In any lie, there is an element of truth. This rings true in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Her writing portrays a futuristic world that seems complete fiction at first, but when further examined shows a much more plausible world. Atwood utilizes the events of the past such as feminism, censorship, slavery, religion, and many other events to create the fictional world of Gilead that could easily become real life if allowed. On a first read, the story is entirely fictional. How could America ever become that type of society? The government would never allow something of that degree to occur. However, it does in the novel. How? “It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared
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In The Handmaid’s Tale it is referred to as the Underground Femaleroad rather than Railroad. The women in Gilead are denied rights just as black slaves were back in the 1700 and 1800’s. Just as in The Handmaid’s Tale, houses along the Railroad knew of only the house before them and the house after them. Moira first describes the Femaleroad to Offred when they meet at Jezebels. “Each one of them was in contact with only one other one, always the next one along. There were advantages to that – it was better if you were caught – but disadvantages too, because if one station got busted the entire chain backed up until they could make contact with one of their couriers, who could set up an alternate route” (Atwood 246). This system allowed for new paths to be formed and old ones to easily be forgotten should they need to be. Another similarity to the two roads is the fact that Quakers play a key role in the execution. Just as the true Underground Railroad had assistance from the Quakers the Underground Femaleroad is described as having such assistance. “Q, it said, which meant Quaker… The other house was Quakers too…” (Atwood 245-6). Both of these roads served the same purpose. They carried women, children and slaves to freedom and safety in the North. They also gave courage and hope to all those that traveled on them, that there was a light ahead, a light at the end of the
In The Handmaid’s Tale it is referred to as the Underground Femaleroad rather than Railroad. The women in Gilead are denied rights just as black slaves were back in the 1700 and 1800’s. Just as in The Handmaid’s Tale, houses along the Railroad knew of only the house before them and the house after them. Moira first describes the Femaleroad to Offred when they meet at Jezebels. “Each one of them was in contact with only one other one, always the next one along. There were advantages to that – it was better if you were caught – but disadvantages too, because if one station got busted the entire chain backed up until they could make contact with one of their couriers, who could set up an alternate route” (Atwood 246). This system allowed for new paths to be formed and old ones to easily be forgotten should they need to be. Another similarity to the two roads is the fact that Quakers play a key role in the execution. Just as the true Underground Railroad had assistance from the Quakers the Underground Femaleroad is described as having such assistance. “Q, it said, which meant Quaker… The other house was Quakers too…” (Atwood 245-6). Both of these roads served the same purpose. They carried women, children and slaves to freedom and safety in the North. They also gave courage and hope to all those that traveled on them, that there was a light ahead, a light at the end of the