How Does Margaret Atwood Use Power In The Handmaids Tale

In today’s society, it is necessary to impose a substantial amount of power and control for a government to function properly. However, too much power takes away freedom, and the ability to live an ordinary life. The novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood demonstrates a dystopic vision on the abuse of power. Atwood creates an imaginary futuristic new society called, the Republic of Gilead that abruptly strips away the freedom of women. Offred, the narrator of the novel is a Handmaid. The Handmaid’s are the ones with the least amount of power. The highest at power are the Commanders; the dictators of Gilead. Throughout the novel, Offred explains how the Republic of Gilead began and how Gilead maintains its power. In the novel, power is

The Handmaid’s Tale shows how Gilead manipulates power through fear, communication, and reproduction control. Fear is a feeling everyone has experienced at one time or another. Some people live in constant fear; of accidents, of bad people doing harm, of heights, of spiders, etc. Fear is everywhere and is hard to escape. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, there is a state of constant fear. The Wall is a method of fear that Gilead instills in its people. The Wall holds all of those who have committed acts against the government. In the novel, Offred states, “We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn’t matter if we look. We’re supposed to look: this is what they are there for, hanging on the Wall. Sometimes they’ll be there for days, until there’s a new batch, so as many people as possible will have the chance to see them” (Atwood 32). The Wall is a symbol for sin and it creates fear in the Republic of Gilead. It is a warning to all the people that

In the Republic of Gilead women are denied to communicate with anyone. They are not read nor write and are required to speak a certain way. The Republic of Gilead uses religious language to help maintain the theocratic dictatorship. “Blessed be the fruit,” she says to me, the accepted greeting among us. “May the Lord open,” I answer, the accepted response” (Atwood 19). They are forced to use prescribed greetings for personal encounters, and if you fail to use the correct greetings you are to punished. “I go to the window and sit on the window seat, which is too narrow for comfort. There’s a hard little cushion on it, with a petit-point cover: FAITH, in square print, surrounded by a wreath of lilies. FAITH is a faded blue, the leaves of the lilies a dingy green. This is a cushion once used elsewhere, worn but not enough to throw out. Somehow it’s been overlooked. I can spend minutes, tens of minutes, running my eyes over the print: FAITH. It’s the only thing they’ve given me to read. If I were caught doing it, would it count? I didn’t put the cushion here myself”(Atwood 57). This pillow is a symbol of Offred’s freedom. This is the first thing she has been able to read. Though, she still is cautious and worries that if she were caught reading it she would be punished. This language and set rules they are forced to use and follow brainwashes individuals to come accustomed to the new life of