Explain how control and rebellion are presented in 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood
Explain how control and rebellion are presented in 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood's creation of the dystopian society of Gilead in 'The Handmaids Tale', is definitely one in which the Government attempts to control every aspect of people's public and private lives. As the plot progresses, Offred - the protagonist and narrator of the novel - dissects how, through numerous methods, this power is exerted on the society by a theocratic state, similar to that in George Orwell's classic, '1984'. Dystopias are societies where ideology has taken priority over the well-being of the people within that society, and as these dramatic changes implemented by Gilead are non-beneficial for the vast majority of the characters, many of them inevitably rebel - Moira could be interpreted as the most actively rebellious character. Atwood's formation of Gilead serves as a warning to what could take place in the near future if allowed and has been described as a 'mere extension of what is already taking place' by critic Coral Ann Howells. An illustration of this comes from the revolution that has been taking place since 2006 in Moscow, Russia. President Vladimir Putin has employed certain bribes such as a double on women's monthly child support and the offer of 250,000 rubles to those who choose to have more than one child, as a means of dealing with the crisis of
Compare and contrast how far the authors of The handmaids Tale and Stepford Wives draw on the issues of the society in which they are writing to create a disturbing vision of the future.
It has been said that Atwood has included nothing in The Handmaid's tale that does not exist in our society already; she has simply taken ideas to their logical conclusion. Compare and contrast how far the authors of The handmaids Tale and Stepford Wives draw on the issues of the society in which they are writing to create a disturbing vision of the future. "There isn't anything in the book not based on something that has already happened in history or in another country, or for which actual supporting documentation is not already available.1" Margaret Atwood tells us herself that she has based the novel 'The Handmaids Tale' on events, regimes and issues that exist in our society today. It is clear from both the narrative of the novel and "The Historical Notes" that she has taken aspects of current society in order to create Gilead. Similarly with Ira Levin's "Stepford Wives" it is evident that he has drawn on past and present feminist issues in society in order to create a disturbing yet arguably accurate vision of the future. In Stepford Wives when Joanna moves in to Stepford and asks her neighbour to have a coffee with her, her neighbour replies "I have to wax the family-room floor". This shows Ira Levin introducing the idea of a typical 1950's domestic housewife. Both of the patriarchal regimes depicted in the novels reflect life for women in the 1950's, when women
How Far is The Handmaids Tale a Dystopian Text, Specifically at the Regime of Gilead and its Successes and Flaws?
How Far is The Handmaids Tale a Dystopian Text, Specifically at the Regime of Gilead and its Successes and Flaws? 'The Handmaids Tale' is set in a society where everything is wrong, which would usually suggest that it was a dystopian novel, yet while a 'dystopia' is generally defined as a society 'in which the conditions of life are extremely bad as from deprivation or oppression or terror' this is clearly not the whole case when it comes to Gilead. This is because while there are many aspects of the regime which are unjust and morally wrong compared to modern values, there are certain parts of the society which are improved. This is shown quite clearly in Atwood's depiction of freedom and imprisonment. One of the main expressions used within the novel is 'Freedom to' and 'freedom from'. We are told that in Gilead you are given freedom from, as opposed to in our modern 'days of anarchy' where we have freedom to do as we please. It is this difference that affects the Gileadean society, and through this the whole of Atwood's novel, and what ultimately makes it a dystopia. Despite being obviously morally wrong (for instance, Handmaids are practically raped weekly in order to bear a child for their 'commander', and that only heterosexual white people are allowed in the regime) many of the people in Gilead do not rebel. This is because they are scared of what might happen if they
Examine how Atwood presents Offred's sense of self in "The Handmaid's Tale"
Examine how Atwood presents Offred's sense of self in "The Handmaid's Tale" Sense of self can be defined by the "roles, attributes, behaviours, and associations that we consider most important about our selves".1 Atwood wrote "The Handmaid's Tale" during the 80s; (1986 to be precise) an era of 'power-dressing'. A key icon of the 'power-dressing' was the wife of the American president, Nancy Reagan, who wore outfits with huge shoulder pads, making her look more masculine. Famous women like her encapsulated what the women of the time aspired to be: rich, beautiful, intelligent and powerful.2 In "The Handmaid's Tale", Offred constantly refers back to her old life and the way she used to style herself in comparison to the way she looks now. She remembers, "Makeup"3 and "bathing suits and platform shoes"4, "sheer pantyhose against the skin"5, and "the smell of nail paint"6. All these things relate to the image that she once aspired to obtain, and this constant regression shows how she longs to return to her life before the regime, when she was secure in her identity. The air of desirability Atwood gives these things reflects how Offred desires them. However, this does not mean that Offred needs these things to regain her sense of self; Atwood simply uses them as symbols of Offred's true identity which she attributes to herself and her life before the regime. In contrast, Atwood
How do we get a sense of Dystopia from the opening chapters of the novel ' The Handmaid's Tale'
How do we get a sense of Dystopia from the opening chapters of the novel 'The Handmaid's Tale' In this essay I am going to look at how readers get a sense of Dystopia from the first opening chapters of the novel 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. We are thrown right into it and we readers are forced to think what is happening. Right at the start of Chapter one Atwood starts the novel with an interesting use of syntax; she uses a very short sentence which makes us think. 'We slept in what had once been the gymnasium'. This is a very powerful opening sentence and gives us a sense of Dystopia right from the word go because it makes us think why are they sleeping in the gymnasium. Also her use of the word 'once' is an interesting lexical choice because by saying once it shows that this is no longer the case, it makes us think what has happened to the gymnasium. Throughout this paragraph Atwood shows us that time has passed and things have changed, for example when our narrator tells us that games were 'formerly played there'. Also 'the nets were gone', from the basketball nets which again gives us the impression time has passed and things have changed. Also our narrator tells us how time has passed further by describing the people that had once been there, 'later in mini-skirts, then in pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair'. This creates an interesting
Comparison between Soul Scrolls (pg 175) and Offreds prayer (pg 205) in 'The Handmaid's Tale'
Comparison between Soul Scrolls (pg 175) and Offred’s prayer (pg 205) Gilead’s totalitarianism regime uses religion to meet the ends of the regime, rather than the regime being a means to serve God. ‘Soul Scrolls’ is a place where Handmaid’s purchase one of five prayers to be read to them, before being recycled. Offred’s prayer is a distortion of the Lord’s Prayer which is ostensibly much more personal to her. Offred describes ‘Soul Scrolls’ as ‘a franchise’. This suggests the presence of business and technology in Gilead, reinforced by the idea that the Handmaid’s accounts are debited and that the regime is everywhere. This concept of business is continuous throughout the novel, for example the ‘ceremony’ previously discussed is portrayed to be a business transaction. ‘Franchise’ has connotations of something which is unavoidable. Everybody knows it and everybody has access to it, and it’s the same everywhere you go – it’s incredibly impersonal. Gilead uses ‘Soul Scrolls’ as a means of controlling the Handmaids. There is no flexibility because there is no choice in prayer – there are only five prayers to choose from, which seems quite artificial. In only offering five exact choices – ‘health, wealth, a death, a birth, a sin’, it prevents people praying for anything else. Despite the fact that the Handmaid’s can mentally
Analyse Atwood's narrative & linguistic approaches and how chapter 9 contributes to the novel as a whole
Analyse Atwood's narrative & linguistic approaches and how chapter 9 contributes to the novel as a whole. Chapter nine opening section two of the novel is mainly recalling the last chapters and about the narrator rediscovering herself, surfacing the truth. In section one we see the narrator talking in the present tense in a very descriptive form, outlining the novel. However in section two we see her talking in the past tense demonstrating the stories she is telling. The separation between the human and the natural world and the narrator's struggle with language most directly portrays the novel's dualities. In chapter nine there are many areas's in which specific linguistics are used to tell the story. This is evident in the very opening paragraph of chapter nine, when the narrator says "The trouble is all in the knob at the top of our bodies". The noun euphemism 'knob' for the head has connotations of a mechanical device which links in to the "illusion that they are separate". This creates a binary opposition between emotion versus reason (heart versus brain), creating the idea that the narrator is dislocated form herself. The narrator is sceptical about language as she blames words and makes it the culprit just like when the 'husband' kept saying he loved her on page 28. Another area where we see the narrator's distrust in words is when she clearly states "I'll
Presentation and significance of settings in 'The Handmaid's Tale'
Discuss the presentation and significance of the settings in 'The Handmaid's Tale'. How effectively does the setting of the narrative help to convey the dystopian world which Atwood has created? 'The Handmaid's Tale' is set in the near future in what was the United States but in Offred's time is known as Gilead. Gilead is in the hands of a power - hungry elite who have used their own brand of 'Bible - based' religion as an excuse for the suppression of the majority of the population. Atwood takes aspects of our society today such as the decline of the Caucasian birth rate in North America, infertility and sexually transmitted diseases and makes a society within Gilead that combats these issues. Atwood states 'there is nothing in the novel which has not been done already by somebody, somewhere.' 'The Handmaid's Tale' is Atwood's version of 'what if?' in the most powerful democracy in the world. Atwood takes a common setting which is the United States known to us as the most powerful democracy in the world and takes issues which affect the world today and uses these aspects of life to create a horrifying dystopian novel. Gilead is frightening because it presents a mirror image of what is happening in the world around us. The first sentence in Chapter one is "We slept in what had once been the gymnasium." When people have to sleep in a communal place after a natural disaster
Feminism in 'The Handmaid's Tale'
"The women will live in harmony together, all in one family ... women united for a common end" (p.171). Consider how Atwood portrays the role of women and attitudes towards women in both contemporary society and in Gilead. Does she present a feminist perspective or is she challenging feminist attitudes? Margaret Atwood is the best known feminist novelist in English today. Her attitudes are clear in 'The Handmaid's Tale'. The book provides a brief history and critique of the North American feminist movement since the 1960s, for as Offred reminds us, "Context is all." The feminist movement took place at an appropriate time as women's rights needed to move forward. In Gilead that type of feminist movement is no longer appropriate as society is different and the situation is therefore a different context. Atwood uses the feminist attitudes in a society and takes them to an extreme illustrating the complexity of feminism. Second - wave feminism began in the 1960s and focused on discrimination and cultural, social, and political issues. Books about it included 'The Feminine Mystique' by Betty Friedan and 'The Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir. Many ideologies were also around in this time period. Atwood however, refuses to simplify the gender debate or to accept the slogans. Instead, she challenges these slogans by demonstrating how they run the risk of being taken over as
By close examination of the themes and narrative technique, show how Margaret Atwood conveys Offreds sense of alienation towards Gilead, in the first six chapters of The Handmaids Tale
“This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” By close examination of the themes and narrative technique, show how Margaret Atwood conveys Offred’s sense of alienation towards Gilead, in the first six chapters of “The Handmaid’s Tale” As Offred stands horrified at the sight of the salvaging wall, she strains to push aside her shock and substitute it for an emotional ‘blankness’. Whilst Offred is struggling to repress this emotion, she remembers Aunt Lydia’s words about how ‘this may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will.’ This statement reflects the true power of the patriarchal and totalitarian society of Gilead, in its attempts to suppress a natural reaction of disgust to an execution, and forcing it into a response of blankness and ignorance. This portrays the alienation of the women, including Offred, in Gilead, since Aunt Lydia’s words suggest a cynical mindset – Gilead succeeds not because it makes people believe their ways are right, but because it makes women forget what a different world would be like, and so they have nothing to compare it too. Gilead belittles its inhabitants into believing that persecution and domination are normal, simply because it’s the nature of life in Gilead. Gilead’s dystopian world originates from its theocracy and the way in which religion