Compare And Contrast The Handmaids Tale

704 Words2 Pages

In The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred was taken from her husband and child, brainwashed, and then forced into a new house where her sole purpose is to be a walking uterus. In a Brave New World by Aldus Huxley, people are made in a laboratory, no one cares about family, and everyone is high on soma. These two books are both different, but are also very similar. The main thing they have in common is that they are a dystopian society, the government controls everyone, and nobody has the freedom to do/live the way they want. However, why is it that so many authors write books like this? Where the world is controlled by terrible dictatorships, only the people higher up benefit, and the normal every day citizen is screwed? I believe that …show more content…

People everywhere were starving, begging for work, and loosing their homes. It is not a shocker that a book about people living “the good life”, high on happy pills all the time, and not having a care in the world was written. The people wanted to be happy, and when a book about everyone being happy came out, it excelled. This new society was suppose to be a utopia, where everyone was happy, but once you’ve read it, you’ll know that is not the case. The world these people are living in is not good, because people are walking around in a haze. It’s the kind of book that makes you happy about what you’ve got. Both of these books do have merit. In The Handmaids Tale, the women were basically taken back a couple hundred years, where all they did was have and raise children. The book takes what really happened to women and made it more extreme. In a Brave New World, people were sad, so this book shows what would happen if the government took “being happy” to the extremes. However, I do not believe that these particular situations are realistic. At least not in this day and age. People revolt against every little thing, countries get involved in other countries business so often that there is no way either of these could get very far. The only part that I believe is semi-realistic is the babies being made in tubs thing, that’s pretty plausible. Nonetheless, in conclusion, I believe that these books are made just for leisure time activities. They are too drastic to be possible, but are fun to read since they send a shiver down our spines when something crazy

Show More
Related

  • A Comparison of The Handmaid's Tale and Anthem

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    left decided that the problem was the individual, that all men are equal in all

    Read More

  • Conflict In The Handmaids Tale

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Compare 1984 And The Handmaids Tale

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thesis Statement: Both 1984 by George Orwell and The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood are similar as they are placed in dystopian societies with governments that have complete control over their citizens, however, the roles of the narrator in both novels contrast each other. In 1984, the point of view is Limited Omniscient while the point of view in The Handmaid 's Tale is first person.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Paradox Of Religion In The Handmaid's Tale

    1994 Words  | 4 Pages

    Both are futuristic and exist in a dystopian world where the main characters are dissatisfied with their lives. Although the society pictured in Children of Men appears to be in a more chaotic state, the same underlying issue of infertility is of the utmost concern in both and serves as the catalyst of change that has occurred. Religion is a connecting force between the works as each uses symbols and references to Christianity to further the plot, just in different ways. It is reasonable to assume that the society painted in The Handmaid’s Tale while seemingly clinging to order is not all that different from the chaotic state of Children of Men, they just focus their attention more on masking injustice with religion. Both civilizations face an uncertain future with the existence of humanity in peril and religion is used as either a propellant of true hope or a false

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Moira = == == We first meet Moira "breezing into" (P65) Offred's room at college.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make change.

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Handmaid's Tale And The Road

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    The worlds of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Road are complete opposites; One is an anarchical society where there is no societal structure while the other is a very well-structured world with a thoroughly defined hierarchy. Despite this, it could be argued that these two worlds are simultaneously also very similar due to the way they approach the topics of patriarchy, misogyny, and survival. Atwood and McCarthy accomplish this differently, but they achieve it using the same literary techniques and, despite one of the worlds being dystopian while the other is post-apocalyptic, making heavy usage of descriptive writing.

    Read More

  • Handmaids Tale Analysis

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Handmaid's Tale And Handilac Girls

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it” (Roseanne Barr). The struggle for power between individuals, races, genders, sexualitites, and nations is a part of the history of the world since its creation. Engrained in the psyche of the human mind is the desire for power and control over one’s self. However, in man’s ever evolving quest to achieve power and control over their own lives they have discovered the benefits of controlling others. When one maintains ultimate control over another human they protect themselves from ever allowing that human to control them. A prime example of one person or group controlling another is the systematic oppression

    Read More

  • Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Handmaid’s Tale shows acts of rebellion throughout, but when we as an audience first see a sort of rebellion push through the strict control of Gileadean society is when the Commander and Offred have their first evening together. Offred’s metaphor “If I press my eye to it, this weakness of his, I may be able to see myself clear.” is a foreshadowing of the idea that maybe through these evenings with the Commander she may be able to ease her way out of Gileadean society. “It’s like a small crack in the wall, before now impenetrable.” Use of simile in her language gives the audience a glimpse into the hope she feels, that maybe she may be able to escape, maybe she has another chance at a normal life. Offred’s first time seeing the Commander’s

    Read More

  • The Effects Of The Government In The Handmaid's Tale?

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Handmaid 's tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel takes place in the not too distant future where because of disease and war the government of the United States is replaced by a new theocratic society called Republic of Gilead. The new government which is established uses the bible as a base. The bible is also used as a justification system to all the new laws and also to justify what is moral. In theory, you would expect a perfect society if religion was used to rule, however Atwood shows the reader many reasons why that would may not be true. To show the extreme effects of a government that is solely based on religion, Atwood placed an abundant amount of biblical references. Not only does the government

    Read More

  • Comparing Brave New World and Handmaid's Tale

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    The government in Huxley's Brave New World and Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, both use different methods of obtaining control over individuals, but are both similar in the fact that humans are looked at as instruments. Human's bodies, in both novels, are looked at as objects and not directly as living things with feelings. In both societies the individuals have very little and are controlled strictly by the government. In Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World, through issues of employment, class systems, and the control of reproduction, Atwood and Huxley forewarn that in an all-powerful society, it is destined to become corrupt.

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tale Comparison

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Handmaid's Tale, control is created from fear and if this doesn't work then by force. Fear in Atwood's novels is raised by visiting the wall which is a place where you can see all the hanged bodies of traitor, and as result makes people more obedient. After living under the rule of the society, Offred has given up her hopes in order to simply survive: "I will do anything you like I don't want to be a doll hung up on the wall. I want to keep on living in any form." In the Brave New World, control is established through science. For example, the leaders of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale use intimidation and fear to succumb people living under their rule in order for there to be a stable society. By putting restrictions to peoples individuality clearly shows that by doing this the leaders are depriving people from having their own thoughts and freedom. Another evident characteristic of a dystopian society is shown through the control of relationships. In both The Handmaid's Tale there and a Brave New World there is a lack of significant relationships with actual

    Read More

  • Free Handmaid's Tale Essays: The Handmaid's Dystopia

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Handmaid's Dystopia The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian tale about a world where unrealistic things take place. The events in the novel could never actually take place in our reality." This is what most people think and assume, but they"re wrong. Look at the world today and in the recent past, and there are not only many situations that have ALMOST become a Gilead, but places that have been and ARE Gileadean societies. We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy! Even today, there are places in the world where there is a startling similarity to this fictitious dystopia.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast The Handmaids Tale

Open Document