Discuss how aspects of control are explored in

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Discuss how aspects of control are explored in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Chrysalids”

Margaret Atwood and John Wyndham both write of distopian societies within the science-fiction genre to explore the varying ways in which society can abuse authority in order to gain control. This violent and dehumanising repression is used to create vulnerability and fear among the society as a method of control. The writers use the narrators Offred and David to explore the response to oppression and both its physical and psychological effects.

Atwood sets “The Handmaids Tale” in the future with the significant setting of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This Puritan stronghold in the US colonial period had created a theocracy, much like Gilead itself. Wyndham also sets his novel in the future; the society of Waknuk is evocative of the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Adam-Troy Castro says “The Chrysalids” is a novel which “drives Harry Potter, it drives the X-Men, and it has driven a number of other stories about children who find out they are the next stage in Mankind’s evolution”. However, I do not think “The Chrysalids” only concerns the future and evolution, Wyndham uses this idea to explore the abuse of religion and control and also the narrow-mindedness of those who judge by appearance, a tendency that is still present today.

Puritanism and the recurring symbol of the past play a significant role in both novels. Although both novels are set in the future, they both possess societies based on past examples of oppression. D. Lundie comments that Waknuk is “a society of the future with a setting from the past”. Extending Lundie's point, it is evident in the simple technology and strict orthodox ideas that Wyndham reminds the reader of the control of an eighteenth century theocracy. Furthermore, Gilead is a reminder of the Victorian era with its obsession with the protection of women as a method of control. The strict religious code of Waknuk, and also the abuse of Old Testament values in Gilead, reveals the extended irony throughout both novels, especially “The Handmaids Tale”.

Religion is one of the most important aspects of control used in both Gilead and Waknuk. The protagonist Offred in “The Handmaids Tale” reveals not only the use, but also the abuse of the Bible in Gilead. Male figures of authority alter Biblical scriptures appropriately for personal benefits and also to increase their level of control: “Blessed are the silent. I knew they made that up and they left things out too, but there was no way of checking”. Ironically, women are forbidden access to the Bible, portraying women as victims as they can no longer challenge their exploitation.

Wyndham demonstrates a similar abuse of religion in “The Chrysalids”. The Genesis concept of Man being created in the image of God is abused and, similar to Gilead, the society of Waknuk uses the Bible to back up this view. However, the irony is that the detailed image of God is written by a human, not God, therefore the people of Waknuk are deluded by the accepted image of God. “The Bible doesn’t give any definition of Man…the definition comes from Nicholson's Repentance’s”.

Both authors further challenge the issues of orthodox religion. Gilead claims a loving God at the heart of their beliefs. By ironically labelling “Angels” and “Guardians” with these religious and tender connotations, Atwood exposes how far these violent and threatening authoritarian figures have moved from true religion. In Waknuk, society is allegedly governed by the nature of a harsh but just God, yet Wyndham portrays the injustice of a society which, in the name of God, demands the destruction of Mutants. Such callous treatment of the disadvantaged challenges the Christian ethos previously claimed.

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Both writers use images relating to the past to show the instability of the dictatorial regimes. The “huge scar” in Waknuk is an ironic metaphor of the failure of past ideas; Atwood's use of the word “palimpsest” also has a similar purpose, but also echoes the Gilead’s lack of success in fully eradicating the past from people’s minds, like Offred for example. The animal imagery in the title “The Chrysalids” also implies the instability of the Waknuk regime. The word chrysalid symbolises the helplessness of the Waknuk society under the control of the authorities. Yet the fact that the ...

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