Control, submission and rebellion in the novels The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the film V for Vendetta.

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Sushmita Daswani

Introduction

Control, submission and rebellion. To control is to take over, to submit is to conform with orders and to rebel is to fight back to the people in control. These are a few of the most important themes featured in the novels The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and the film V for Vendetta directed by James McTeigue. This report will explore issues such as how the main characters show their rebellion, how the authorities show their control and a comparison between the lives of those in the texts and our lives today.

Question 1

How does the main character show their rebellion?

In all four texts, the characters have shown submission in the beginning of the texts. Their rebellion was brought upon not being able to handle the control they were being put in. Rebellion was shown in various ways across the texts. The characters defiance against those in control was shown by violence, emotions, survival, taking chances and most of all vengeance. The main characters show a drastic transformation from being just a part of society who takes orders to a distinctive individual fighting back for freedom.

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale the act of rebellion was shown through the use of emotions and taking chances. Offred is a Handmaid in the totalitarian government called ‘Gilead’; a Handmaid’s duty is to bear children for Gilead. Offred’s importance in Gilead is the fact that she is a woman, in Gilead if you are a fertile woman then that is the only thing you are good for. It’s interesting how Offred uses the ultimate weapon of Gilead’s control to backfire on Gilead itself as she uses her body to defy the laws of Gilead. Offred’s rebellion against Gilead is very ironic. Offred first shows her defiance against Gilead’s system by having a discreet friendly relationship with the commander.                                                                                                                                                                          The commander is one of the main founders of Gilead. How ironic that Offred’s rebellion was aided by the person who helps make the rules himself.  The commander asks Offred to have a game of scrabble; Offred does not refuse even if she knew the consequences by doing so. She says ‘My presence here is illegal. It is forbidden for us to be alone with the commanders.’  This suggests that despite Offred’s knowledge of what could happen to her if she gets caught; she decides to grant the commander’s wishes anyway. This also suggest that even though the commander serves as her controller, the fact that she has a companion and freedom to express herself makes her disregard the rules and commit and act of rebellion. The most significant act of defiance Offred has done was to take a chance and attempts to escape Gilead. ‘The van waits in the driveway; its double doors stand open. The two of them, one on either side now, take me by the elbows to help me in. whether this is my end or a new beginning, I have no way of knowing; I have given myself over into the hands of strangers because it can’t be helped. So I step up into the darkness within; or else the light.’ This suggests that Offred has given her life up to her fate by escaping, unsure but willing to take a chance. Offred realises that there are other possibilities of her life whether it may be good or bad; she took a risk instead of wasting her life being society’s slave. The author’s purpose is to illustrate how rebellion doesn’t always have to be an act of violence. Rebellion can simply mean freeing yourself from control even in the most ordinary way such as playing a game as long as it leaves you with a sense of freedom.

       

In the novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Rebellion was shown through the means of survival.  Panem, a country that symbolizes a dystopian North America. The capitol is the main city of Panem where in people from their get to live a normal life or if not, a very extravagant life while the rest of the districts suffer from the control of President Snow. The Capitol forces teenagers from all the districts to complete to their death. Katniss Everdeen serves as the main protagonist in the novel. In Panem the gap between the rich and the poor is massive. The districts are restricted with technology; clothing and most notable is food. Katniss shows her defiance against the Capitol firstly by hunting illegally in order to survive. Katniss says ‘Even though trespassing in the woods is illegal and poaching carries the severest of penalties, more people would risk it if they had weapons.’  This suggests that Katniss willingly violates the Capitol’s rules so that she will be able to feed her family and survive. Another act of rebellion shown the Hunger Games was when ‘star-crossed lovers’ refuses to kill each other in the final round. Once again, Katniss brushes off the dynamics of the game and threatens the Capitol to commit suicide together with Peeta. ‘They have to have a victor. Without a victor the whole thing would blow up in the gamemakers’s faces. They’d have failed the Capitol.’ This suggests that Katniss thought of a way to outsmart the Capitol. This act was a big slap in the face to the Capitol as both Peeta and Katniss were announced the winner of the Hunger Games. This act did not serve both of them very well in the following books of the trilogy. Rebellion in the Hunger Games is inevitable as people had to strive for their survival.

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In the novel Memoir’s of a Geisha Rebellion was in the form of the most beautiful thing in the world, an emotion every man and woman desires, love. A Geisha must never fall in love for they are Japan’s most beautiful form of entertainment. Sayuri, an orphan taken to the okiya as an exchange for money has served the okiya as a slave. As the years gone by, she has strived to be more than a slave and eventually became a geisha herself. Sayuri rebelled against the principles of being a Geisha by falling in love. Hatsumomo, Sayuri’s mortal nemesis ...

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