Gilead

literature. Especially in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and George Orwell’s 1984. While Atwood writes Gilead as a society only three years in the making, Orwell’s Oceania has been in power for decades. Both are totalitarian governments with oppressive rules yet the people living in these societies have completely different thoughts and opinions on their situations. Although Gilead has a strong connection to the past, the people of Oceania are more content due to the complete disconnect…

perspective into the society in which the handmaid's live. Offred reflects on the beginning of the Gilead society, when it was first forming. She remembers that Jews were given the option to emigrate or convert, considering they were Sons of Jacob and “therefore special.” (200). She clarifies that Jews were typically hanged for solely being jewish as the Catholic was hanged for his faith. The Gilead declared that Jews were allowed to leave or convert because,in the Christian faith, Jacob’s son…

nick he is another option to get pregnant if the commander does not work out; the narrator also has a mostly bad but sometimes good relationship with Ofglen. No one in this story seems to be happy with their lives. Moira who was strongly against the Gilead eventually got broken down and became a stripper, during the historic notes the story is revealed to be recorded on taper; although never figured out the narrators outcome it is said she at least made it safely. The handmaid’s tale is a…

in life. One is to lose your heart 's desire. The other is to gain it” (Man and Superman). Within Margaret Atwood’s (1985) dystopian fiction The Handmaid’s Tale, desire is shown to be a omnipresent aspect in the theocratic military dictatorship of Gilead. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, desire can be defined as “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen” (388). Within this novel, desire is shown to be a sense of longing for past elements of…

Women in The Handmaid’s Tale Offred is, in some regard, a somewhat frail individual. There are a few cases of other ladies in the novel who have not been so influenced by the "reality or truth" of Gilead as Offred. They are determined and decided not to follow the standards of the new and improved Gilead. Offred's mother was an active member within the women's activist movement in the general public "before", she engaged in burning obscene material such as pornographic magazines and walking in…

Fertility is believed to be vital for the future in Gilead because…

Atwood’s emphasis on the act of naming illustrates the ways in which names and language create identities, as well as the challenges given to these identities. The fact that the society of Gilead names females based on their roles reveals how the act of naming coincides with how individuals identify themselves. For instance, the naming of the store ‘Milk and Honey’ as discussed above, already assumes a certain classification of people and creates a label for these individuals. Analysis of the…

sounds familiar, she surprisingly does not reside in Gilead. As a dystopian novel, “A Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood delivers the genre justice by warning it’s readers over the regressive society they could possibly live in. A few countries located in the Middle East seem to have emulated the structure of the fictitious society. On the other side of the globe, the book…

rules do. For example, Serena Joy she is the commander's wife and also high in ranks but as soon as we meet Serena Joy in the novel she breaks one of Gilead's laws by smoking which is forbidden. During the novel, it reveals that breaking the rules in Gilead will lead to serious consequences. Some get away with it but those who don’t and get caught are punished. Throughout the novel many characters are affected by different type of consequences. One of Gilead's biggest punishment is to be killed…

indoctrinating into the ideology of Gilead. The Handmaids are taken advantage of and are constantly mistreated. The Handmaids are used as for example, like an instrument; they are used beings. They are treated as objects and nothing else, there is not any emotion shown between…