The Symbols Of Oppression In The Handmaid's Tale

The Symbols of Oppression in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine living in a world where a free society is forced to undergo a radical change towards an unequal treatment of the sexes and an adoption of a radical religion. The transition of this change would be nearly flawless, it would lead to the resocialization of the social classes and enforce new gender roles, but it would also infringe on the natural rights of women. For some, this would be hard to imagine, but in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale it is a reality and Offred, a handmaid, lives in this society. The Handmaid’s Tale demonstrates the in struggles of women in an oppressive society. This can be seen through the application of symbolic interactionism in the novel. This representation of …show more content…
The government wants to make sure their hierarchy works, so in order to make that work, they must resocialize the people. This can be brutal for some, especially the handmaids. During her stay at the education facility, Offred witnesses Janine, another handmaid, admitting that she was gang-raped when she was fourteen and had an abortion. For this crime, the aunts had the others punish her by telling her that it was her fault until she eventually believed it herself (Atwood 1986:71). Women that are able to give birth are chosen to become handmaids. They are sent to a facility where they are taught to give in to Gileadean society, this would be done by attempting to brainwash the women. Going to this facility forces the women to protect themselves for their own survival and breaks them down, this process is similar to basic training for the military. It makes the handmaids easier to control and teaches them the ways of understanding how society works. This concept can be backed by Social Interaction because it states that, “once we learn symbols we are in the position of understanding our environment rather than simply responding to it, and once that happens what we come to see and act on is colored by our symbols” (Charon 2007:60). Going through this environment is necessary for transitioning into the Gileadean society. It teaches the handmaids the way they are to dress and …show more content…
Serena Joy is a character in The Handmaid’s Tale, she is the Commander’s wife and was a former academic and feminist. She is given more freedom than other women, yet she is still chained by the laws of Gilead because she is a woman. In episode 6, the viewer experiences part of Serena Joy’s life through her eyes. She was an author and domestic feminist before the rise of Gilead, she wrote a book and preached about how women belong in the home. When Ms. Castillo asks her, “back then, did you ever imagine a society like this, a society in which women can no longer read your book, or anything else?” She responds with, “no, I didn’t” (Sigismondi 2017). Serena gave up most her rights for Gilead and did not believe that it would affect her the way it has been. Her identity has changed radically from the beginning of Gilead to its current state. She was no longer able to access books, write books, and speak her mind. These things that she enjoys have been taken away and removing them symbolize a withdrawal of knowledge from women, the beginning of norm that could potentially continue in Gilead. She went from using her voice to empower the Gileadean movement and now Gilead denies her voice to help. This leaves her broken and makes her suffer through the atrocities that she helped