‘We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away, said the Commander.’ Do you think that women have gained under the Gileadean regime?
In the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women have failed to gain more than the life they lived before. This is a result of the regime removing their power through the elimination of rights and freedoms and relationships. Replacing it with roles women wouldn’t choose nor want and a life that failed to meet the standards the regime pledged.
The regime removed many rights and freedoms within Gilead, choosing to replace them with a multitude of restrictions instead. One of the rights removed was the power women had to be independent. The alternative was for them to now fully rely on males. Seen when …show more content…
No longer could the people of Gilead leave, outlined by Moira when she explains to Offred “they don’t want us going anywhere, you can bet on that” (p 175). Instead, women were expected to fulfil their role within society or they were detrimentally punished. Under the Gilead regime women also lost the right to freedom of speech. Shown in the quote “they used to have dolls…that would talk if you pulled the string…I thought I was sounding like that, voice of a monotone, voice of a doll” (p13). This though of Offred displays how the conversions they part took in had to be prepared, thought carefully of and appropriate for the society. This loss of both these rights and the implications of restrictions meant that the replacements for these freedoms were unwanted and unaccepted making it a loss for …show more content…
No longer were women allowed to choose the relationships they were in, instead they were arranged. Explained by aunt Lydia saying “arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, I not better…love is not the point” (p216). Within the Gilead society, it was believed love was not the point in any shape or form including friendships, seen when Offred says “we aren’t allowed to form friendships, loyalties, among one another” (p280). In order for the women to gain something from the regime these relationships needed to be maintained or enforced. Instead wives could not love their husbands the same and all women craved “that [they]…will be touched again, in love or desire” (p92), instead of only the handmaid’s being impregnated as a means to upkeep the population or Jezebels used to satisfy only men in
In the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women have failed to gain more than the life they lived before. This is a result of the regime removing their power through the elimination of rights and freedoms and relationships. Replacing it with roles women wouldn’t choose nor want and a life that failed to meet the standards the regime pledged.
The regime removed many rights and freedoms within Gilead, choosing to replace them with a multitude of restrictions instead. One of the rights removed was the power women had to be independent. The alternative was for them to now fully rely on males. Seen when …show more content…
No longer could the people of Gilead leave, outlined by Moira when she explains to Offred “they don’t want us going anywhere, you can bet on that” (p 175). Instead, women were expected to fulfil their role within society or they were detrimentally punished. Under the Gilead regime women also lost the right to freedom of speech. Shown in the quote “they used to have dolls…that would talk if you pulled the string…I thought I was sounding like that, voice of a monotone, voice of a doll” (p13). This though of Offred displays how the conversions they part took in had to be prepared, thought carefully of and appropriate for the society. This loss of both these rights and the implications of restrictions meant that the replacements for these freedoms were unwanted and unaccepted making it a loss for …show more content…
No longer were women allowed to choose the relationships they were in, instead they were arranged. Explained by aunt Lydia saying “arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, I not better…love is not the point” (p216). Within the Gilead society, it was believed love was not the point in any shape or form including friendships, seen when Offred says “we aren’t allowed to form friendships, loyalties, among one another” (p280). In order for the women to gain something from the regime these relationships needed to be maintained or enforced. Instead wives could not love their husbands the same and all women craved “that [they]…will be touched again, in love or desire” (p92), instead of only the handmaid’s being impregnated as a means to upkeep the population or Jezebels used to satisfy only men in