“If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought” (Orwell). George Orwell emphasizes the importance of the language and its effect on the truth. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, and Anthem by Ayn Rand all show how words can affect actions and people’s lives. When language is tightly control or even manipulated by a certain group, the people suffer and become oppressed. Language manipulation is the basis of a dystopic society, and modern society must protect itself against this propaganda in order to maintain freedom. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is the perfect example of a dystopian society that only survives on the basis of language manipulation. Enslaving women as reproducers …show more content…
If people believe government oppression is more beneficial for the society, then they will happily subject themselves to the government’s orders. Aunt Lydia represents the government in Gilead. She says, “In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it” (Atwood 24). This warning to the handmaids convinces them to not rebel against this society because they should feel blessed. “‘We were a society dying’ said Aunt Lydia, ‘of too much choice’” (Atwood 25). Aunt Lydia describes the old times of Gilead as oppressive and dangerous. She convinces the handmaids that people used to be cruel because they abused the freedoms that they were given. By manipulating the language that she uses, Aunt Lydia changes the past and affects the present. Aunt Lydia tells the girls that women were previously cat called on the streets and looked at in demeaning ways. Now the girls are protected from the men because no one has freedom. The handmaids do not know any better; they are forced to accept Aunt Lydia’s propaganda even if they have doubts. For example, Aunt Lydia even says, “A shame it was… Once they [men] drugged women, induced …show more content…
Unfortunately, this language manipulation is also seen in the news and media in America today. It is nearly impossible to be unbiased in the media as the connotation of one’s words convey a specific meaning. For example, people who illegally come to the United States can be referred to as either illegal aliens or undocumented immigrants. Despite being the legal identifier, illegal alien gives the idea of a criminal who is not worthy of human rights and should be deported. On the other hand undocumented immigrant convey the message of a person who is here to better themselves and live in America but has not completed paperwork yet. This difference between the terms can affect a person’s opinion in debate. Using certain words in the media or in a political context can influence the public opinion in the direction that the governing body wants it to go. This is the first step in the development of tyranny. Another example of modern media bias is the term for the prenatal cessation of life. Is this murder or an abortion? Calling something a murder who immediately deem it illegal, unconstitutional, and morally wrong. However, calling this procedure abortion provides the reasons behind it that allow some people to support its existence. Finally, today’s terrorists are being called freedom fighters. Equaling the two obfuscates the violent and horrible actions of the terrorists and the
In “Defending Against the Indefensible,” author and professor Neil Postman proposes that language has been abused in modern society by people manipulating it and brainwashing the others. Hence, he suggests seven elements for critical intelligence that can help with identifying and avoiding the manipulative use of language: definition, questions, simple words, metaphor, reification, style and tone, and media.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian-style novel designed to provide a quick glimpse as to what the United States would be like if it were penetrated and overtaken by totalitarian extremists. The main character, Offred, begins her story in a school gymnasium somewhere on the Harvard/MIT campus; and from there we learn more about Offred and her struggle to adapt to the loss of her own free will. The Republic of Gilead—this dystopian novel’s totalitarian regime—keeps women under control by prohibiting any form of literature, limiting contact with males aside from their assigned commander, and enforcing their biblical views regarding childbirth and its sanctity....
In the essay “From Ancient Greece to Iraq, the Power of Words in Wartime” by Robin Tolmach Lakoff, Lakoff discusses the fact that words are a tool as well when it comes to wars. She talks about the differences between our natural want and ability to kill things, and the mental training soldiers receive to make it easier for them. Lakoff talks about the practice of dehumanizing the “enemy” through nicknames that make us feel superior then our foes, and the repercussions of using this type of language. In the essay by George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”, Orwell talks about the decay of the English language, especially in political writings. He discusses the fact that when it comes to writing, political being the main focus, it’s
A new society is created by a group of people who strengthen and maintain their power by any means necessary including torture and death. Margaret Atwood's book, A Handmaid's Tale, can be compared to the morning after a bad fight within an abusive relationship. Being surrounded by rules that must be obeyed because of being afraid of the torture that will be received. There are no other choices because there is control over what is done, who you see and talk to, and has taken you far away from your family. You have no money or way out. The new republic of Gilead takes it laws to an even higher level because these laws are said to be of God and by disobeying them you are disobeying him. People are already likely to do anything for their God especially when they live in fear of punishment or death. The republic of Gilead is created and maintains its power structure through the use of religion, laws that isolate people from communication to one another and their families, and the fear of punishment for disobeying the law.
...hat it was the women participation that allowed the government to regulate every aspect of their public and private lives. Women such as the Aunts especially Aunt Lydia where willing participants in the republic by indoctrinating women to the new way of life. The women became the eyes and ears to the government, condemning other women who don't follow the laws. If the women had the strength to rebel they might not have been able to change much but, at least they were taking a stand on what they believed in. The government had such control on every aspect through rules, conduct and rituals that were followed by the people with little to no questions by the people. That is why I feel that Societal Complacency played such a role in the success of the Republic of Gilead.
The threat of physical abuse is huge. Being woman is enough of a crime, but “any crime can result in an execution and a public hanging on ‘The Wall’” (Cameron 3). A woman can be hung for just about anything. If they defy the people in charge they can get hurt. The women are constantly abused. The Gilead government is in charge of what goes on in this society. If a woman has an affair with a different man they are taken and possibly tortured or hung. The Red Center, which is where they were taught how to be Handmaid’s, the women were constantly tortured. They had Aunts that looked over them. These aunts were not nice and, “they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts” (Thomas 91). The aunt’s view was all that was needed was the Handmaid’s baby making parts. The women did not need their feet, hands, or any part other than the torso. When the woman did something wrong or tried to run away th...
In the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood the themes of Religion and inter-human relationships are the themes that are most evident in the text. This novel shows the possibility of the existence of an all-powerful governing system. This is portrayed through the lack of freedom for women in society, from being revoked of their right to own any money or property, to being stripped of their given names and acquiring names such as Offred and Ofglen, symbolizing women’s dependant existence, only being defined by the men which they belong to. This portrayal of women demonstrates the idea that individuals are unimportant, that the goals of the society as a whole are more pertinent. “For our purposes, your feet and your hands are not essential” (chapter 15) is a quote revealing that Gilead denies rights to individuals and to humankind. In The Handmaids Tale, handmaids are only considered of value for their ability to reproduce, otherwise they are disposable. Religion is an aspect very prominent in the society of Gilead. We see this in chapter 4, where Ofglen and Offred meet and th...
One of the most essential ways in which feelings are expressed by humans is through language. Without language people are merely robotic figures that can not express their thoughts because language is in fact thought. When this speech is taken away through complete governmental power, a portion of human nature is also taken away. In 1984, due to totalitarianism, language has begun to transform into a poor representation of humanity and natural human expression. Orwell states, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” In the novel, a new language, Newspeak, has emerged. Newspeak has drastically limited the vocabulary of the English language
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.
The setting of The Handmaid’s Tale – known as Gilead – is a totalitarian government, originally based on Old Testament patriarchy. This structure forbids rival loyalties or parties, so all loyalty must be for the group of men that govern the State. Such a structure means that women are assigned ‘roles’ according to their biological ‘usefulness’.
The government’s goal and reason for this use of power and control is to confine the people of Gilead, in order to form what the government believes to be a perfect society. This confining inadvertently ends up making the community and even those closest to The Eyes rebel. In The Handmaids Tail, Offred is a thirty three year old woman living in the Republic of Gilead. “Gilead [has] return[ed] to the Old Testament in a reaction against abortion, sterilization and what they consider to be dangerous kinds of freedom of the modern welfare state” (Sweets & Zeitlinger).
Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaids Tale belongs to the genre of anti-utopian (dystopian) science fiction where we read about a woman's fictive autobiography of a nightmarish United States at the end of the twentieth century when democratic institutions have been violently overthrown and replaced by the new fundamentalist republic of Gilead. In the novel the majority of the population are suppressed by using a "Bible-based" religion as an excuse for the suppression. How does this work and why can the girls, the so called Handmaids, be considered the victims of society? Also, in what way does Gilead use biblical allusions? That is some of the questions this essay will give answers for.
This is not newspeak exactly as Orwell portrayed it (a open attempt at centralized modification of language), but more in the form of what Orwell warned about in his essay Language and Politics. The subtle debasing of words has allowed the powerful in democratic nations to successfully install a system which is blatantly counter-democratic in its behavior and yet is masked by twisted language.
The society established by the Republic of Gilead in “The Handmaid’s Tale” is founded on and sustained by false doctrine. They intentionally twist and skew the Bible in order to justify their actions and brainwash the women who are involuntarily participating in their indoctrinated society. The Gilead does not treat the Bible as the divine word of God. Instead, they exploit its authority and use it as a tool for their own benefit. The very framework of the Gilead’s social hierarchy is in sharp contradiction to everything the Bible teaches, but because they are so corrupt and only use the Bible for their own advantage, they seem not to care. Instead of abiding by the teachings in the Bible and letting them shape how things are done, they hand-select and contort certain parts of it to match the framework of their own aspirations and beliefs, which are by no means Christian. Every piece of scripture that the Republic customizes is specifically suited to help them achieve their ultimate goal: indoctrinating an entire society for the purposes of personal power and authority. The end product is the unethical, dysfunctional society that is depicted in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The Republic of Gilead is by no means a true religious group, but they do use religion and skewed religious text as a reference for the foundation, justification, manipulation, and enforcement of their new society.
Within Gilead there is an authority that is much higher than is necessary or healthy for any nation. With such power comes corruption, which then spreads throughout the whole of society, slowly obliterating the nation’s people. This corruption of a powerful government can only be controlled by the force of the people which, in the Handmaid’s tale, is nearly non-existent, thus giving the militant Eyes – as well as the rest of the Gilead government – a stronger hold on the people by their indifference. The Eyes especially have an intimidating vigor which holds down the people by means of threat of punishment, in addition to the allusion of freedom to keep the people pacified. As stated in the novel, “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.” (Atwood 165). This shows how the government keeps ultimate control over the nation by way of intimidation, allusion, and roles in society. Status and class is vital in Gilead, showing the world who one is by their uniform, speaking louder than any voice. Of course, Gilead has given these roles in the society as another way to control the people, but due to their passivity, everyone decides to go along with it, never questioning the power of this supposed republic. This goes to illustrate just how corrupt a government can be if not frequently checked by its