Women’s Support for Patriarchy: When Things Fall Apart from Within In The Handmaid’s Tale, author Margaret Atwood argues that the success of patriarchy is built not only on the obedience of but also on the support from women, who are used as the most effective weapon against themselves. By depicting the Wives who seem to be adamant supporters of patriarchy but suffer as pathetic victims as well, the Aunts who brainwash the handmaids and also abuse them physically and mentally, and the working ladies at the night club who were once erudite and educated women, Atwood indicates that women are the accomplice of the dominant patriarchy, and thus condemns the falling of the core of feminism, which is women themselves. Author Atwood composes Gilead
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When describing Serena Joy’s current status as a housewife as opposed to a working woman, the narrator says, “[Serena Joy] stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word” (Atwood 46). Author Atwood unveils Serena’s pathetic situation as a housewife and reflects that women who have fought for patriarchy end up being the exact victims of their goal. Atwood recognizes women’s overwhelming influence over themselves, and she also condemns people like Serena Joy through her description of their affliction in the patriarchal system, the cage they build for themselves and other …show more content…
Moira symbolizes the spirit of rebellion in the narrator’s mind. She was once a transgendered, independent, and astute college student as well as one of the most troublesome and rebellious handmaids at the Center, causing all kinds of troubles for the Aunts. However, when meeting Moira at the night club accidently, the narrator says, “She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something -what? -that used to be so central to her?” (Atwood 249). Author Atwood uses the narrator to reveal that Moira has lost her gallantry under the oppression of the Gileadean system. Margaret makes the narrator depict Moira as the most courageous and inspiring woman in the narrator’s memory only to make Moira’s desperation upon their accident reunion at Jezebel’s even more pathetic. The dramatic contradiction not only represents the tragic and painful transition that Moira has gone through, but also portrays how powerless these educated women become in the prison of patriarchy, who eventually lose their dignity and kneel down for survival, just as obedient as the rest of the women. Atwood indicates that the pathetic ending of this group of woman is the failure of the education, consciousness, and many merits women once held dear
When describing Serena Joy’s current status as a housewife as opposed to a working woman, the narrator says, “[Serena Joy] stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word” (Atwood 46). Author Atwood unveils Serena’s pathetic situation as a housewife and reflects that women who have fought for patriarchy end up being the exact victims of their goal. Atwood recognizes women’s overwhelming influence over themselves, and she also condemns people like Serena Joy through her description of their affliction in the patriarchal system, the cage they build for themselves and other …show more content…
Moira symbolizes the spirit of rebellion in the narrator’s mind. She was once a transgendered, independent, and astute college student as well as one of the most troublesome and rebellious handmaids at the Center, causing all kinds of troubles for the Aunts. However, when meeting Moira at the night club accidently, the narrator says, “She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something -what? -that used to be so central to her?” (Atwood 249). Author Atwood uses the narrator to reveal that Moira has lost her gallantry under the oppression of the Gileadean system. Margaret makes the narrator depict Moira as the most courageous and inspiring woman in the narrator’s memory only to make Moira’s desperation upon their accident reunion at Jezebel’s even more pathetic. The dramatic contradiction not only represents the tragic and painful transition that Moira has gone through, but also portrays how powerless these educated women become in the prison of patriarchy, who eventually lose their dignity and kneel down for survival, just as obedient as the rest of the women. Atwood indicates that the pathetic ending of this group of woman is the failure of the education, consciousness, and many merits women once held dear