Free Essays on The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale is about human relations, presented in a deliberate amplification of women’s lack of rights and equality in a futuristic world. The city of Gilead is the last of what once was the United States, the city is a psuto religious based society they has manipulated the writings of the Old Testament. In this story we are presented with a woman who once lived a normal life with a husband and son who worked and enjoyed the freedoms of life. The life she once knew she was forced to abandon, her life now lacks the freedom and the power to make her own decisions and is forced to live according to the standards of this dysutopian society. She, like many other women in this tale abandoned freedom and are told that they have attained security and safety. She lives as a handmaid, a name given to her to distinguish her class in the society. As a handmaid she lives a repressed life, she is unhappy and is slowly being manipulated and programmed to accept her life an d fait ! as a handmaid. The story is about a society divided into classes. There is the upper class, the elite, they have money, power and prestige but their wives re infertile. There are the handmaids that are fertile women who are forced to be surrogate mothers and bear children for the elite; they are placed in a household for the sole purpose of bearing children to these barren couples. They are given few privileges, they are not allowed to drink, smoke, read. They are distinguishable in public; the dresses they wear classify them. They are red and when in public they are forced to wear white wings that cover their face so their face cannot be seen, a red dress with full-length sleeves that hangs down to ankle-length, wear red shoes and gloves. They are the shoppers of the household, only in pairs, they go out of the property, but they never leave the careful watching eye. Any actions that are unacceptable can result in death, they are careful not to break the ... Free Essays on The Handmaid’s Tale Free Essays on The Handmaid’s Tale The Handmaid’s Tale is about human relations, presented in a deliberate amplification of women’s lack of rights and equality in a futuristic world. The city of Gilead is the last of what once was the United States, the city is a psuto religious based society they has manipulated the writings of the Old Testament. In this story we are presented with a woman who once lived a normal life with a husband and son who worked and enjoyed the freedoms of life. The life she once knew she was forced to abandon, her life now lacks the freedom and the power to make her own decisions and is forced to live according to the standards of this dysutopian society. She, like many other women in this tale abandoned freedom and are told that they have attained security and safety. She lives as a handmaid, a name given to her to distinguish her class in the society. As a handmaid she lives a repressed life, she is unhappy and is slowly being manipulated and programmed to accept her life an d fait ! as a handmaid. The story is about a society divided into classes. There is the upper class, the elite, they have money, power and prestige but their wives re infertile. There are the handmaids that are fertile women who are forced to be surrogate mothers and bear children for the elite; they are placed in a household for the sole purpose of bearing children to these barren couples. They are given few privileges, they are not allowed to drink, smoke, read. They are distinguishable in public; the dresses they wear classify them. They are red and when in public they are forced to wear white wings that cover their face so their face cannot be seen, a red dress with full-length sleeves that hangs down to ankle-length, wear red shoes and gloves. They are the shoppers of the household, only in pairs, they go out of the property, but they never leave the careful watching eye. Any actions that are unacceptable can result in death, they are careful not to break the ... Free Essays on The Handmaid’s Tale Depicting The Male Objectification And Sexual Control Of Women, The Handmaid’s Tale Exposes The Horror Of Woman’s Consent To Femininity. Discuss. The woman They did not kill Instead they sewed her face Shut, closed her mouth To a hole the size of a straw And put her on the streets A mute symbol- Notes, Margaret Atwood 1939 Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, depicts a patriarchal world where women are passive entities. Their function in society is defined by their marital history, ability to procreate and ultimately, their willingness to accept their fall from freedom. Those who do not comply with this definition are deemed undesirable and banished from society. In the novel, Offred remembers her life prior to Gilead and poignant figures within it such as her mother an active feminist. Once Gilead had begun to form Offred chose to escape her responsibility to family tradition and became an observer. Instead of joining the fight against what was to be, she waited to see the outcome and â€Å"lived as usual by ignoring†. Yet the fact that she admits â€Å"ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it† (1) suggests Offred knowingly consented, along with others to become â€Å"falling women† (2). As a result of this submission, Offred’s society is faced with the complete loss of freedom. Before Gilead, Offred chose not to speak, in Gilead communication was prohibited and she would â€Å"long for it†¦any exchange of sorts.† (3). Apart from being stripped of their language, the women of Gilead are stripped of their possessions families and, as Offred has â€Å"another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden† (4), finally their identities. These women are all replaceable categorised objects. They are forced to comply with social expectations where â€Å"hair must be long but covered† (5) and named in relation to men. A commander’s wife would simply be called a â€Å"wife†, but more signi...