'The Handmaid's Tale And Enter Without So Much As Knocking'

Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” and both Bruce Dawes poems “Enter without So Much as Knocking” “Weapons Training” offers insights into the challenges presented in the modern world with respect to moral or spiritual values, identity and relationships despite the different context. Atwood’s novel contextualises the 1980’s Feminist Movement using the patriarchal Republic of Gilead to dehumanise women in a futuristic, dystopian society. Whereas Dawe’s poems address his opposition to the dehumanising process of wars and degradation of modern values via media propaganda and brainwashing through influential people to form a dominate society. Hence the comparative study of both texts broadened our understanding of the modern world (or

He uses skilful enjambment to create a dramatic monologue which brings the poem to life and depicts the drill sergeant as aggressive and arrogant with all his victimising rudeness such as “you in the back row with unsightly fat between your elephant eyes”, using metaphors to create the image. The poem does not follow conventional rules such as stanzas, line length and punctuation almost as if he is rebelling against conformity. The way the poem begins with the use of a hyperbole “And when I say eyes right I want to hear those eyeballs click “, seizing attention and displaying his assertiveness. He is teaching highly impressionable young men that have joined a war and a world that is foreign to them, attitude that will remain with them forever. Dawe is deeply concerned with how people are manipulated, by constructing his poem to destroy the young soldiers’ confidence, with a rhetorical question, “why are you looking at me are you queer?” becoming less vigilant with the use of Australian jargon such as “Tripes”, “Nit” and humour with the thought of having sex such as “that’s right grab and check the magazine man, it’s not a woman’s tit worst luck or you would be set”. Dawe conveys double entendre with the title “Weapons Training”, as the recruits are being trained to use weapons, but also are being

Women are classified based on definite roles within a domestic or sexual framework. With the use of neologism, women were divided into “Martha’s”, “Handmaids”, “Wives”, “Econwives” and “Jezebels”, prostitutes. In addition, their names are replaced with “Of a male owner’s name”, which is how Offred was derived, which objectifies, places a sense of ownership and dehumanises woman. Offred has a strong need to connect and develop a relationship. She illustrates this by divulging her birth name to Nick,” I tell him my real name and feel therefore that I am known”, which is a metaphor for her identity and self-worth. Relationship deprivation is further illustrated when the commander asks Offred to kiss him” as if you meant it” suggesting that even his high ranking, hungers for genuine emotional