Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale
In "The Handmaid's Tale", Margaret Atwood tells a saddening story about a not-to-distant future where toxic chemicals and abuses of the human body have resulted in many men and women alike becoming sterile. The main character, Offred, gives a first person encounter about her subservient life as a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a republic formed after a bloody coup against the United States government. She and her fellow handmaids are fertile women that the leaders of Gilead, the Commanders, enslave to ensure their power and the population of the Republic. While the laws governing women and others who are not in control of Gilead seem oppressive, outlandish and ridiculous, they are merely a caricature of past and present laws and traditions of Western civilization. "The Handmaid's Tale" is an accurate and feasible description of what society could be like if a strict and oppressive religious organization gained dominant power over the political system in the United States.
Of course, one does not need to try to predict the future in order to get a picture of what life would be like if such a strict and oppressive religious organization obtained a stranglehold on our political system. The Holy Roman Empire and various kingdoms of the not-to-distant past, ruled by kings appointed by God through birthright, are packed with stories of poor treatment of those who oppose them and have a consistent theme for foul treatment of women.
Few, if any, religious conquests were as gruesome and devastating as the Inquisition. Starting in the 13th century, monarchs from all around Europe, with approval from the Popes during their reigns, anointed inquisitors to track down a certain group of he...
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...omen than men and more stories of women succeeding in business and government, one might think that society has evolved from the mediaeval, torturous times of the Inquisition. However, we mustn't forget that the Inquisition did not end until the early 19th century, and that most Western Civilizations did not make strides towards equal rights for women until the 20th century. "The Handmaid's Tale" is a shivering warning about the brutality that humans can enact upon each other, given the opportunity. Many of the religious sentiments expressed during the story are echoes of today's events. From the Inquisition to toxic waste dumps poisoning hundreds of people in a small town to abortion clinic bombings, some of the outrageous and unbelievable events of "The Handmaid's Tale" have already been taking place for centuries, but are hopefully not a omen of what is to come.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is the largest, oldest, and most influential threat group operating in Colombia. FARC targets government officials and military forces in jungle and urban environments with land mines, ambushes, kidnappings, and snipers. As of late 2012, however, representatives of FARC and the Colombian government are engaging in peace talks in Havana. In March 2014, FARC negotiator Jesus Emilio Carvajalino reported that his group had brought nearly 250 proposals to the negotiating table while appealing for power in distinct political sectors through congressional elections back home.
For approximately the past three decades, a terrorist group has come to plague the world with its activities (Gunaratna, 2002). This group is known as Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, when translated means “The Base”. It is a terrorist organization that seeks to remove western influence from the Middle East and spread its radical Islamic views. Al Qaeda’s most prominent leader was Osama bin Laden, until his death during a raid upon his compound in Pakistan. The Al Qaeda’s motivation stems primarily from extreme and deeply rooted religious beliefs. Their most used method of attack is through suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. This organization has also used chemical warfare and at this time is believed to still actively seek to utilize chemical and biological agents as means to battle.
Thank you, and I promise that I will keep within my time period, in both senses of the phrase, of course (Laughter).
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 Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel in which Atwood creates a world which seems absurd and near impossible. Women being kept in slavery only to create babies, cult like religious control over the population, and the deportation of an entire race, these things all seem like fiction. However Atwood's novel is closer to fact than fiction; all the events which take place in the story have a base in the real world as well as a historical precedent. Atwood establishes the world of Gilead on historical events as well as the social and political trends which were taking place during her life time in the 1980's. Atwood shows her audience through political and historical reference that Gilead was and is closer than most people realize.
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.
Throughout time women have been oppressed. The journey women have had has been a long one. Women were oppressed from choosing whom to love, speaking against her husband or any male, getting jobs outside household duties, voting, etc. Women were looked at as the weaker sex. The oppression in Gilead is no different. These women are oppressed by the patriarchy. In Gilead women are valuable, but not all are treated as such. Handmaids play a role for the greater good, but the Wives are treated above the Handmaids, even though the Handmaids, such as the narrator Offred, are the ones giving society a chance. The patriarchal society set in place makes all of the decisions over the greater women populations. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale examines the overall effect of a patriarchal society on
Currie, Stephen. "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Terrorists and Terrorist Groups. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 69-83. Print.
In Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaids Tale’, we hear a transcribed account of one womans posting ‘Offred’ in the Republic of Gilead. A society based around Biblical philosophies as a way to validate inhumane state practises. In a society of declining birth rates, fertile women are chosen to become Handmaids, walking incubators, whose role in life is to reproduce for barren wives of commanders. Older women, gay men, and barren Handmaids are sent to the colonies to clean toxic waste.
Al Qaeda is an international terrorist organization that was founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s in Peshawar, Pakistan. The name is Arabic for “The Base of Operation” or “method” (Burke 2004). However, many experts agree that al-Qaeda is more dangerous as an ideology than as an organization. As an organization, it has been weakened by fragmentation, arrests, and deaths of the top leaders. This has caused the structure of the organization to be destroyed, resulting in the lack of a central hub for the militant group. One thing that remains is the ideology, which is fueled mainly by a hatred of Western, Zionist, and Semitic cultures and beliefs (Burke 2004). As a result, many people may not be directly part of the al Qaeda network or even directly linked to bin Laden. Due to their common views and beliefs of Western culture, militant groups loosely associated to al Qaeda have been formed, carrying on the original objectives that bin Laden had in mind when he created this organization.
The Handmaid's Tale presents an extreme example of sexism and misogyny by featuring the complete objectification of women in the society of Gilead. Yet by also highlighting the mistreatment of women in the cultures that precede and follow the Gileadean era, Margaret Atwood is suggesting that sexism and misogyny are deeply embedded in any society and that serious and deliberate attention must be given to these forms of discrimination in order to eliminate them.
“The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. But financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships were not critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation” (What is the, 2015).
Some people said that corruption is rampant in all governments, So that it is not unknown to any ethnic group, region and continent. It cuts across faiths, political systems, religious Denominations and affects both young and old people. Fraud can be found in public and authoritarian rule;...
Montesh, M. (n.d.). Conceptualizing Corruption: Forms, Causes, Types and Consequences. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from