Satire is used in literature to criticize and point out society’s flaws. The criticism is usually masked in humour. Irony is commonly used in satires to expose flaws, an effective example is John Smith’s A Modest Proposal, in this essay he effectively uses irony, to communicate his argument about the poverty in Ireland. Similarly, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale she criticizes the society that women live in. Atwood uses satire to display the oppression of women in political, religious and social aspects through the use of allusions to the Cultural Revolution, Salem Witch Trials, the Taliban and the Old Testament. Atwood parallels the Cultural Revolution in China to show how the Gilead government gains power and control over the United
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She focuses on how women get blamed for being raped by men, but when women start blaming each other it is seen as cruel. We see this when, “Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion” (Atwood 82) and “Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison.” (Atwood 82). This shows how Gilead controls the women since they all mock Janine thus there is a lack of unity between them, which is a common technique Gilead uses to conquer and divide the women. Offred compares the time when women were fighting for abortion rights from pre-Gilead society to the Gilead society. Offred remembers a video she saw at the Red Centre, “Do you believe A Woman's Place is on the Kitchen Table? Under the last sign there’s a line drawing of a woman’s body, lying on a table, blood dripping out of it.” (Atwood 138). If women were fighting for a pro-choice attitude in a pre-Gilead society this shows that things went back to traditional values when Gilead came into power proving history to repeat …show more content…
Atwood parallels the events in her novel to events that have occurred in the past and warns of them occurring again due to religious propaganda. Atwood connects the political events to show how Gilead gained control and keeps their control by establishing fear in women. Gilead stays in control by limiting speech to religious references and keeping the women from talking about the oppression they are suffering. Additionally, women are blamed for the social issues that were present in a pre-Gilead society such as rape, abortion and adultery. Women get the blame for the issues and men do not suffer consequences since they believe it is in their nature to cheat. Therefore, Atwood uses allusions to the Old Testament and historical events to satirize the oppression of women in political, religious and social
She focuses on how women get blamed for being raped by men, but when women start blaming each other it is seen as cruel. We see this when, “Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion” (Atwood 82) and “Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison.” (Atwood 82). This shows how Gilead controls the women since they all mock Janine thus there is a lack of unity between them, which is a common technique Gilead uses to conquer and divide the women. Offred compares the time when women were fighting for abortion rights from pre-Gilead society to the Gilead society. Offred remembers a video she saw at the Red Centre, “Do you believe A Woman's Place is on the Kitchen Table? Under the last sign there’s a line drawing of a woman’s body, lying on a table, blood dripping out of it.” (Atwood 138). If women were fighting for a pro-choice attitude in a pre-Gilead society this shows that things went back to traditional values when Gilead came into power proving history to repeat …show more content…
Atwood parallels the events in her novel to events that have occurred in the past and warns of them occurring again due to religious propaganda. Atwood connects the political events to show how Gilead gained control and keeps their control by establishing fear in women. Gilead stays in control by limiting speech to religious references and keeping the women from talking about the oppression they are suffering. Additionally, women are blamed for the social issues that were present in a pre-Gilead society such as rape, abortion and adultery. Women get the blame for the issues and men do not suffer consequences since they believe it is in their nature to cheat. Therefore, Atwood uses allusions to the Old Testament and historical events to satirize the oppression of women in political, religious and social