These articles cited above were written before the television show was even a thought and before The Handmaid’s Tale was extremely relevant to what is happening in today’s world. In an interview by TIME magazine with Margaret Atwood and Elisabeth Moss, the actress of Offred in the television show, talk a little about what the book and television show’s ideals really mean with today’s society. The interview starts with TIME asking why the show now? Atwood responds with, “The control of women and babies has been a part of every repressive regime in history…” (TIME) which is true, women and children are said to be the weakest links in society and the easiest to manipulate, like in the novel, how women are suppressed and cannot possess any power.
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At the same time, you’re going to force women to have babies by making it so they can’t get abortions… If you’re going to take away women’s choice and not give them an adequate wage or healthcare, what would you call that? I’d call it a bad deal” (TIME). This statement she makes embodies one of the main ideas presented in The Handmaid’s Tale, in which women’s rights are stripped down to nothing and are only used for procreation, in Gilead they do have doctors, but they must follow the theocracy’s rules against abortions. If a doctor or even a scientist is guilty of talking about or, god forbid, preforming abortions they are hung in “Men’s Salvagings”, in which they are hung and showcased for the entire area to see. Offred was witness to the aftermath of one where there were six bodies hanging with white bags covering their faces and, “Each has a placard hung around his neck to show why he has been executed, a drawing of a human fetus. They were doctors…” (Atwood 32). Within that quote from the interview, Atwood compares making women have babies with no opportunity for an abortion is like being drafted into the army and being forced to fight, but at least in the army you get three meals a day and somewhere to sleep, not left out on the street (TIME). If the government wants to try to …show more content…
Her main topic of the limitation on women’s rights is what took the most effect on me, as a reader of The Handmaid’s Tale. The way Atwood uses Offred makes the biggest impact on the story line because for one, Offred is the main character, who we get to know intimately and two, readers are viewing and learning about this society, Gilead which sounds miserable for any women, even the Commander’s wives, who have the most power over other women. Since the handmaids were specifically reduced to procreation only, they were not allowed to have any say about anything or even form intimate relationships with others which is vital for human beings. The authors of the two articles mentioned above, Amin Malak and Wendy
At the same time, you’re going to force women to have babies by making it so they can’t get abortions… If you’re going to take away women’s choice and not give them an adequate wage or healthcare, what would you call that? I’d call it a bad deal” (TIME). This statement she makes embodies one of the main ideas presented in The Handmaid’s Tale, in which women’s rights are stripped down to nothing and are only used for procreation, in Gilead they do have doctors, but they must follow the theocracy’s rules against abortions. If a doctor or even a scientist is guilty of talking about or, god forbid, preforming abortions they are hung in “Men’s Salvagings”, in which they are hung and showcased for the entire area to see. Offred was witness to the aftermath of one where there were six bodies hanging with white bags covering their faces and, “Each has a placard hung around his neck to show why he has been executed, a drawing of a human fetus. They were doctors…” (Atwood 32). Within that quote from the interview, Atwood compares making women have babies with no opportunity for an abortion is like being drafted into the army and being forced to fight, but at least in the army you get three meals a day and somewhere to sleep, not left out on the street (TIME). If the government wants to try to …show more content…
Her main topic of the limitation on women’s rights is what took the most effect on me, as a reader of The Handmaid’s Tale. The way Atwood uses Offred makes the biggest impact on the story line because for one, Offred is the main character, who we get to know intimately and two, readers are viewing and learning about this society, Gilead which sounds miserable for any women, even the Commander’s wives, who have the most power over other women. Since the handmaids were specifically reduced to procreation only, they were not allowed to have any say about anything or even form intimate relationships with others which is vital for human beings. The authors of the two articles mentioned above, Amin Malak and Wendy