Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel set in a future America. In it, a woman named Offred is a Handmaid in a republic called Gilead. Offred—whose name stems of-FRED--is one of many fertile women forced to carry the children of their masters in order to make up for declining births in the years past. With her old life erased, Offred finds herself provided for with daily necessities: a conservative red habit, daily bread, and a suicide-proof room to stay in. Provided with…

“The Handmaid’s Tale”, by Margaret Atwood, is a dystopian novel concerning a woman living in the totalitarian and theocratic state of Gilead. Throughout Atwood’s novel, one is travelling alongside Offred, [a Handmaid to the Commander and Serena Joy] and is experiencing her journey as she is treated as political property. The Republic of Gilead is used by Atwood, to comment on the already existing radical feminism and religious rights trends within western society. Atwood utilises these trends…

In the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, desire is key. Throughout the novel, desire controls a majority of people and how they behave. Offred risks her life when she goes to Jezebel’s with the Commander. Offred risks her life when she sneaks off to Nick’s room every night, even though she is forbidden from doing so. Serena Joy, the Commander’s wife, risks her life when she desires a child so much that she suggests to Offred that she and Nick try to have a child together which is…

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…

There Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood. It is a dystopian novel wrote in 1985. The story is told from the point of view of Offred and switches between the present time, and the time before then with the events as to how she got into the situation she is in. The main character 's name is Offred. She is a handmaid to a wealthy family. A handmaid is a fertile woman who would provide the family she works for with children. In the beginning, Offred resists Gilead, the place where she lives. She…

The main theme of the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is about love and loss. In the novel, Offred, who is a narrator of the story, is one of Handmaids in the society of Gilead. Before she was a Handmaid, she had a little cute daughter with Luke, her husband. Offred had experienced some worst situations about losing her daughter in the past that became her nightmare forever. The first situation was when she and her husband were shopping at the supermarket, someone stoled her…

women are relegated to the roles of baby makers. This is the reality for Offred, (her new name, since her true name is never revealed) who recounts the story of her transition from a typical college girl to a Handmaid. In A Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood tells of a dystopian world through the memories of one of the lowest, yet most valuable, members of the new society. Each section of A Handmaid’s Tale is revealed to be a different cassette recording that Offred recorded sometime after her…

men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?” Mary Astell This question is one that women and men have struggled to answer through history. Do males and society view women with equal rights? In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood creates a dystopia society, which demonstrates the injustice towards women’s rights. In this challenging novel, the narrator and protagonist, Offred is a Handmaid in the “Republic of Gilead.” Handmaids are female servants, who supposedly are…

Women have been oppressed from their emotional and sexual freedom since the beginnings of time. Margaret Atwood was able to write a novel where she is showing to her audience the oppressive and rigid hierarchy of Gilead which is full of Orthodox traditions, making it a symbolism from the reality where we have been living forever. In Gilead there’s only one power, the power of repression and women have no hope that there is an opponent power that can save them from misery. Even though nowadays…

Freedom is a major theme in dystopian literature. The suppression of the human rights of the women in “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood follows the Freedoms the woman both possess, and lack in their roles as handmaids in Gilead. The speakers of the quote are Offred and aunt Lydia. Offred is the novels narrator and protagonist; the person addressed was the reader as Offred recounts her thoughts on a conversation with aunt Lydia. The passage takes place early on in the story when two…