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

1279 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Feminism in a handmaid's tale

In a world where women have no freedom, it is essential to discover one’s self. Margaret Atwood portrays this idea in The Handmaid’s Tale. The protagonist, Offred, is an imprisoned Handmaid in this new world of the Republic of Gilead and has to rediscover her own past for the benefit for finding herself. There are various moments in this book when Offred is reminded of her past. When this happens, it helps herdiscoverer herself a little more. This is hard for her considering the fact that the new government says it is a sin to remember anything from the past life. While being stuck in this harsh new life, Offred struggles to remember her past and find out who she really is. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...es these experiences to remind herself that she is no longer alone. Offred does not have a living friend or companion beside her, but instead the companion is inside her. It is herself who is guiding her in the life she is now living. In the end it is clear to Offred that she is still the same woman as she once was, the changes with the new government did not change her the same way it changed other individuals. A discovery was made, she was no longer Offred the Handmaid; she was June. Works Cited Atwood, Mararet. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1986. Callaway, Alanna A., "Woman disunited ; Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale as a critique of feminism" (2008). Master's theses. Paper 3505. http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/etd_theses/3505 Staels, Hilde. "Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; Resistance Through Narrating ." English Studies (1995): 455-467.

Show More
Related

  • Biblical Themes Of The Bible In The Handmaid's Tale

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a story heavily influenced by the Bible and has many biblical themes that are used to prove Atwood’s belief in balance. The novel is set in the Republic of Gilead which was formerly the United States. The story is told through the perspective of a handmaid named Offred and begins when she is placed at her third assignment as a housemaid. Offred describes her society as a fundamentalist theocracy where the Christian God is seen as the divine Ruler over the Republic of Gilead. Atwood is often thought of as a feminist writer but through this novel her writing is not completely feminist nor patriarchal but something in the middle. Atwood is also someone who described herself as a “strict agnostic”

    Read More

  • Heros Journey In The Handmaid's Tale

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is a post united states world and some people, in the story, have seen the changes of from United States of America to Gilead. In their dystopian world, the handmaids wear “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us”(Atwood 8). This is an example of the Ordinary World, female servants are used for reproducing because if the decline birth rate due to sexual diseases. During the call to adventure, the reader can consider Offred going to the call of adventure before Gilead, as well as, after Gilead. Both of them relating to the mistreatment against women. Her friend Moira, before Gilead, showed her a world in which women were fighting for their rights in the 1970’s during the women's liberation movement. Her and Moira went to a rally where “(she) threw the magazine into the flames. It riffled open in the wind of its burning; big flakes of paper came loose, sailed into the air, still on fire, parts of women’s bodies, turning to black ash, in the air, before my eyes”. (Atwood 39). Offred was gaining some of her memory back, pre- gilead days, she knew her mother and Moira were apart of the feminist movement. In addition to the rise of the government, her and Luke needed to leave because she feared the safety of her daughter and her husband. In matter of fact, Offred was a bit precautious of entering a new world because she was scared of

    Read More

  • The Most Unorthodox Characters In The Handmaid's Tale

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    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 with each other. In 1984, the point of view is Limited Omniscient while the point of view in The Handmaid's Tale is first person. 1. Topic Sentence: As there are differences in the narration of both the novels, 1984 and the Handmaid’s Tale, the role of the narrators will be quite different as readers see different perspectives in each novel. In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, readers are introduced to Offred, who is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead.

    Read More

  • Differences and Similarities Between Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    Staels, Hilde. “Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: Resistance Through Narrating.”Critical Insights (227-245) From English Studies 76.5 (1995): 455-464. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Comparing Fahrenheit 451 And The Handmaid's Tale

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    They have to come round in their own time.” Montag simply is willing to listen to before everybody else is; he goes a step further than Clarisse by seeking answers to his questions. In the Handmaid’s Tale however, Offred, though certainly more rebellious than her counterparts therefore in this sense a nonconformist, is not necessarily a rebellious character. Inside her lies an internal struggle against the totalitarian regime, which she quietly defies through small acts such as reading or glancing at Nick when she shouldn’t. Offred, is not fully indoctrinated by Gilead’s regime, unlike the character of Janine, who she refers to as “one of Aunt Lydia 's pets,” the use of the word ‘pet’ indicating her bitterness towards the system.

    Read More

  • Essay on The Handmaid's Tale as a Warning to Society

    934 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    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

  • Gender Role In The Handmaid's Tale

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Free Handmaid's Tale Essays: The Struggle of Women

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Offred from The Handmaid's Tale uses different tactics to cope with her situation. She is trapped within a distopian society comprised of a community riddled by despair. Though she is not physically tortured, the overwhelming and ridiculously powerful government mentally enslaves her. Offred lives in a horrific society, which prevents her from being freed. Essentially, the government enslaves her because she is a female and she is fertile. Offred memories about the way life used to be with her husband, Luke, her daughter, and her best friend Moira provides her with temporary relief from her binding situation. Also, Offred befriends the Commander's aide, Nick. Offred longs to be with her husband and she feels that she can find his love by being with Nick. She risks her life several times just to be with Nick. Feeling loved by Nick gives her a window of hope in her otherwise miserable life.

    Read More

  • A Nation of Indoctrination: "The Handmaid's Tale"

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale": A Contextual Dystopia, David Ketterer, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Jul., 1989), pp. 209-217

    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 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.

    Read More

  • Handmaids Tale: Destruction of Family

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Callaway, A. A. (2008). Women Disunited: Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale as a critique of feminism. SJSU ScholarWorks , 48-58.

    Read More

  • Atwood's Handmaid's Tale

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Handmaid's Tale presents an extreme example of sexism and misogyny by featuring the complete objectification of women in the society of Gilead. Yet by also highlighting the mistreatment of women in the cultures that precede and follow the Gileadean era, Margaret Atwood is suggesting that sexism and misogyny are deeply embedded in any society and that serious and deliberate attention must be given to these forms of discrimination in order to eliminate them.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Character of Offred in The Handmaid's Tale

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

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

Open Document