The handmaids tale - Character development and contribution to the text as a whole.
Character development and contribution to the text as a whole Main characters in stories have the innate ability to steal the limelight from all other characters simply the plot is based around them. However, readers must be aware the without supporting characters, whether good or bad, a story could not develop into something meaningful. Supporting characters guide the plot, reveal themes, and most importantly contribute to characterization of main characters. One could argue that supporting characters are more important for the author to portray accurately as they are essential for the success of the main character and hence story. Comparing Roger Chillingworth from Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and the Commander from Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale will offer a succinct explanation of this question. Introducing anyone into a story is difficult, as readers will immediately make judgments and assume first impressions are correct. Changing the depiction of a character halfway through the novel without any support from plot signifies a weak author. Chillingworth and the Commander are carefully intertwined into the novel in a similar fashion. The reader meets Chillingworth at Hester's most vulnerable stage as she stands on the scaffold revealing her scarlet letter for the first time. His real character and relationship with Hester is not spoken about immediately, as the author
Character Analysis - The Commander/Commanders.
Character Analysis - The Commander/Commanders. The character of the Commanders is one of the highest in the social hierarchy of Gilead. The Commander who is based in the house with Offred does not have a lot of light shed on his character in the opening chapters. The reader is never really told the occupation of the Commander but we know that he must be an important figure, as Ofglen refers to him as being at "the top". The Commander is described to be, roughly, a middle aged man with "silver" hair, blue "uncommunicative" eyes and thick fingers. His character is also associated with the colour of black, which is a formal colour that signifies authority and can also be a symbol of death and depression. It is possible that this is a technique used by Atwood to represent his character in the novel. I believe that the Commander's function is one that shows the highest form of male authority, which is therefore able to express the need for the basic human instincts to an extreme e.g compassion and companionship. "You want my life to be bearable..............I do. I would prefer it." This quote shows that the Commander, who is supposed to feel nothing towards the Handmaids, can't help giving into his sympathy, as it is a natural thing for people to do. His character also conveys the feminist and socialist issues, both negatively and positively. Although he leaves the character
What is the importance of Moira in the novel? Consider the ways in which the writer presents this character.
What is the importance of Moira in the novel? Consider the ways in which the writer presents this character. Moira is Offred's best friend in 'The Handmaid's Tale', from the time before. She too is a survivor of the American permissive society, who actively rebels against the Gilead system, by constantly running away from the Red Centre, where she is to be trained to become a Handmaid. She is the heroin of the novel, fighting a one-woman resistance against an entire nation. It is Moira who predicts the rise of Gilead, knowing that liberties taken for granted cease to be liberties. "Look out," Moria says to Offred, as the Gileadean coup begins. "You wait, she said. They've been building up to this. It's you and me against the wall, baby. She was quoting an expression of my mother's, but she wasn't intending to be funny". She is presented as a strongly individual character against the background of a society that seeks to deny the rights of the individual. Offred finds comfort in her memories of Moira whom she sees as the embodiment of female heroism because she stubbornly refuses to submit to the principles of a male-dominated regime. For example wearing clothes from the time before, 'She still had her clothes on, jeans and a blue sweatshirt - her hair was short, she'd defied fashion as usual.' We are first introduced to the character of Moira in chapter 7, as a trendy
Comment on Atwood's use of imagery in chapters one to thirty-three of "The Handmaid's tale".
Comment on Atwood's use of imagery in chapters one to thirty-three of "The Handmaid's tale" Atwood's use of imagery if a very significant part of The handmaid's tale. The imagery used helps to establish depth in Offred's story and even contains hidden meanings and messages, which are not otherwise made explicit by Offred in her narrative. During chapters one to five the first of the themes, which run throughout the novel are introduced. During Offred's narrative, colour imagery appears many times and this is first shown in chapter two when Offred describes the colours of the flowers in her picture. Colour is used to describe almost anything in Offred's tale, from clothes to carpets. Red is a colour that is reoccurring, partly because of Offred's clothes but also because of its connotations with regards to blood, love, death and the menstrual cycle. Flowers are also a prominent part in Offred's imagery and they are frequently added to descriptions of things which would have otherwise seemed terrible, to lighten the mood of the story. Later on in the novel Offred even says, " I've tried to put some of the good things in as well. Flowers, for instance, because there would we be without them?" She seems to add descriptions of flowers and to go into great detail about other things which are pretty irrelevant, such as colour when she has come across a particularly painful point
The Handmaid's Tale: Rebellion is Freedom
Sarah Pathammavong November 25, 2002 Brit. Lit 3b Mrs. Smith The Handmaid's Tale: Rebellion is Freedom The Handmaid's Tale, a novel by Margaret Atwood, is about the life of a handmaid, Offred, and what she does to survive in the Gilead. The society of Gilead in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale is based upon the idea of making a safer place to live by producing freedoms from things such as rape to protect the women society. Offred finds that all these freedoms from are restricting her personal being therefore; she becomes a bit rebellious and starts gaining actual true freedom, power and chances she would have never gotten if she lived the way of the Gilead. "This is the heart of Gilead, where the war cannot intrude except on television. Where the edges are we aren't sure, they vary, according to the attacks and counter attacks; but this is the center where nothing moves." (23) The Republic of Gilead is a place that is supposed to be a perfect society free from such things as rape and any type of abuse against women. Somewhere along the way the population of Gilead decreased and now the society of Gilead needed to find a way for their population to grow and still protect women. So to protect the women Gilead set up restrictions for the people of Gilead more appending restrictions on the women. Women in the Gilead were set up in a caste system of Wives, Aunts,
Examine the Character of Offred and Consider her Role as the Heroine of the Novel.
Examine the Character of Offred and Consider her Role as the Heroine of the Novel. A heroine could be defined as a woman of outstanding courage and endurance, who is greatly admired or worthy of being admired. Essentially, she must be a person of outstanding qualities. We have been asked to investigate Offred's character and evaluate how she conforms to the role of the heroine in the novel. Throughout 'The Handmaids Tale', the idea of feminism is strongly linked with the role of the heroine. Primarily because Gilead is a patriarchal society, therefore Offred is fighting for women against men. 'The Handmaids Tale' is a woman's autobiographical narrative that challenges the absolute authority of Gilead and its male-orientated rules, highlighting the significance of story telling as an act of resistance against oppression. It is Offred's narrative voice transcribed into text that situates her as an individual woman, grounded in place and time, whose identity transcends that of her Handmaid's role. One of Offred's qualities that depict her as a heroine is her rebellion against Gilead and so consequently, her desire to stand up for what is right. She insists on voicing her own opinion when the regime demands total silence. However, her freedom is very circumscribed and she is unable to tell her story within the Gileadean context; she can only tell it after she has escaped.
Is The Handmaid's Tale an optimistic or pessimistic novel?
Is 'The Handmaid's Tale' an optimistic or pessimistic novel? Atwood invites the reader to consider both ideas including optimistic and pessimistic elements in the novel. Her views on gender politics and morality are portrayed throughout Offred's fragmented narrative providing capacity for the reader's own view. The key point that makes 'The Handmaids Tale' an optimistic novel, is the fact that Gilead ceases to exist. The totalitarian state is completely overthrown demonstrating that an extremist society cannot survive. This is a key idea that emanates from the novel and thus the reader sees it from an optimistic viewpoint. A feminist reader would see this as extremely positive, as it was a male dominated society, and the collapse of it means it is no longer a patriarchy. Atwood demonstrates that extremist societies cannot survive as eventually they will be overthrown as people will not conform. Although the society crumbles the character of Offred continues to exist for an indefinite amount of time in the historical notes, which Atwood refers to as the "After word." After Offred leaves with the aid of Nick, we do not discover if she manages to escape. Atwood leaves the continued existence as an unanswered question for the reader. As the reader, one would hope that Offred survives and was able to escape, and the historical notes keep her alive. Although the historical notes
The Commander's Wife, Serena worked in pre-Gilead days as a gospel singer, then as an anti-feminist activist and crusader for "traditional values."
The Commander's Wife, Serena worked in pre-Gilead days as a gospel singer, then as an anti-feminist activist and crusader for "traditional values." In Gilead, she sits at the top of the female social ladder, yet she is desperately unhappy. Serena's unhappiness shows that her restrictive, male-dominated society cannot bring happiness even to its most pampered and powerful women. Serena jealously guards her claims to status and behaves cruelly toward the Handmaids in her household. Though Serena was an advocate for traditional values and the establishment of the Gileadean state, her bitterness at the outcome - being confined to the home and having to see her husband copulating with a Handmaid - suggests that spokeswomen for anti-feminist causes might not enjoy getting their way as much as they believe they would. Serena's obvious unhappiness means that she teeters on the edge of inspiring our sympathy, but she forfeits that sympathy by taking out her frustration on Offred. Serena Joy seems to possess no compassion for Offred. She can see the difficulty of her own life, but not that of another woman. The climactic moment in Serena's interaction with Offred comes when she arranges for Offred to sleep with Nick. It seems that Serena makes these plans out of a desire to help Offred get pregnant, but Serena gets an equal reward from Offred's pregnancy: she gets to raise the baby.
The Handmaid's Tale is a powerful story of relationships.
The Handmaid's Tale is a powerful story of relationships, the fight for power in a society dominated by violence, the fight for survival when escape, in the form of suicide, is forever present. Images of violence have presence throughout Offreds narrative and this recurring motif of cruelty is what ultimately leads to the characters contemplation of suicide as a means of escaping the Gileadean Regime at the end of the novel. There are several pivotal moments with regard to the characterisation and development of Offred and her views concerning suicide and mortality; moments that also effect the readers perception of the character, Gileadean Society and the novel. The readers first encounter with the power struggles between people is in the novels opening; the aunts of the red centre with their electric cattle prods, stern moral teaching and appearance. The Aunts are given small amounts of power by the patriarchal regime, like the ability to carry the cattle prods but no other weapons. "No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards..." This extract shows that even the Aunts with all their authority within the society, are not permitted to carry guns, as the regime will not entrust them with that amount of responsibility or power. It is even remarkable that the Aunts are given the little power that they have considering the regimes stance
Postcolonialism and Canada: A Readingof Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and Alias Grace
Postcolonialism and Canada : A Reading of Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and Alias Grace. Historians, literary critics, and social scientists use the idea of post colonialism to examine the ways, both subtle and obvious, in which colonization affects the colonized society. Notwithstanding different time periods, different events and different effects that they consider, all postcolonial theorists and theory admit that colonialism continues to affect the former colonies after political independence. By exposing a culture's colonial history, postcolonial theory empowers a society with the ability to value itself. The most questionable aspect of the term "postcolonial" is the prefix of the word, "post." In order for there to be a postcolonial period, colonialism must have experienced a finite end within the colony. Despite the official recognition of national independence in their countries of origin, the books we have read suggest a more pervasive, continuing colonialism, a more prolonged interaction between British and its colonized societies. Canada is one of the major countries which have been under the colonial rule for a considerable period of time. During the latter part of the twentieth century, Canadian writers have looked at the effects of colonialism on the original native population. The culture of the indigenous peoples and the oral tradition used, was for a long