“He pulls down one of my straps […] I lie there like a dead bird […] I can’t afford pride or aversion” (Atwood, 294). The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Tepper and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood are dystopian novels where the roles of men are women are explicitly distinguished to achieve one goal. In both novels, men oppress women from their feminism ideologies to reach the paramount goal of restoring the ability to conceive babies without deformities; however, the women differ in how they react to the abuse of women’s rights. Men and women in The Gate to Women’s Country are segregated and they depend on each other to strive as a society. On the other hand, in The Handmaid’s Tale, men are the commander of the population, and the
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Men depend on women to give them children; therefore, men use women to conceive babies. In The Gate to Women’s Country, the warrior men demand women to “‘bring [them] a son!’” (Tepper, 244). The warriors believe that having a son is honorable because they think that having a successor to inherit their wealth and honor will ensure that their years of pain have not gone in vain. The author emphasizes this belief when the protagonist, Stavia and her mother, Morgot talks about the statue of Odysseus and Telemachus near the warriors’ garrison. The story of Telemachus and Odysseus displays how Telemachus is the ideal successor and son who the warriors desire. Before the Republic of Gilead was formed, there were issues with “medicines, pills, men sprayed trees, cows ate grass, all that souped-up piss flowed into the rivers. Not to mention the exploding atomic power plants, along the San Andreas fault” (Atwood, 129). All of these problems contribute to the deformities and struggle with childbirth. These complications with childbirth force the government to adopt the use of “Handmaids” with men to increase the population and prevent further damage to women’s ovaries. The “Aunts” (instructors of the Handmaids) render the Handmaid’s perception of love, freedom and feminism to the point where the Handmaids think of themselves as “a cloud, congealed around a central object, …show more content…
The men and women decided to live separately in the Women’s Country, sharing different responsibilities to survive. Contrarily, the Republic of Gilead is a patriarchy society. The novels share a strong theme that men depend on women for reproduction and this theme drives the main goal that the societies are trying to achieve; the ability to give birth to their ideal children. Feminism is reaching its peak in the twenty-first century. These female authors use writing to write novels with powerful input on their sentiments of gender inequality in our contemporary
Men depend on women to give them children; therefore, men use women to conceive babies. In The Gate to Women’s Country, the warrior men demand women to “‘bring [them] a son!’” (Tepper, 244). The warriors believe that having a son is honorable because they think that having a successor to inherit their wealth and honor will ensure that their years of pain have not gone in vain. The author emphasizes this belief when the protagonist, Stavia and her mother, Morgot talks about the statue of Odysseus and Telemachus near the warriors’ garrison. The story of Telemachus and Odysseus displays how Telemachus is the ideal successor and son who the warriors desire. Before the Republic of Gilead was formed, there were issues with “medicines, pills, men sprayed trees, cows ate grass, all that souped-up piss flowed into the rivers. Not to mention the exploding atomic power plants, along the San Andreas fault” (Atwood, 129). All of these problems contribute to the deformities and struggle with childbirth. These complications with childbirth force the government to adopt the use of “Handmaids” with men to increase the population and prevent further damage to women’s ovaries. The “Aunts” (instructors of the Handmaids) render the Handmaid’s perception of love, freedom and feminism to the point where the Handmaids think of themselves as “a cloud, congealed around a central object, …show more content…
The men and women decided to live separately in the Women’s Country, sharing different responsibilities to survive. Contrarily, the Republic of Gilead is a patriarchy society. The novels share a strong theme that men depend on women for reproduction and this theme drives the main goal that the societies are trying to achieve; the ability to give birth to their ideal children. Feminism is reaching its peak in the twenty-first century. These female authors use writing to write novels with powerful input on their sentiments of gender inequality in our contemporary