The Importance Of Dystopian Society In The Handmaid's Tale

857 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The handmaid's tale feminist analysis

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the reader may perceive Gilead as an orderly structured society at which everything is placed in a position to be convenient for the general public. From the reader’s perspective, this sounds helpful for the organization of certain conflicts that were relevant to the previous government policies; however, Offred, the narrator, shows that this perception is inaccurate. Her dark and mundane tone express her experience through a depressing dystopia, which she is forced to live in. With this being said, this dystopian society punctures her personal motivation to be useful, resulting in her constant referral to the past as a way to avoid her reality. Offred’s psychological distress causes her to use the avoidance …show more content…

She is using this avoidance strategically to keep her mind filled with thoughts about whether her family is safe or not. This constant curiosity is able to take away from Gilead’s goal to make the people worship their demoralizing ideals of a society. Offred nostalgically says, “It’s a Saturday morning in September, I’m wearing my shining name. The little girl who is now dead sits in the back seat, with her two best dolls, her stuffed rabbit... I know all the details, (84)” which shows that she is using memories of her family to keep her thoughts flowing. “I’m wearing my shining name” expresses that her name is something that brings light to her darkness. This exact phrase shows the reader that her memory enables her mind with positive vibes. When the narrator then says “The little girl who is now dead sits in the back seat” shows us that Offred is indecisive about her own child’s life. At this moment, the reader realizes that her indecisive thoughts keep her distracted from Gilead’s communist ideals. This quote shows that Offred not only thinks about her memories but analyzes them to prolong her escape from this

Show More
Related

  • Heros Journey In The Handmaid's Tale

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Handmaids Tale: Oppression of Women for Male Political Gain

    1779 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will collapse.

    Read More

  • Humanity In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many texts that were published from different authors have introduced topics that can be related in today’s society, but Margaret Atwood’s creation called, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, gives voice to the thoughts and revolves around the narrator Offred, a woman whose rights have been deprived due to political issues. However, the information shared by Offred to the reader to the text is not reliable for the reason that she only touches upon her own perspective. Through the text, Atwood depicted what the United States of America would be in the future based on the actions of humanity during 1980’s. The text is set up in an androcentric and totalitarian country called Gilead, where the government attempts to create a utopian society. Thus, in order to attain this society, the authorities generated their legislation from the teachings of the Holy Bible in an attempt to control humanity. The governing

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Margaret Atwood uses the culture of how handmaids dress to psychologically change how Offred sees and thinks about the world and others. On the way home from shopping with her partner Ofglen, Offred sees a group of tourists who are dressed how women used to dress before the war. Offred and Oglen stop and watch the tourists; "We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed" (28), Offred then remembers that she too used to dress like that. Offred's reaction shows that being a handmaid and having to dress so modestly can alter how you think about yourself and

    Read More

  • Societal Resistance and Control in "The Handmaid's Tale"

    1372 Words  | 3 Pages

    The words control and Gilead, the setting for the novel "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, are interchangeable. Not only is control a pivotal feature of the novel and its plot, it consequently creates the subplots, the characters and the whole world because of its enormity in the Republic of Gilead. Resistance also features heavily, as does its results, mainly represented in the salvagings, particicution and the threat of the colonies.

    Read More

  • Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1574 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Marxism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Marxist theory “is the belief that the struggle between social classes is a major force in history and that there should eventually be a society in which there are no classes” – Karl Marx In the book “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood there are significant examples of the Marxist theory because of the way social classes are represented, how religion is manipulated in the society, and what values the text reinforces in the reader.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Corruption In The Handmaid's Tale

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine a world where you are confined to a room, you have no say in what your day to day life holds, you have no say in anything that happens in your life. This is not an imagination it is reality for the Handmaids in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood. In this story the narrator Offred describes what it is like to be her about her existence in an oppressive organization in a theocratic dictatorship world. “A theocracy dictatorship is a form of government in which a deity is officially recognized as the civil ruler and official policy is governed by officials regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group” (Wikipedia). In this story the dictatorship takes place in Gilead, we

    Read More

  • Personal Discovery of the Protagonist in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are various moments in this book where the personal discovery of the Handmaid, Offred, is displayed. In almost every chapter there is a moment where she recognizes the everyday changes that have happened in her life. Gilead changed the lives of many different people. From having all the freedom one could ever want to having to obey the government’s every order; most people were not happy with this change. Offred was one victim in particular who did not like the new changes. It split her family apart. Her husband Luke was either taken to an unknown place or killed, her daughter was given to a different mother, and she was put to use as a Handmaid. Offred’s life was changed in many detrimental ways. Her job is to now be placed in the home of a Commander and his infertile Wifeand be a “two-legged womb(s), that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” until they give birth to a child (Atwood 136). After they give birth to the child, they are allowed to stay for a short while to nurse the child. They are then moved into the next home of a Commander to rep...

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tale

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 of each 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. Atwood bases the irrational laws in the Gilead republic on the many

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Loss of Identity in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Offred recounts the story of her life and that of others in Gilead, but she does not do so alone. The symbolic meanings found in the dress code of the women, the names/titles of characters, the absence of the mirror, and the smell and hunger imagery aid her in telling of the repugnant conditions in the Republic of Gilead. The symbols speak with a voice of their own and in decibels louder than Offred can ever dare to use. They convey the social structure of Gileadean society and carry the theme of the individual's loss of identity.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Hierarchy Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

    1162 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offred’s journey is a prime example of the appalling effects of idly standing by and allowing herself to become a part of the Gilead’s corrupt system. This woman is a Handmaid which was recently placed within a new

    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

  • Feminist Criticism Of The Handmaid's Tale

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    As The Handmaid’s Tale is considered an allegory of the social injustice women face against traditional expectations of their role in society, the symbolism of the Handmaids and other women as a whole for repressed feminine liberty and sexuality allows Atwood to connect her work to the theme between gender and expectations in her society. As Handmaids in the Republic of Gilead, females are stripped of their previous identity and are defined as a tool of reproduction for the men who is assigned them. At its core, these females are forced against their will to be mere tools, experiencing unwanted sex at least once a month, which Gilead names “The Ceremony”, hiding its true nature as a form of rape. Offred

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Dystopian Society In The Handmaid's Tale

Open Document