Literary Analysis Essay The Handmaid’s Tale It is scary to think of a government that exists only to serve a specific group of citizens. However, this story contains such a government. In The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood, she demonstrates that some ideologies lead to the suffering and oppression of others as shown by the beliefs and practices of the Republic of Gilead. The main protagonist, Offred is forced into procreating due to falling birth rates in the country and has to find a way to survive the highly oppressive government. Relevant in this Trump era Atwood’s book is effective in its use of plot, dystopia, and feminist undertones to show the struggles of Offred by this oppressive regime. The plot
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The book contains prominent, strong female characters and is subtle when speaking about female stereotypes. An example of this would be when Offred describes that “[they] weren’t allowed [outside] except for [their] walks” (Atwood 4). This alludes to the conservative stereotype that women should not be allowed to leave the house and that they should be housewives. This demonstrates Offred’s lack of simple freedom, showing that she is not even allowed to go outside and must follow the right procedure. Furthermore, the book contains negative imagery of feminist rallies which can also be compared to the way that feminists are viewed by some conservatives today. The Aunts in the book serve the purpose of brainwashing the rest of the women into believing what they believe. During a movie about feminist rallies, Aunt Lydia said that the female protesters were “wasting their time like that, when they should have been doing something useful” (Atwood 118). Basically, Aunt Lydia is attempting to indoctrinate the women into believing that feminism is a waste of time and that women’s rights are not needed. To summarize, the book uses the struggles of Offred to display how feminism is treated by some people in today’s world. Atwood was really great at using her techniques to show how a protagonist would face the problems within an oppressive society. Ultimately the book’s purpose is to show a possibility
The book contains prominent, strong female characters and is subtle when speaking about female stereotypes. An example of this would be when Offred describes that “[they] weren’t allowed [outside] except for [their] walks” (Atwood 4). This alludes to the conservative stereotype that women should not be allowed to leave the house and that they should be housewives. This demonstrates Offred’s lack of simple freedom, showing that she is not even allowed to go outside and must follow the right procedure. Furthermore, the book contains negative imagery of feminist rallies which can also be compared to the way that feminists are viewed by some conservatives today. The Aunts in the book serve the purpose of brainwashing the rest of the women into believing what they believe. During a movie about feminist rallies, Aunt Lydia said that the female protesters were “wasting their time like that, when they should have been doing something useful” (Atwood 118). Basically, Aunt Lydia is attempting to indoctrinate the women into believing that feminism is a waste of time and that women’s rights are not needed. To summarize, the book uses the struggles of Offred to display how feminism is treated by some people in today’s world. Atwood was really great at using her techniques to show how a protagonist would face the problems within an oppressive society. Ultimately the book’s purpose is to show a possibility