Both the novels '1984' and 'The Handmaids Tale' provide warnings of how each author sees certain problems in society leading to dystopian states. Dystopian genres exist in both novels, but arise for different reasons. Resulting from Atwood's concerns about political groups and aspects of feminism; 'The Handmaids Tale' illustrates how declining birth rates could lead to a state where women are forced into bearing children. In contrast, '1984' depicts a terror state where poverty is rife and tyrannical leaders force citizens to live by their rules. Although both novels share such themes as surveillance, deprivation and loss of identity, they describe two very different dystopian worlds, often by using identical literary techniques but also differing ones.…
Where would we be in a world without education? All three books, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler demonstrate a world in collapse and the importance of education. In Fahrenheit 451, while there seemed to be progression, because of a lack of literature and artistic intelligence, the world was theoretically falling apart whether its inhabitants realized it or not. In The Handmaid’s Tale, as a result of a world crumpling, the right to read was exterminated for women. And lastly, in Parable of the Sower, education was important in a country that was deteriorated and it came to serve as the only source of hope. These novels conclusively demonstrate how important knowledge is similarly through different stories.…
Author Margaret Atwood’s writing has been shaped by one particular movement- the push for women’s rights in the 1960s and 1970s. When Atwood was a college student, “a woman was expected to follow one path: to marry in her early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking” (“The 1960s-70s”). Employers assumed that the females who did work would soon become pregnant, so ladies were unlikely to advance in their careers. What money they did earn was controlled by their husbands, or their male wardens, as females are legally subject to them. With the development of the birth control pill a few years later, women could now chase professional careers and “the double standard that allowed premarital sex for men but prohibited…
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood depicts a dystopian society where the United States has been taken over by a monotheocracy and transformed into the country of Gilead. The majority of the woman in this society have been split into three basic categories: Wives, Marthas, and Handmaids. There are also Econowives, Aunts, and Unwomen. The main character, Offred, is a Handmaid. The Handmaids’ sole purpose in this society is to provide babies for powerful households where the wives are deemed infertile. Throughout the novel a struggle can be sensed between most of the women. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood demonstrates the way that oppressors will use tension between minoritized groups to distract from their oppression.…
Society can both be really great and progress forward, but at times society can turn for the worst and progress backwards. In Margaret Atwood’s Fictional book the Handmaid’s Tale. The main character Offred in the Republic of Gilead as a handmaid. In the book the purpose of a handmaid is to reproduce and bear children for older, wealthier men whose wives cannot have children. In addition to being a handmaid Offred and all the women of Gilead are not allowed to read, write, not own money, or dress immodest, men however have more power being able to read, write and are able to have their own money.…
Feminism has always been an incredibly relevant issue in all societies and is still no exception in today’s day and age. One of the most highly acclaimed writers of today that tackles the plaguing issue of feminism and the unfortunate belittling of women is Margaret Atwood. Among her many successful novels, poems, and other works, her masterpiece of a novel The Handmaid’s Tale emphasizes the dangers of downplaying women and their roles in society. Set in a future dystopian society, Atwood’s novel is best understood and interpreted from a critical feminist viewpoint; if the reader adapts this perspective, the novel comes to life and its message to protect women’s rights is unmistakable.…
State control is central to both ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘1984’ for they present totalitarian societies, whose politics is to impose control on the individuals of which they are comprised. Both authors express their concerns for these societies, run by extreme dictators, and how they dehumanise individuals by depriving them of essential freedoms. They are both tales of warning which unfold as the novels progress. Orwell and Atwood introduce the reader to protagonists who have been stripped of their freedom and basic human rights and immediately bring the reader directly into a setting where there is clear evidence of control. The novels present explorations of what freedom means by showing what control does to the protagonists. There are many forms of control but in my opinion, the most significant in both novels are physical, linguistic and sexual.…
Offred lived a normal, American life when all of the sudden, her family was taken from her so she could go have somebody else’s baby. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a woman’s tale of her life, her story, and her struggles in a new society and how she got there. This story by Margaret Atwood tells the life of Offred, a handmaid for a wealthy couple and her daily struggles trying to adapt to her new world. Offred tells how she makes deals with her Commander and his Wife with hope of getting out and how that changes her life. The progress in this book is not as one would probably describe progress, but it is as follows: the government and society had to make major changes in order to bring about the new system and laws, Gilead is thinking of and executing ways to raise the birthrate in their country, and handmaids and women in general are protected at all costs.…
The government in Huxley's Brave New World and Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, both use different methods of obtaining control over people, but are both similar in the fact that These novels prove that there is no freedom in dystrophic societies when the government controls everything including individuality in order to keep their societies the way they want it to be.In both societies the individuals have very little and are controlled strictly by the government. In Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World, Dystopia is shown in each of the novels through issues of conflict demonstrating the authority over knowledge, class systems, and the transformation from repulsion to normalcy in their societies.…
Throughout history there have been various periods, some brief and some extended, that had they not occurred would have changed the course of history and affected how we live today. During each period of history, there are those few great leaders who charted our history and were crucial to the success of our country as a whole. The civil rights movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was an important time in American history. Within the civil rights movement three of the most prominent African American men were prompted to attempt to solve the problem of racial inequality. Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. DuBois, all approached the problem of racial inequality differently. Although each one approached the fight for…
Both the protagonist’s in ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘1984’ change and compromise because of the dystopian societies they live in. At first, Winston’s apparent distaste for the oppressive regime might lead you to believe he does not change his mind-set in response to his dystopian surroundings and that he is rebelling quietly against the system. “This he thought with a sort of vague distaste – this was London”. But this is not entirely the case; he is actually shown to have become fairly institutionalised. He has clearly adjusted to the system as his distaste is “vague” which show even though he knows what has happened is wrong but he can no longer quite put his finger on why or how it happened. An inevitably when you take into account his job, at the Ministry of Truth, is to rewrite the past to suit the party. The fact that he feels the need to quietly inwardly rebel against the absolute and strictly obeyed totalitarianism that dictates the way he lives his life shows how much his life, character and rebellious attitude has been shaped by the very structure in which he looks to secretly work against. He even struggles to revisit his childhood and cannot remember whether London had always been the same grimy landscape that is now become. “But it was no use, he could not remember: nothing remained of his childhood except a series of bright-lit tableaux, occurring against no background and mostly unintelligible”. It’s as if he is losing grasp of the life that came before the dictatorial system.…
Within the totalitarian society created by Margaret Atwood in the Handmaid’s Tale, there are many people and regimes centred around and reliant on the manipulation of power. The laws that are in place in the republic of Gilead are designed and implemented so as to control and restrict the rights and freedom of its inhabitants.…
The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 are similar in that they share a “subversion of authority” motif. In both novels, characters continuously rebel against the States that they are subject to, regardless of the consequences of their actions. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred subverts the authority of the State by having an affair with Luke before she was married to him. Serena Joy also rebels against the State in The Handmaid’s Tale by purchasing the illegal contraband, cigarettes, and smoking them in front of Offred and the rest of her house. In 1984, Winston Smith subverts the authority of the State by writing in a diary that he bought from off of the black market. He and Julia later rebel against the State by having sex out in the country. All of these characters knew what the consequences to rebelling against their states could entail, but still chose to anyway because they felt that…
Margaret Atwood's controversial dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, leaves the reader with the lingering question of "what if?". Set in the near future, what is known to be the United States, is overtaken by puritan conservative Christians, creating the Republic of Gilead. Assasinating the President and congress, this religious extremist movement suspended the constitution and took complete control over the government. Women in Gilead lost their rights, and served only one purpose; for reproduction. A large population of the women were infertile due to previous constant exposure to pesticides, nuclear waste, and leakages from chemical weapons. They were either labelled "Unwoman" and sent to "Colonies" to clean up toxic wastes, or be house servants; "Marthas". The small number which made up the fertile population were taken to camps where training to become handmaidens for the upper-class people took place. The women of Gilead were denied all basic human rights, and although the main focus of this novel is of what may occur in our future, The Handmaid's Tale is an extension of the patriarchal societies of our past, and of those which are of existence today.…
Postmodernism in art and literature includes many aspects that define a novel or piece of writing to be “postmodern”. A postmodern novel leaves the reader ambiguous to some of the most obvious forms of literature, but this ambiguity serves a purpose to the postmodernism in the metafictional story that includes the theme or the purpose of the novel. One of the greatest examples of postmodern fiction/literature would be The Handmaids Tale by Margret Atwood. Certain aspects of this novel allow this novel to be characterized as “postmodern”, this novel was also written in a time when postmodernism has been on a moral zenith in people’s consciousness. The main narrative from of this novel…