are still young and healthy enough to have babies. For the women who are unable to have babies due to their age and health, they are called Martha’s. The Martha’s cook food for the Handmaids and take care of the house. Offred is not enjoying her new life. Now she is forced to wear a red cloak everyday with a hat that has white wings on the sides of her face limiting what she can see and what can see her. She is not able to make love to her husband anymore, for she had no idea where he is– or if he is still alive. She describes that as being the worst part to this new life she is living. The Handmaid’s are not allowed to read or write anymore. Everyday they are sent to the market to pick up any food that the Martha’s need. Since they are not able to read they are given tokens with pictures on them of the food they need to pick up. Eve...
Red cloaks, blue cloaks, green cloaks, men. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is like any dystopian future in that its themes are guided by the past. From Ender’s Game and Hunger Games to Fahrenheit 451, moralistic issues in society are challenged through the pages of these novels; The Handmaid's Tale is no exception. Made a handmaid to produce babies and curb a declining population, Offred transitions in her mental state through dramatic changes as she metamorphosizes from a women hesitant and resistant to her newfound role to one accepting of it, and new ideologies infiltrate her such as the honor of her position and the righteous, goodness of Iliad--a future society riddled with imperfections, where Offred now resides. She is a red, a
The role of a woman in this society is entirely dependent upon the color of cloths that she wears. The women will get this color for a specific reason. If a woman is able to reproduce she will become a Handmaid. The Handmaids exist because the Wives are physically unable to have a child of their own. The Handmaid’s position is to reproduce for the Commander and his wife, so that they can have a family together. A woman will become a Martha if she is unable to reproduce. The Martha’s job is to look after the families. She has to care for the family, protect them, and to comfort them at all times. The Wives job is to essentially have her family. The wife is to make sure the Handmaid has her child and she is to be calm and peaceful. A woman would become one of the Wives if she was already married to her husband before the laws in their society changed.
In the book, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood writes about an alternate universe about America that illustrates our worst fears. Some of the fears depicted in the book can be seen in the world today, such as the distaste for abortion and the mentality that men are supposed to have more power than women. These issues are not only known as social issues but also feminist issues. Feminism is the belief that women and men should be treated equally socially, politically, and economically. This book shows how these issues could get worse in our society. The author uses Offred, the protagonist in the story, to show how the world could change for the worst. Offred, a handmaid in The Handmaid 's Tale, showed how men and society had control over
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 by people being oppressed.
Young girls are being taught at that other people the final say in clothing choices and that clothing transform them into sexual beings. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the leaders of Gilead assign simplified, color-coded uniforms for women to prevent any hypersexualization like in the time before. Offred describes the various specific outfits of each kind of woman. For the handmaids, “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The skirt is ankle-length, full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts, the sleeves are full. The white wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen” (Atwood 8). Her impression of her garb shows how rigid the rules around wardrobe are. It is an interesting paradox that the wings frame her face but she is not to be seen so in addition, she wears a veil over her face. This makes her lose her
Margaret Atwood uses the culture of how handmaids dress to psychologically change how Offred sees and thinks about the world and others. On the way home from shopping with her partner Ofglen, Offred sees a group of tourists who are dressed how women used to dress before the war. Offred and Oglen stop and watch the tourists; "We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed" (28), Offred then remembers that she too used to dress like that. Offred's reaction shows that being a handmaid and having to dress so modestly can alter how you think about yourself and
In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, The main character of the story are classified by the title of “Handmaids”. A “Handmaid” is a fertile female who bares the right to reproduce for a wife. They are separated away from the rest and dressed differently so they can be identified. A “Handmaid” must wear all red, dress and gloves, with the exception of their white wigs. The Handmaid breaks the rule of freedom and women rights. In this text the women have no say so to what they want or need they have to go by life according to their title.
Atwood sets the story not too far into the future, and the women have lost almost all of their rights. The original government was overthrown and taken over by Christian religious fundamentalists that believed that society was corrupt and women were not taking advantage of their "biological duties." The society now is women staying at home, servants, or "Unwomen", who are the women who are declared infertile and did not have any social status. The "Unwomen" are sent to the "colonies," which are toxic waste sites, to work, and the life expectancy there is less than three years. The main character, Offred (Kate was her real name), is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. Handmaids are the few fertile women left in the United States, and are sent to households and become pregnant by the man of the house and are trained for giving birth at the "Red Center." Offred is sent to a house of a powerful Commander. The Commander also has a Wife that lives in the house. The other servants in the house are Rita and Cora, the Marthas who do the cooking and housework, and Nick the chauffer, who later becomes Offred's lover. Offred is allowed to leave the house once a day to run grocery errands with a walking friend, Ofglen, who is another handmaid. Off...
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
All of the handmaids in The Handmaid's Tale, Offred especially, demonstrate truly how much one’s appearance and identity matter. In the novel, the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state, replaces the democratic state in the United States of America. As a result of this transition, everyone's identity is stripped away and although the most powerful
Imagine if you can, living in a world that tells you what you are to wear, where to live, as well as your position and value to society. In Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, she shows us the Republic of Gilead does just that. Offred, the main character, is a Handmaid, whose usefulness is her ovaries. Handmaids are ordered to live in a house with a Commander, his wife, and once a month attempt to become pregnant by the Commander. Throughout Atwood's novel, you will notice she uses different colors for her characters clothing that correspond to their position and place in the Republic of Gilead. They become aware of people's statuses by the color of their garments. The colors of dress that have been used are red, blue, green, white, black, and khaki. Going into detail, I will show the social rank that each color represents in the novel, and my interpretation of them. The Handmaids are the only ones wearing red dresses, and several references are made towards the comparison of blood. "When Offred is in the room, which she refuses to call her own, she hears the bell to signal her time to go to the market. Getting up she puts on her red shoes and her red gloves, all the while thinking, everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The dress she wears is also red, being ankle-length as well as long sleeve. The only item she wears that isn't red is the white wings around her face to keep her from seeing, as well as from being seen. Leaving the room, she walks down the hall, and heads for the stairs. She knows there is a mirror on the hall wall. If she turns her head so that the white wings framing her face direc...
Throughout dystopian works the human versus nature conflict acts as a catalyst for the hardship society endures. Where nature represents innocence and vulnerability, a lack of it symbolizes a world of corruption and constraint. In worlds where society synergizes with nature, there is confidence in the future similar to the cycle of the Eloi and Morlocks in The Time Machine. However in worlds such as, Andrew Stanton’s Wall-E, Mordecai Roshwald’s Level 7 and The Matrix by the Wachowski brothers, an obvious lack of nature adds to the seemingly hopelessness of the work’s atmosphere. The root of suffering in dystopian worlds stems from the human pursuit to conquer nature.
There are various moments in this book where the personal discovery of the Handmaid, Offred, is displayed. In almost every chapter there is a moment where she recognizes the everyday changes that have happened in her life. Gilead changed the lives of many different people. From having all the freedom one could ever want to having to obey the government’s every order; most people were not happy with this change. Offred was one victim in particular who did not like the new changes. It split her family apart. Her husband Luke was either taken to an unknown place or killed, her daughter was given to a different mother, and she was put to use as a Handmaid. Offred’s life was changed in many detrimental ways. Her job is to now be placed in the home of a Commander and his infertile Wifeand be a “two-legged womb(s), that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” until they give birth to a child (Atwood 136). After they give birth to the child, they are allowed to stay for a short while to nurse the child. They are then moved into the next home of a Commander to rep...
Carrie Vaughn’s Amaryllis and Joe Mastroianni’s Jordon’s Waterhammer reflect the stereotypical characteristics associated with Dystopian Literature through their setting, characterisation and plot development.
“[W]e are not slaves in name, and cannot be carried to market and sold as somebody else 's legal chattels, we are free only within narrow limits. For all our talk about liberation and personal autonomy, there are few choices that we are free to make” (Berry). In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the protagonist Offred lives through a changing of society, in which is described by Aunt Lydia in the new society as the difference of freedom to and freedom from. The complexities of freedom are examined through social norms, relationships, and safety in society. As Offred notices the differences between her old life and her life now readers, especially North American readers, see how much freedom they take advantage of as a society.