Discussion of Womens Culture In "A Handmaids Tale".

The first 200 words of this essay...

"You wanted a woman's culture. Well, now there is one. It isn't what you meant but it exists. Be thankful for small miracles."

Discuss the idea of a woman's culture in the novel so far - contrast between idea and reality.

In 'A Handmaid's Tale' Margaret Atwood presents the idea of a society that has undergone extreme changes in a short period of time. The role of the woman has definitely shifted, but the efforts of the woman of a time before had completely different motives.

The idea of the people that we assume are feminists in the time before the regime, such as Offred's mother for instance, was to have a world where women were valued as equally as men. Now in Gilead woman are valued but simply as a requirement, like an essential ingredient. They are needed for making babies, and are granted basic human needs, but they are not respected for what they do, in fact quite the opposite. The people, such as the commander's wives, despise the handmaid's as they feel they are burdens yet they still put up with them because they need them in order to have a child.