Arthur C. Clarke Award

Margaret Attwood uses her gift for fictional writing to explore the powerful theme of control. She does this through the medium of The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), which won the Governor-General’s award in 1985, and the first Arthur C. Clarke award in 1987. The dystopian novel portrays a current day North America being occupied by the religious extremists the Sons of Jacob. The religious leaders that are aiming to enact its idea of a perfect world heavily control the dystopia’s population. Attwood showed the levels of this control through the techniques symbolism, setting, and language. Attwood using these techniques has shown how control is utilised on the population and relates to how in our own world control is attained. The control of the…

Offred is a slave, she is a slave to an internal war within herself and an outside war that she has no control over. Offred is a handmaid. During a time of war her family and her were separated and she was given a choice. She could either choose to go to the colonies and clean up nuclear waste, or she could be a handmaid and give her body up for the wars purpose. The purpose of being a handmaid is to be an instrument, to bare children for the commanders and their wives. Offred only wants to find…

Introduction The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and The Bath by Janet Frame both show the extraordinary loss of freedom humans can suffer in their lives. These talented writers have portrayed this theme through skilful use of characterisation, setting and imagery. In dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, antagonist Offred is stripped of her freedom by a theocracy. This government demand single women to be surrogates for rich, barren couples. In the short story, The Bath by Janet Frame, a…

Altruism’s Gifts of Nature Have you ever gone out of your way to help somebody in need, or maybe even done something for somebody just because you know it will make them happy? If you have, then you could relate to the word “altruism”. Altruism is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well being of others. In the article “Of Altruism, Heroism and Evolutions Gifts” the author Natalie Angier describes altruism by using examples of not only human beings but also…

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Don’t let the bastards grind you down”(Atwood 223). The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a dystopian literature novel that is viewed as a cautionary tale which forewarned the oppression of women in a society known as The Republic of Gilead. The story unfolds through the narration of the protagonist, Offred, who is a Handmaid in this totalitarian society. Her character is dehumanized by others in this society while also being taught that a fertile woman’s…

The handmaid is an excellent book to read, in my opinion this book should remain on the high school curriculum because in the book they teach you the way women’s live during the war, the conduction that women’s had to go through and the impact on the women. In the book the author takes bunch of characters and talk about them. They are not any random characters, these are the characters the story revolves around. These are the people that brought change in the book. They are the one that push…

In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the language established in Gilead promotes conformity. This language utilizes biblical and neologism appeals to get their citizens to conform and follow the new regulations. To begin with, the novel is littered with biblical names and phrases: “Jezebel”, “Martha”, “Milk and Honey”, “All Flesh”, “Lilies” and many more. All of these appellations come from the bible and are used to name the shops that the handmaid’s daily shop at, the housemaids, and the…

Margaret Atwood emphasises through her novel possible negative outcomes that may occur when an individual or society continuously live negligent lives in the twenty first century. This may include negligence of the environment, physical health, and toxic chemical usage. She uses narrative construction in The Handmaids Tale to depict one of the many grotesque situations which may arise in the upcoming future; a formation of a totalitarian theocratic society which controls political, social, and…

Jannelly Figueroa Mr. Sieker 1520-2150 20 March, 2016 Religion, Colonialism, Modernism, and Feminism in a Dystopian Society In the book, A Handmaid’s Tale, the author, Margaret Atwood, shows what a dystopian society consisting of very distinct classes is like through the eyes of a handmaid named Offred. Little by little, readers are informed on what has occurred in this state, how an act of rebellion led the breakdown of a whole nation, and to what extremes the whole formation of the society…

Set after the collapse of the United States, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood tells the tale of a woman named Offred living in a totalitarian government. The Republic of Gilead dictates roles based on one’s sex organs and their viability, such as the Commander, Eye, and Handmaid. Through the narration of the Offred, the reader notices that the relationship she forges with the Commander emphasizes her strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing the bond the main character has with the foil,…