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The Role Of Sexism In The Handmaid's Tale

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Dystopian novels can depict a society that conveys one’s fears, or what could potentially happen in the future. Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale, shows a world where women are degraded and stripped of their freedom. The work of literature portrays many themes as the protagonist, Offred, travels through the dystopia. She learns to stay silent and follow every command given to her. Atwood takes her readers through the fundamentalist views of Gilead and the misogynistic views of the society.
In the near future, the author hints that the social course humans follow may lead to unwanted effects. Sexism becomes normal and women are forced into different groups of status. The wives, handmaids, marthas, aunts, and so on, all complete different roles placed upon them. Offred, along with all the other handmaids, become surrogate mothers for the wives. They look back at the life they had before and consider the freedom they had as a blessing. Now the handmaid's only receive one hour each day to leave the house for a walk.
Offred is not a very strong main character. She doesn’t show a lot of rebellion towards the Republic of Gilead, and seems indifferent towards her life being completely manipulated. Although she dislikes the life she is forced to live in and talks about the …show more content…
She is defiant, independent, and makes all the other handmaids “dizzy”. She attempts and succeeds to escape, showing the fight women are putting forth for their freedom. When the fate of Moira is revealed in Atwood’s thought-provoking prose, a sense of desolation is felt. Moira finally loses her sense of rebellion and seems completely unconcerned with Gilead and her freedom. Her capturing almost symbols an end to the fight, which is only gained back towards the end of the book. She is the anomaly among the other handmaids because of her different resistive

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