Theme Of Oppression In The Handmaids Tale

In Margaret Atwood’s book The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood critiques the role of oppression in everyday culture with the construction of an oppressed society. She has shown her struggle throughout her life in meaningful ways. The struggle with in herself and the struggle around her: The oppressive Republic of Gilead. Atwood’s artistic way of writing depicts the internal thoughts of the narrator which also shows the relationship between the group oppression and the internal oppression. This techniques help the reader define the oppression in each of the characters. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood shows the the cause of systematic oppression which leads to internalized oppression through the use of short phrases in the narrator’s interior

In the Gilead principles, the Handmaids are consider to be the sacred multiplicative organs rather than a sacred individuals. The Handmaids are valued by the Gilead society for their productive ovaries. This is another example of systematic oppression which can be clearly seen by the detachment of the Handmaids from the humanity. The Handmaids are begin to admit that they are only valuable for their multiplicative capabilities, it describes the internalized oppression. Describing the handmaids, Offred offers, “we are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (136). Offred is explaining that the single purpose of the Handmaids is to produce children. Not only does Offred’s statement degrade the Handmaids, but it also detaches the Handmaids from their own bodies. The Handmaids begin to accept the preconception since they are no longer seen as humans, but only as wombs. Offred’s thought consists of five short phrases. The second phrase, “that’s all,” attempts to simplify the idea that the Handmaids are only fertile tissues. She is adopting the oppression by streamlining the idea, just as the society has simplified the Handmaids to the use of their multiplicative