The Dystopia in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale
Offred is a Handmaid in what used to be the United States, now the theocratic Republic of Gilead. In order to create Gilead's idea of a more perfect society, they have reverted to taking the Book of Genesis at its word. Women no longer have any privileges; they cannot work, have their own bank accounts, or own anything. The also are not allowed to read or even chose who they want to marry. Women are taught that they should be subservient to men and should only be concerned with bearing children. Margaret Atwood writes The Handmaid's Tale (1986) as to create a dystopia. A dystopia is an imaginary place where the condition of life is extremely bad, from deprivation, oppression, or terror. Three ways she displays the dystopia are through the characters, the language and the symbolism.
The first way Atwood makes her dystopian novel believable is through the characters she uses. The characters are a big part in creating her dystopian society and contribute to the overall affect of the novel. Through the characters' actions and thoughts, the true dystopian society is revealed.
One example of an influential character is the Commander. A Commander is an elite man who has a Wife and gets to have a Handmaid. The Commanders might seem to be acceptable with the whole set-up; however, there are clubs (Jezebel's for example) where these men get to go and mingle with an array of prostitutes. The Commanders go to Jezebel's to get away from the strict society. This is a quote from when the Commander takes Offred to Jezebel's, which explains a little more about the rebellion displayed by going to the club. The Commander tells Offred, "No nicotine-and-alcohol taboos here! You see, they...
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..., take place in Harvard Yard. Harvard is the symbol of the world that Gilead has created. The place that was founded to pursue knowledge and truth became the center of torture and the denial of every principle for which the university was supposes to stand.
The Handmaid's Tale has definitely fulfilled Atwood's purpose of creating a strong dystopian society. It seems as though throughout the entire novel, all the things that Gilead has reformed to make a more perfect society has backfired. In effort to make the world better, it has actually gotten worse. The strong use of Gilead's language points directly to the dystopian way of life. Atwood's use of characters and symbolism lets the reader know that the whole setting of the novel is in a strong dystopian society.
Work Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Boston: Mass. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1986.
Margaret Atwood is famous for many things. She is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and an environmental activist. Her books are usually bestsellers and have received high praises in the United States, Europe, and her native country, Canada. She has also received many Literary awards, like the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the two Governor General’s Awards (“Margaret Atwood” Poetry). Through her books, she has written about what she sees in society towards women. She discusses how gender equality was corrupted in the past, but still is far from being reached, and women’s roles in society (“Spotty-handed”). Atwood also takes events in her life; like the Great Depression, Communism, and World War II; and applies it to her works. Margaret Atwood's works, including her novel The Handmaid's Tale, reflects women’s fight in equality, how society determines
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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.
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Many of the principles of Gilead are based on Old Testament beliefs. Discuss Atwoods use of biblical allusions and their political significance in the novel.
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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