Utopia Without Self Expression

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood takes place in a government imposed “utopia” with strict rules and constant surveillance, however; the system is anything but perfect. This utopia fails because it does not recognize that human nature demands a means of self expression. The lack of freedom to love whom you want, dress how you want, or create what you want leads this society to corruption and self destruction. With the deprivation of choice, people are no longer human. Virtually every decision a person makes is in an attempt to express their character, it may be in the clothes they wear or the music they listen to, but ultimately everyone just wants to be loved and understood. So because the there is no self-expression-- there can be no love or compassion which drives people to undermine the new society values eventually turning it into a hypocrisy.

In this dystopia, any white woman that is able to have children is labeled as a handmaid. Handmaids have only one purpose: to bare the children of Commanders. They live in a Commanders house and are obligated to take part in a “ceremony” one a month until they become pregnant. There is no emotion such as love or passion behind this act and, they are strictly forbidden of seeing another man. However, in the book Offred has an affair with the Commander. There is no love between him and his wife so he seeks Offred to satisfy that craving, but she does not love him. After just having been with the Commander, she comes to the conclusion that, “…nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from” (103), while thinking of her own pain after Luke’s death. This quote shows how important it is to be able to love and be loved. It is that lack of love that drives the Commander ...

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...The government does not want these people to have their own thoughts or be influenced by any other source apart from the Bible. The power of language is also implied here – it is as if the absence of the word ‘free’ will prevent people from realizing that they are not free.

This group of people tried to create a perfect society by eliminating self-expression and replacing it with religious purpose. However, in doing so humans are deprived of their indivuality and will not simply do as their told. In the book the privileged and the powerful actually have a secret whore house where they go to have a good time. Provocative outfits are worn by the women and drugs and alcohol are a plenty. This place was started by the very same people who wanted sex to be strictly for procreational purposes. The night club Jezebel reveals the full hypocrisy of the rulers of Gilead.

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