Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

Improved Essays
Show More
Rebellion in The Handmaids Tale In the past, women have been persecuted to a point where they were treated in a completely different way. They were in a world that seemed to be a dark place with no hope, dreams, or sense of relief. Now, women have been given their natural rights, and they are now able to do everything males can do. Whereas, In the new society of Gilead, it is known that freedom is taken away from women. The Republic of Gilead is an autocratic society, especially for women. Women in the novel are stripped of their freedom, even when men are allowed to keep at least a portion of it. This novel is one that shows inequality towards women. Also, in Gilead, re-population results in women being objectified and valued for their reproductive …show more content…
The government has a law that each handmaids has to have another handmaid with her. Handmaids are bound to choose their commander or shopping partner. When Offred is receives her new shopping partner, Ofglen, she talks about how the Handmaids are not “allowed to go to [central town] except in twos” and believes that the “notion is absurd.” When in reality, Ofglen “is [her] spy, as [she] is hers” (Atwood, 19). They do not have the right to choose what they want to do therefore, giving them the audacity to …show more content…
As a result, even though women’s rights have barely progressed, it is inevitable that in the near future women will realize their potential of how much they are worth due to the fact that they are able to produce children and how strong they can be if they all unite together. As a result, men will no longer be in charge of women, but rather women be their own independent

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Handmaid's Tale Summary
    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Handmaid's Tale Summary

    1.The king administered justice by turning his imaginations into facts. He made his decisions by himself without getting input from no one but himself. He built a public arena. One of the purpose of the arena was to widen and develop the mental energies of the people. Such as having two doors with a vicious tiger behind one and a beautiful lady behind the other.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Examples Of Unorthodox In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Examples Of Unorthodox In The Handmaid's Tale

    Unorthodoxy In The Handmaid’s Tale In a world where everything is in order, individuality will not go unnoticed. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is set in a totalitarian theocracy called the Republic of Gilead. The main character and narrator, Offred, presents her story as an audio diary, which is transcribed into book form by Professor Pieixoto. Offred tells of her life before Gilead, when she has a steady job and a loving family; during the revolution, when she loses her job, money, and family; and under the control of Gilead, when she becomes a Handmaid whose sole purpose is to have babies in a world where fertility rates are extremely low.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Handmaid's Tale Analysis
    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Handmaid's Tale Analysis

    The Handmaid’s tale is a feminist science fiction novel by a Canadian, and feminist writer Margaret Atwood. The story depicts psychological and physical struggle of a woman named Offred due to suppression of women by men in her society. Thus, the title Handmaid’s tale is representative of the life of Offred, the Handmaid or a female servant. This novel vividly portrays the cruelty of biological and social categorization. Handmaid’s tale takes place in a futuristic fictional society where revolutionists have wiped out the United States of America and a new totalitarian society called Republic of Gilead is established.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Handmaid's Tale
    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Handmaid's Tale

    This extremist attitude is channelled by the 1980s context of declining birth rates, reductions in fertility levels and increasing use of contraceptives that gave rise to these concerns. The sexual exploitation of women is perpetuated and substantiated by the government of Gilead through supposed theological validation, “Give me children or else I die,”(Genesis 30:1-3). This biblical reference allegorises the importance of childbirth and conception, thereby justifying the philosophies upon which Gilead is founded. Here Atwood draws parallels between Gilead and the dictatorship President Ceausescu under whom birth control and abortion became illegal, prophesising the possible reality of her novel. In addition handmaids are denied the right to their real name, forsaking their identity and highlighting their subservience to their Commanders.…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Propaganda In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Theme Of Propaganda In The Handmaid's Tale

    Women in today’s society have made leaps and bounds to becoming men’s equals, but what if in the future all the progress women have made was reversed in an instant? What if women were no longer able to hold money, hold a job, or make the most basic decisions for themselves? Their only job is to bear children and listen to the orders from men because men are the superior gender. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Republic of Gilead exercises total control over its people, women in particular, by the use of religion as the basis for their society and the use of propaganda to restrict the citizens.…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood
    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

    The loss of identity is prevalent amongst the Handmaids when they have to endure the struggle of control with wearing the same red uniformed dress, not showing their faces. Once the women convert to the now freedom less and strict life of being a Handmaid, their name is changed to only one name beginning with “of” from their given birth name. Offred and Ofglen have these names which are used as slave name for their function. Offred’s name is means “of Fred” which meaning that she belongs to her Commander whose name is Fred. This society on the way women are treated and the way they choose to dress is like a flashback to a past era of time, the 1800s.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism In 'The Handmaid's Tale'
    • 122 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Feminism In 'The Handmaid's Tale'

    The Handmaid’s Tale is an eye-opening tale as horrifying and real as they come. It explores ideas of feminism, the power of literacy, and the connection between sex and politics. Offred is a prime example of an ordinary woman being placed into an extraordinary situation. Offred faces enmity and oppression from other women and the society of Gilead itself while being coddled and engaged by the very men she should be distant from. She grapples with herself and her decisions while trying to hold on to her sense of self and person.…

    • 122 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale, By Margaret Atwood
    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale, By Margaret Atwood

    The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a dystopian novel narrated by a handmaid named Offred who’s one purpose in life is to conceive children. Atwood is known for including bits of feminism in her work, but The Handmaid’s Tale takes things to the extreme. Feminism is an ideology that promotes the equality of both men and women, and it has been an issue for centuries. In Canada, women did not get the right to vote until the early 1920’s and women were not accepted into the workforce until the late 1950’s (Statcan). The Handmaid’s Tale represents feminism in an antifeminist environment through male supremacy, restrictions on women, and point of view.…

    • 1675 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Importance Of Education In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Importance Of Education In The Handmaid's Tale

    Education is the cornerstone of advancement and success. In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the women of Gilead are not allowed to receive an education. The regime does not allow the women to read and write because it makes them more dangerous and more likely to rebel. The lack of education gives men extra power over the women as they can feed the women information without the women having the opportunity to verify it for themselves. This practice is much like the works of the Catholic church leading up to the Protestant Reformation; as the Bible was only printed in latin, a language that the common people could neither read or understand.…

    • 857 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Handmaid's Tales Analysis
    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Handmaid's Tales Analysis

    “Culture is so influenced by its dominant religions that whether a writer adheres to the beliefs or not, the values and principles of those religions will inevitably inform the literary work.” (Thomas C. Foster, How To Read Literature Like A Professor) Thus, the traits of characters from the dominant religion’s stories appear in literacy across the globe. One figure that often appears in literature is a symbolic Christ, because the world resides in a Christian dominated culture. There are distinctive qualities that make a character the symbolic Christ of a story, such as forgiveness and being tempted by the devil.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Censorship In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Censorship In The Handmaid's Tale

    ‘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.…

    • 1058 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Role Of Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Role Of Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale

    In the story The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the United States has fallen apart. It is now the Republic of Gilead and women have lost everything. They are stripped of their money, freedoms like being able to read, family, and they can no longer work. Fertility rates have decreased, and women are blamed for it. Women who are fertile are taken to the Red Center, where they are trained on how to be a handmaid.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Social Issues In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Social Issues In The Handmaid's Tale

    The Handmaid’s Tale is a unique novel that raises awareness of society’s problems after the political uprising of Gilead and the new strict regime. The book portrays a life of a handmaid named Offred and the struggles that she goes through in her daily life. Since all women in Gilead are categorized into groups, varying from Unwomen to Wives; Offred has to serve the role of a Handmaid, which requires her to get inseminated by her husband. Handmaids have to recognize their husbands’ authority and have very little rights.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    Reproductive Rights In The Handmaid's Tale
    • 1930 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Reproductive Rights In The Handmaid's Tale

    In the real world, we face many difficulties, yet we haven’t come to this extreme, at least not in my lifetime. This story serves as a warning to perhaps prevent the dangers of what could happen if our society denies women some of their fundamental rights, such as their reproductive rights. Refusing to give them these rights would take away their dignity and part of their identity because their bodies are only seen as political instruments. Things could get way out of control and without realizing it we could end up in a society where males have all the power and women are nothing but child-bearers like in The Handmaid’s Tale. In the fictional story, not only do men possess all the power with different categories (commanders, military men and spies/police also known as the eyes) but women are watched and controlled at all times.…

    • 1930 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    The Handmaids Tale Feminist Analysis
    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Handmaids Tale Feminist Analysis

    Feminist Theory within The Handmaid’s Tale Feminist criticism is a literary approach that seeks to distinguish the female human experience from the male human experience. Feminist critics draw attention to the ways in which patriarchal social structures purloined women while male authors have capitalized women in their portrayal of them. Feminism and feminist criticism did not gain recognition until the late 1960’s and 1970’s(maybe add citation here of where you found this info). Instead is was a reestablishment of old traditions of action and thought already consisting its classic books which distinguished the problem of women’s inequality in society. In the 1970’s, The Second Wave of Feminism occurred known as Gynocriticism, which was pioneered…

    • 1845 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings