Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to truly understand a problem. For society, this insight has often been provided in the form of fantasy. The disconnect between fantasy and reality has the potential to explore our society in ways otherwise unavailable. In China Mieville’s editorial introduction to the symposium on “Marxism and Fantasy”, he describes how “fantasy is a mode that, in constructing an internally coherent but actually impossible totality … mimics the ‘absurdity’ of capitalist modernity (Mieville 4). Works of fantasy can be designed with the express purpose of exaggerating aspects of reality to expose their flaws and uncover cultural fantasies. Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale is a perfect example of fantasy attempting
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The narrator serves as a handmaid, which is a woman that is used for bearing children. The novel takes the path that U.S. politics was heading in the 1980s and exaggerates the outcome to a logical conclusion, specifically attitudes about women. Atwood seeks to challenge the utopic ideals chased by second wave feminist by fulfilling them beyond expectation. Through her speculation, she uncovers cultural fantasies about women that blind Americans to how dystopic their country really is. Women are viewed throughout the novel as requiring protection from the rest of the world, which mirrors how society perceives women. The clothing handmaids are forced to wear in The Handmaid’s Tale is designed to shelter them from the glances of men, which demonstrates the cultural fantasy of women needing to protect their innocence. All the women in Gilead are required to wear outfits that both reflect their …show more content…
When part of the United States is transitioning into Gilead, women find that they are gradually being demoted to second-class citizens. Offred recounts in the novel how she had her job and money taken away from her during the transition. All her money was given to her husband Luke and control of her life mostly shifted to him. She reflects that “He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it” (Atwood Ch.28). A common fantasy in American society is that men’s place is in the public sphere and women’s place is in the private sphere. This type of fantasy disguises flaws that exist in society; it makes it seem like women are content with being confined to domestic affairs. Baldwin warned of this self-deception, writing “The American way of life has failed – to make people happier or to make them better. We do not want to admit this, and we do not admit it” (Baldwin 4). Atwood attempts to enlighten people on the absurdity of this division and exaggerate the problems that arise. The supposed utopia America was trying to create was really the first steps to a dystopia like
The narrator serves as a handmaid, which is a woman that is used for bearing children. The novel takes the path that U.S. politics was heading in the 1980s and exaggerates the outcome to a logical conclusion, specifically attitudes about women. Atwood seeks to challenge the utopic ideals chased by second wave feminist by fulfilling them beyond expectation. Through her speculation, she uncovers cultural fantasies about women that blind Americans to how dystopic their country really is. Women are viewed throughout the novel as requiring protection from the rest of the world, which mirrors how society perceives women. The clothing handmaids are forced to wear in The Handmaid’s Tale is designed to shelter them from the glances of men, which demonstrates the cultural fantasy of women needing to protect their innocence. All the women in Gilead are required to wear outfits that both reflect their …show more content…
When part of the United States is transitioning into Gilead, women find that they are gradually being demoted to second-class citizens. Offred recounts in the novel how she had her job and money taken away from her during the transition. All her money was given to her husband Luke and control of her life mostly shifted to him. She reflects that “He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it” (Atwood Ch.28). A common fantasy in American society is that men’s place is in the public sphere and women’s place is in the private sphere. This type of fantasy disguises flaws that exist in society; it makes it seem like women are content with being confined to domestic affairs. Baldwin warned of this self-deception, writing “The American way of life has failed – to make people happier or to make them better. We do not want to admit this, and we do not admit it” (Baldwin 4). Atwood attempts to enlighten people on the absurdity of this division and exaggerate the problems that arise. The supposed utopia America was trying to create was really the first steps to a dystopia like