Ironies In The Handmaid's Tale

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, crisis is upon them: the population is declining and there are very few fertile people in Gilead. Consequently, the women in the novel are reduced to their reproductive ability and categorized based on that. In the article that is written by Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, she discusses the ironies that are present in the novel. There is a freedom from dangers where women are helpless, but there is also the freedom from being legitimately free. Gilead’s view on women and how they should be treated is a step down from where is was before this.
The quote that will be focused on is from the beginning of the novel that Aunt Lydia stated: “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don 't underrate it.” (Atwood, 42). This quote that Aunt Lydia said to Offred is her justification for why women are treated the way that they are in Gilead’s society. It is also an explanation for the freedoms that were severed to make room for the freedoms—which seem more like restrictions—that come with Gilead rule. According to Aunt …show more content…
It is seen several times in the novel that Offred is very apprehensive when it comes to decisions that she needs to make. She almost finds a burden in making choices for herself. This is elaborated in the article Wagner-Lawlor expands on this when she mentions the encounter that Offred experienced when the doctor offered to inseminate her (85). The doctor replying to the rejecting when he says “it’s your life” is ironic in the fact that Offred’s body belongs to Gillead and control her, not Offred (Wagner-Lawlor,