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Feminism and margaret atwood literature-THE HANDMAIDS TALE
Character analysis in a handmaids tale
Feminism and margaret atwood literature-THE HANDMAIDS TALE
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Comparing The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Anthem by Ayn Rand The two novels, ‘The Handmaid's Tale’ and ‘Anthem‘, are both haunting, first person tales of personal hardship in a closed and controlled society. In this essay I will point out many important similarities and differences between the two books, mainly the setting and the similarities between the two societies in which the stories take place, as well as more important differences between the main characters. To start, I would like to compare the settings of the two books. In ‘Anthem’ the story takes place sometime in the future after some catastrophic event. Apparently society as we know it was destroyed and the leaders that were left decided that the problem was the individual that all men are equal in all things and that anything that is created by one person is evil. This train of thought is carried to such and extreme that the very word "I" is removed from their vocabulary. An example of this is found when the main character, Equality-1329, re-invents the electric light. He shows his invention to the scientist and although this invention could improve the quality of life of the people it is deemed "evil" because he worked on his project alone. The society in this book is also strict and authoritarian to the point of dictating what your job will be, to whom you will have children with. In ‘The Handmaid's Tale‘, the story takes place sometime in the near future after an environmental catastrophe that makes it impossible for most women to have children. Already there is an obvious difference about the setting and time of the stories. To solve this problem some radicals set off a nuclear bomb in Washington during a full session of congress and then declare marshal law. They then systematically took all rights away from women and forced the ones that could have
left decided that the problem was the individual, that all men are equal in all
Often in life, people take their freedoms, a gift that allows them to express their individuality, for granted. However, in the dystopian societies of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, people are reminded of just how easily their freedoms and humanity can be stripped away. Attwood and Ishiguro urge people to never lose sight of the core values that define who they are. The compelling novels chronicle the life journey of two protagonists as they fight to define their own existence and worth in life. Offred, the central character in The Handmaid’s Tale is exploited as a baby making machine, while Kathy, the leading role in Never Let Me Go, is degraded as a lifeless android in a sea of clones. From Atwood and Ishiguro’s provocative coming-of-age novels emerge two beautiful and inspiring heroines. Whether it is through their remembrance of the past, their loss of innocence, their capability to hope, or their ability to establish relationships, Offred and Kathy prove that they are every bit as human as the rest of society. Ultimately, despite the many differences in their distinct masterpieces, Atwood and Ishiguro share the same intent in their haunting portrayal of the protagonists’ dehumanizabtion—to shed light on the true essence of what it is to be human.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, much use is made of imagery; to enable the reader to create a more detailed mental picture of the novel’s action and also to intensify the emotive language used. In particular, Atwood uses many images involving flowers and plants.
In George Orwell’s book 1984 and in Ayn Rand’s book Anthem Fear acts as a catalyst for control and submission of the unknown in cases of O’Brien and Winston. Fear prompts them them to take on the roles of puppeteers who controls the puppet which is manipulated with the tug of a string. With no 1st amendment right the characters both in Anthem and in 1984 have no choice but to obey, and believe in everything that the government has to say.
Wisker, Gina. Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: A Reader's Guide. London; New York : Continuum, c2010. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Freedom, or the lack of freedom, shapes the world and everyone in it. Without individuality, a person cannot think their own thoughts, so learning for themselves is impossible. In Anthem, Equality has to hide from his own thoughts and beliefs because they conflict with the views of his society. This is seen up until he discloses his invention to the Council of Scholars, when he starts to realize that being himself is a good thing. Before Equality made his discovery, the government that he lived in received little question, with the exception of the Saint of the Pyre. The council members were able to achieve this by taking away freedoms and the natural rights that a human has, which dehumanized the people into...
In the novella Anthem written by the novelist and the philosopher Ayn Rand, a collectivist society is depicted throughout the entire story. The people of the society are taught from the time of their birth to consider others before themselves. They are not to be prideful of themselves or of their own uniqueness. The goal of the society is for all of the people within its control to be relatively simple, low-minded people who just go through the routine set by the higher authority without question. Any person who stands out from the others is considered to be cursed and evil. The higher authority of the society, the Council, forbids people from using the word “I” when pertaining to themselves because that brings a sense of individualism that is forbidden.
Nowadays, we are fighting for equality, whether it is for Women’s Right, Black Lives Matter, or LGBT+ Rights and more.What would an equal society look like if we did not have to struggle to fight for it? In the novel Anthem, written by Ayn Rand, she writes about an equal society. Everyone is assigned a job, all must dress the same, and all are suppose to be about the same height. They are others who are not “equal.” Some of them are smart, some are tall, and some disobey the law. But for Equality he is all three of those characteristics. Equality is greatly affected by his wasteland world because of his force of equality by society, his disobedience, and his independence.
Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake describes a world very different from the one we live in today, but not too far from a possible future. The story, told from the viewpoint of Snowman, possibly the only human survivor, recounts the end of days in human history. His description, given to us as flashbacks, tells of a world where technology is power, and those who lack power are doomed to a sub-par existence. This world gone mad is reminiscent of another Atwood novel written in 1986, The Handmaid’s Tale. In this story, the world of today is gone, democracy has been eradicated, and it is the elite few who control the fate of the masses. By comparing these two novels by Atwood, one can see corresponding themes dealing with governmental control, the dangers of technology, the uses of religion, and the treatment of sexuality.
Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian novel that tells the story of a women and her struggles to survive in a totalitarian regime, presented in the first person narrative. The story takes place in a fictitious world called Gilead, where a dictatorship rules the people through oppression, fear and strict religious guidelines. Atwood wrote this dystopian novel as a social commentary in which she argues that all events included in her story are all real events that have occured in history at one point or another. In her Letter to the Reader, Atwood writes, “The thing to remember is that there is nothing new about the society depicted in the Handmaid’s Tale except the time and place. All of the things that I have written about have- as noted in the “Historical Notes” at the end- been done before, more than once.” There is plenty of truth in Atwood’s words and many of us would agree with her idea that “if it happened once then it can happen again,” which she also writes in her Letter to the Reader. Yet, I don’t believe this to be completely true. Humans have made many mistakes in history that have killed or oppressed many people, yet we live in a better world then we ever have, which concludes that we have learned from many of our mistakes. Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale is out date and therefore it’s relevancy is as well. The tale is a huge exaggeration meant to entertain and warn rather than to believe. In addition when held up to my current situation to see relation would be completely overlooking and underestimating the freedoms and liberties that I have today.
In the two dystopic novels, The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, they lack essentials freedoms that are necessary for a functioning society to exist. In these novels, each individual in the society has been deprived of their freedoms by their government Their particular government has made sure to control every aspect that makes us human such as our individuality, knowledge, and the relationships we from with others. Both of these governments share a common goal, which is to create stability in a weak society.
"The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopia 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 any more, Dorothy!
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a compelling tale of a dystopian world where men are the superior sex and women are reduced to their ability to bear children, and when that is gone, they are useless. The story is a very critical analysis of patriarchy and how patriarchal values, when taken to the extreme, affect society as a whole. The result is a very detrimental world, where the expectation is that everyone will be happy and content, but the reality is anything but. The world described in The Handmaid’s tale is one that is completely ruled by patriarchal values, which is not unlike our society today. The proposal that the world described in The Handmaid’s Tale could be a vision of the future may seem far-fetched to some readers.
Indeed, The Handmaid’s Tale is all about the struggle of living and the oppression the Handmaids go through in their daily lives. The Handmaid’s tale demonstrates feminist theory because the novel showcases Oppression, Objectification and Patriarchy towards females which are all evident themes. Margaret Atwood presents this ideology through many situations which include but, not limited to the following; The inability to voice out the opinion, the dominance of men in the household, and the objectification of women where they are seen only as means for
In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, mankind is a philanthropic machine. To achieve a common goal, the brotherhood disregards their own personal ends and nobly collaborates. For every decision comes from collective thought and every advancement, from joint action. However, one man in this machine malfunctions: Equality-72521. With an inquisitive nature, an innovative mind, and latent desire, Equality possesses the traits of a visionary. Every step Equality takes, is one away from the public-spirited system; another towards personal identity. Each step is an internal struggle, due to the machine’s brainwash and eloquent reprogram of Equality’s instinctive mind. But nature tells Equality that his DNA is nothing save himself. Nature tells Equality