The novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”, written by Margaret Atwood is a book based around Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead - a dystopian America ruled by extreme religious values. Offred’s forced to breed for couples in Gilead, and if she refuses to do so, she will be either killed or sent out to slowly die of radiation poisoning. The book ends where after breaking numerous rules, men are to take her away in a van. The reader doesn’t know if the men are there to arrest her for treason or are to take her to safety, away from Gilead.
In “The Handmaid’s Tale”, the people lose their freedom entirely. Gilead is covered in armed guards sent by the government, to make sure all law is in order. The country is strict to the point that to even …show more content…
The women of Gilead are heavily oppressed, they aren’t allowed to read or write (in order to keep women ignorant and unaware), they don’t choose who they marry and their status is highly based on their reproductive abilities. In short, Gilead is a patriarchal society. The world of Gilead parallels ours in many ways, just in much more extreme ways.
Though women can obviously read and write and women are more than just a reproductive system, there is still sexism going on everyday, thus I found this concept in the book very interesting and sad. I’ve thrown away childhood dreams such as being a director or an astronaut because I’ve been told “those jobs are for boys”. I’ve left the house feeling the eyes of every male as I’d pass them, clutching onto my phone reading to call the police. I grew up in primary school environments where teachers would request “4 strong boys” to help carry something across the school, only to deny any girls offering.
A character I really liked, could relate to and taught me a lot was Offred’s mother who was a feminist. Back when Gilead as the USA, her mother would march for women’s rights, including topics such as abortion rights and the banning of pornography, and would criticise Offred whenever she’d seem complacent with her
In “The Handmaid’s Tale”, the people lose their freedom entirely. Gilead is covered in armed guards sent by the government, to make sure all law is in order. The country is strict to the point that to even …show more content…
The women of Gilead are heavily oppressed, they aren’t allowed to read or write (in order to keep women ignorant and unaware), they don’t choose who they marry and their status is highly based on their reproductive abilities. In short, Gilead is a patriarchal society. The world of Gilead parallels ours in many ways, just in much more extreme ways.
Though women can obviously read and write and women are more than just a reproductive system, there is still sexism going on everyday, thus I found this concept in the book very interesting and sad. I’ve thrown away childhood dreams such as being a director or an astronaut because I’ve been told “those jobs are for boys”. I’ve left the house feeling the eyes of every male as I’d pass them, clutching onto my phone reading to call the police. I grew up in primary school environments where teachers would request “4 strong boys” to help carry something across the school, only to deny any girls offering.
A character I really liked, could relate to and taught me a lot was Offred’s mother who was a feminist. Back when Gilead as the USA, her mother would march for women’s rights, including topics such as abortion rights and the banning of pornography, and would criticise Offred whenever she’d seem complacent with her