The Handmaid’s Tale-a novel written by Margaret Atwood focusing on the dystopian society of Gilead in the near future, where freedom takes on a new meaning. While many feminists and non-feminists alike have branded it a feminist novel, Atwood herself has condemned this, and whenever asked the question she seems to always respond by replying that there are different types of feminism, as if to distance herself from the connotation of the word (Newman, Stephanie). She emphasizes that men and women alike are humans have troubles all the same. She takes on a humanist perspective, which is also displayed throughout the novel.
We don’t get much male perspective in the novel, but of the three main male characters, the one featured the most would …show more content…
“Is The Handmaid’s Tale a ‘feminist’ novel? If you mean an ideological tract in which all women are angels and/or so victimized they are incapable of moral choice, no.”(Newman, Stephanie). Why is Atwood so hesitant to call the book feminist, I wonder? To me, it seems a feminist work. I don’t deny the male sufferings, there is some, but it’s not on the same scale as it is the women. The women are essentially slaves; take Offred, for instance, being passed around from man to man in hopes one of them will impregnate her. And if they don’t? She’s to blame; legally no man is sterile, and she’ll be shipped off to die in the colonies. “There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law” (61). The commander doesn’t face the same dire situation. His problem is that he’s bored. And if he’s bored, what is he to do? Have an affair with his Handmaid who takes all the risk; she could be sent to the colonies but nothing will happen to him if they’re caught. The commander has all the luxuries that a woman in Gilead could want; yet he’s ignorant of it. “It wasn’t the first time he gave evidence of being truly ignorant of the real conditions under which we lived” (159). The commander has the luxury of ignorance. He may also go to a brothel, and have the one thing that is “forbidden” to
We don’t get much male perspective in the novel, but of the three main male characters, the one featured the most would …show more content…
“Is The Handmaid’s Tale a ‘feminist’ novel? If you mean an ideological tract in which all women are angels and/or so victimized they are incapable of moral choice, no.”(Newman, Stephanie). Why is Atwood so hesitant to call the book feminist, I wonder? To me, it seems a feminist work. I don’t deny the male sufferings, there is some, but it’s not on the same scale as it is the women. The women are essentially slaves; take Offred, for instance, being passed around from man to man in hopes one of them will impregnate her. And if they don’t? She’s to blame; legally no man is sterile, and she’ll be shipped off to die in the colonies. “There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law” (61). The commander doesn’t face the same dire situation. His problem is that he’s bored. And if he’s bored, what is he to do? Have an affair with his Handmaid who takes all the risk; she could be sent to the colonies but nothing will happen to him if they’re caught. The commander has all the luxuries that a woman in Gilead could want; yet he’s ignorant of it. “It wasn’t the first time he gave evidence of being truly ignorant of the real conditions under which we lived” (159). The commander has the luxury of ignorance. He may also go to a brothel, and have the one thing that is “forbidden” to