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Feminism in american literature
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Introduction to feminist literary criticism
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The world as we know it is a very different place than what our ancestors experienced. Here in the United States we have become accustomed to modern conveniences such as; running water, toilets, washing machines, and automobiles. These are just a few of the luxuries we have grown to expect in our modern society. Women and minorities have many rights that they did not always have. Restrictions don’t bind genders based of their genotype any longer. Feminism has become prevalent in society as many have taken up the belief that everyone no matter your gender should have equal opportunity. A Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story containing the downfall of society as we know it as well as the equal opportunities we have come to know. This …show more content…
The women in this civilization were meant to be vessels to provide the men with offspring. Their opinions are not valued and their ability to make choices has been taken away from them. Without a variety of opinion in a government tides turn to help the good of the few rather than the good of many. The political climate in this novel is one of desperation from sudden increase of infertility throughout the country due to chemical spills. High ranking men all have wives however, many of the wives are not able to produce offspring. Therefore, handmaids are women who are deemed fertile and unmarried so they are sent to serve the commanders who want to produce an heir. The handmaids have the choice to either go use their bodies to serve their commanders or go live with the “unwomen.” Unwomen live in poverty with outlaws of the country in a life of uncertainty. The main character Offred is a young woman who has a life and family of her own before the new powers of the US take over. She is complacent in her new role as a handmaiden seeing this as her best option for survival. The questions that you ask when reading this novel is Who are these people that have taken over the administration? How did so many people
The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian-style novel designed to provide a quick glimpse as to what the United States would be like if it were penetrated and overtaken by totalitarian extremists. The main character, Offred, begins her story in a school gymnasium somewhere on the Harvard/MIT campus; and from there we learn more about Offred and her struggle to adapt to the loss of her own free will. The Republic of Gilead—this dystopian novel’s totalitarian regime—keeps women under control by prohibiting any form of literature, limiting contact with males aside from their assigned commander, and enforcing their biblical views regarding childbirth and its sanctity....
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.
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
Character Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Moira = == == We first meet Moira "breezing into" (P65) Offred's room at college.
The society of Gilead strips every basic human right and power from women until they are nothing; because of this, all women will be impacted tremendously and incapable of returning to a normal life after the laws have been lifted. “In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood explicitly questions why people so often cooperate with totalitarian regimes and how they come to accept life under their dominion,” (Laflen). The Handmaid’s have grown accustomed to doing whatever it takes to survive; the society they live in forces them to think of themselves as the Commander's puppet. As a Handmaid, Offred must conceive a child with the Commander. During these sex ceremonies the Handmaid must play it absolutely safe because everyone is watching, “One false move and I’m dead,” (Atwood 88) Offred says. Handmaids have the most responsibility, but at the same time they do not have any responsibility at all. During the ceremony, Offred must make sure not to move a muscle or make any suspicious movements that would raise an eye. “It is true that the colonization of Offred's body can be linked with
A new society is created by a group of people who strengthen and maintain their power by any means necessary including torture and death. Margaret Atwood's book, A Handmaid's Tale, can be compared to the morning after a bad fight within an abusive relationship. Being surrounded by rules that must be obeyed because of being afraid of the torture that will be received. There are no other choices because there is control over what is done, who you see and talk to, and has taken you far away from your family. You have no money or way out. The new republic of Gilead takes it laws to an even higher level because these laws are said to be of God and by disobeying them you are disobeying him. People are already likely to do anything for their God especially when they live in fear of punishment or death. The republic of Gilead is created and maintains its power structure through the use of religion, laws that isolate people from communication to one another and their families, and the fear of punishment for disobeying the law.
In the work force, everyday women are oppressed by receiving less salary for more work. Women are seen as sexual trophies, things to look at. Men are seen as dominant, the bread winner and the macho. Men and women are seen as sex symbols, and treated as such. If Americans do not begin to cooperate, life could end up much like the one described in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Republic that takes basic rights away from human beings.
The oxford dictionary refers to the word “utopia” as being a place of “paradise, heaven on earth” as well as perfection. It can be labeled as a place that is the most desirable in any nation on earth and can sum up what we as humans search for. “A Handmaid’s Tale” depicts a twisted, yet not to far off, version of our country not to long ago when we lived in the opposite of this so-called paradise. No word can describe this story better than the opposite of utopia, a “dystopian” society. The entire U.S. government fell into a dystopian-type ruling when the very laws created by the government served to treat women as no more than maids and harlots. In this chaotic story, Margaret Atwood depicts a society where men and women fall into the rules of the old testament based on older beliefs describing women as lesser individuals compared to men. Atwood shows the similarities between the Republic of Gilead and the way we used to see the roles of women as well as some aspects of society today. Her overall reason for creating this story is to show her readers around the world the scary truth and effects of the belittlement of women and disregarding them as more than just wives and housemaids.
After reading The Handmaid's Tale, one may conclude that Margaret Atwood is not simply feeding her readers history, but rather warning them of our future. We may, for example, see modern day oppression in homosexuals. Various religious groups doom them to Hell, rights are taken away from them (the right to marry, for example)...the list goes on. As Atwood says of The Handmaid's Tale, "The novel exists for social examination..." (316). One can only hope that our history of social oppression will cease to repeat itself if only we can learn from the past.
Before the war handmaids had their own lives, families, and jobs but that’s all gone now; They have all been separated from their families and assigned to A Commander and his wife to have their child. Handmaids did not choose this life but it was forced upon them. 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
In The Handmaid’s Tale there are three types of women: handmaids (the breeders), wives (the trophies), and the marthas (servants.) The narrator of the novel is Offred, who is a handmaid. Handmaids are women with viable ovaries. Every two years, handmaids are assigned to a commander; the leader of the household. Weekly, the handmaid and Commander try and conceive a
There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted
Offred doesn’t have freedom when she’s a handmaid. She can only leave the house for shopping trips. While she’s in her room, the door can’t be closed. Gilead has a secret police force called the Eyes. They watch the handmaids all the time while they’re in public. Offred goes on shopping trips with Ofglen. She is another handmaid. Offred has to go to the doctor often. They check for any kind of sickness, diseases, or other problems. When the doctor realizes that Offred hasn’t gotten pregnant yet, he thinks the Commander could be infertile. The doctor tells Offred that he could get her pregnant and she could just say it is the Commander’s baby. Offred turns down the
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
The novel, The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood focuses on the choices made by the society of Gilead in which the preservation and security of mankind is more highly regarded than freedom or happiness. This society has undergone many physical changes that have led to extreme psychological ramifications. I think that Ms. Atwood believes that the possibility of our society becoming as that of Gilead is very evident in the choices that we make today and from what has occured in the past. Our actions will inevitably catch up to us when we are most vulnerable.