AS and A Level: The Handmaid's Tale
- Marked by Teachers essays 2
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How Does Atwood present women in the Handmaid's Tale?
4 star(s)On the floor of the room there were books, open face down, this way and that, extravagantly." Atwood presents Offred's intelligence and her appreciation of words and language as a way of expressing herself and remaining true to her past. Atwood's presentation of a future where women's only function is as vessel for childbirth has a deeper poignancy considering over the past 50 years women have been fighting for freedom, equality, and to be considered on an equal intellectual level as men. It seems that Atwood believes this equality is incredibly fragile and easily breakable, and if, for some reason procreation becomes a desperate necessity for society rather than an individual's emotional decision, it would be justified that woman should relinquish other roles and responsibilities for the "good of mankind."
- Word count: 1563
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Compare how a sense of claustrophobia is built up in the Handmaids Tale and an Evil Cradling
4 star(s)Furthermore he claims in his first chapter, "Before I left Belfast, I had been torn with a desperate kind of love and distaste for my place." Both statements from the two parts of Keenan's book, show that his life, as he puts it himself, was a type of 'cul-de-sac.' This metaphor for a dead-end shows that Keenan was no more free in his native Ireland, so much that he was forced to seek mental comfort elsewhere. The entire opening chapter of an evil cradling highlights Keenan's disconnection with his country and how he felt trapped and a sense of claustrophobia in a place so familiar to him.
- Word count: 1488
