The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about Offred surviving the sufferings of her life and becoming a stronger woman because of her sufferings. The following quote portays the idea that through suffering a person becomes stronger: “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” Throughout the Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood, the main character Offred faces many challenges. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars” parralels the argument in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood that through vigorous suffering a determined soul can come out victorious with battle scars to tell the story; therefore, Offred becomes a strong woman through the suffering of …show more content…
Throughout the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main character Offred encounters the difficulties of losing her husband, seeing dead bodies hung on the wall, and becoming a handmaid for the Commander but through these difficulties Offred becomes a stronger woman who lives to tell her story at the end of the novel. Along the way of Offred’s journey, she loses her husband and daughter. Offred and hur husband Luke try to escape from Gilead with their young daughter to start a new life in a new country. Problems arise while trying to cross the border and Offred’s daughter is taken from her and her husband is taken off by guards never to be seen again. Another suffering Offred faces is seeing the bodies of the dead hanging from the walls of the old Harvard University. Seeing all of the dead bodies everyday is harmful to Offred because she does not know if the body along the wall is the body of her husband. Offred also suffers with being the handmaid to the Commander. Offred feels degraded by the title of handmaid in the Gilead because
Gender inequality has existed all around the world for many centuries. Women were seen as property of men and their purpose of existence was to provide for the men in their lives. Men would play the role of being the breadwinners, whereas women played the role of being the caregiver of the family and household and must obey the men around her. The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood portrays how women in society are controlled and demeaned by men, and how men feel they are more superior over women.
Although Offred is the heroine of this story, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the hero’s journey can be found in many characters in the story as well. This story is breaking into shambles between the past and the present, however, through the story, readers can still see the signs of the hero’s journey that Joseph Campbell has studied. Offred, being a handmaid, has been thrown into a world where women are powerless and stripped away of their rights to read and write. Atwood illustrates a dystopian world where equality is a part of history, not in the present day Gilead. However, Offred is one of the main characters who ceased to live in a degrading world and find means to escape. Thus, Offred begins on her Hero’s Journey, which occurs
Offred is a handmaid, in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, who no longer desired to rebel against the government of Gilead after they separated her from her family. When Offred was taken away from her family the Government of Gilead placed her in an institution known as the Red Center where they trained her along with other women unwillingly to be handmaids. The handmaid’s task was to repopulate the society because of the dramatic decrease in population form lack of childbirth. Handmaids are women who are put into the homes of the commanders who were unable to have kids with their own wives. The Handmaids had very little freedom and were not allowed to do simple tasks by themselves or without supervision like taking baths or going to the store. There was an uprising against the government of Gilead and many people who lived in this society including some handmaids looked for a way to escape to get their freedom back which was taken away from them and to reunited with their families which they lost contact with. Offred was one of the handmaids who was against the government of Gilead before she was put in the Red Center, but she joined the uprising after she became a
Offred is one of the Handmaid’s in the Republic of Gilead. This used to be known as the United States of America but now it is Gilead, a theocratic state. Because of an issue that occurred, women lost all of their money and rights. Handmaid’s were then assigned to higher class couples that were unable to have children, that was the new job for the Handmaid’s. Offred was assigned to the Commander and Serena Joy, his wife. Offred was once married to a man named Luke and they had a baby girl together. When this issue started occurring and Offred lost her rights, her, Luke and their daughter tried to escape to Canada but were caught. Offred has not seen Luke or her daughter since that incident. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the most unorthodox characters are Offred, Serena Joy, and The Commander.
Margaret Atwood's renowned science fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale, was written in 1986 during the rise of the opposition to the feminist movement. Atwood, a Native American, was a vigorous supporter of this movement. The battle that existed between both sides of the women's rights issue inspired her to write this work. Because it was not clear just what the end result of the feminist movement would be, the author begins at the outset to prod her reader to consider where the story will end. Her purpose in writing this serious satire is to warn women of what the female gender stands to lose if the feminist movement were to fail. Atwood envisions a society of extreme changes in governmental, social, and mental oppression to make her point.
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of Offred: a young woman, born under a different name, trapped in the patriarchal society of Gilead with the role of a handmaid to a commander. Offred’s role as a handmaid is to become pregnant in lieu of the Commander’s wife who is too old to do so. Offred remembers life before she became a handmaid when she possessed the freedom to choose her own career, education, and romantic partners. Handmaids undergo a boot-camp-like training at the Rachel and Leah Center where they teach proper behavior based on misinterpreted Biblical text. Despite the obvious hostilities between Offred and the Commander who is her scheduled rapist, their relationship develops as the story progresses to a point
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
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.
Offred’s previous life was never really talked about during the novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The Handmaid’s Tale talks about the changes in her life, but we never really have a full understanding of her life before the Republic of Gilead was formed. We never know how happy she was, we only know how happy she remembered being. Offred’s life is described as scheduled, boring, and dangerous. Not necessarily in that order. Much of
In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is oppressed as a result of residing in the dystopian world of Gilead.
Unlike men, women have been facing unique problems for centuries, and often women experience harassment and discrimination. In today's society, females are trying to combat their tribulations through lawsuits and protest rallies. Literature often deals with people being unable to articulate their problems. Often, unforeseen circumstances force people to conceal their true emotions. In The Handmaid's Tale, the main female characters find ways to escape their situations rather than deal with them.
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 to own their 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.
In Margaret Atwood's story, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, the main character, Offred, believes she is making a lot of decisions about her body for herself, just like the character Jig in Ernest Hemmingway's short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”. In order to really understand the process of decision making in these two stories, the reader has to understand that the characters in the stories don't realize that a lot of their decisions about their bodies are coming from different people and pressures, and not themselves.
All women’s rights were removed. They could not read, write, speak freely, or be in love. Their lives were controlled completely by Gilead. We are introduced to Offred, not her real name whose previous life with a husband, child, job, and money have all been taken away. The story begins when she is at the Red Center which is in a school gymnasium, it was here that she and the other woman, known as handmaids
Offred is one of the main characters in The Handmaid's Tale. She was the faithful wife of Luke, mother of an eleven month old child and a working woman, before she entered the Republic of Gilead. She was given the name "Offred", when she entered Gilead. This was to make it known that she was a handmaid. Offred becomes psychologically programmed in Gilead as a handmaid, and the mistress of the commander who is in power of all things. She was used for her ovaries to reproduce a child, because they are living in an age where birth rates are declining. Offred was ordered by Serena Joy, the handmaid's barren wife who develops some jealousy and envy towards her to become the lover of Nick. Nick is the family chauffeur, and Offred becomes deeply in love with him. At the end of all the confusion, mixed emotions, jealousy, envy and chaos towards her, she escapes the Republic of Gilead. Offred is given treatment and advantages by the commander that none of the there handmaids are given. During the times the commander and Offred were seeing each other secretly, he began to develop some feelings for her that he tried to hide. Somewhere along the times when Offred and the commander began having secret meetings with each other, Offred too began to develop some feelings for the commander. Offred is also a special handmaid, because she has actually experienced love, the satisfaction of having a child years before. She knows what it is to feel loved, to be in love and to have someone love you. That is all when she has knowledge, a job, a family and money of her own. That is when her life was complete. Because all of that has been taken away from...