The Handmaids Tale Essay - 1732 Words

Brenda Guillen Professor XXX Class November 8, 2017 Then vs. Now, the Realities of of Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in Modern Day America The novel quot;The Handmaid#39;s Talequot; written by Margaret Atwood in 1985 is a fictional novel about Gilead, a place ruled by male religious fundamentalists who rape women labeled as handmaids to bear children for infertile wives. The society encourages the enslavement of women to control their reproductive rights. While Atwood’s novel depicts a fictional place, it describes a very real reality in modern day America. In America and other parts other world, women are constantly treated as inferior to men, in regards to workplace pay, civil rights, and even access to their own reproductive†¦show more content†¦Women in Gilead worked different jobs designed to fuel the population of Gilead. They formed their own alliances and hostilities, but never rose against men who raped, abused and suppressed them (Weigel 2). Atwood wrote ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ not from her own imagination, but from events that took place in her times based on the state of the international politics (Jones 2). She recalls how her novel drew inspiration from the political stories of her time and how she took clips from the newspapers about â€Å"falling birth rates, repressive policies on contraception and abortion† (Weigel 5). To illustrate, in the 1980’s, the President of Romania banned birth control in the country as an effort to increase birth rates. The country, like the fictional one presented in the Handmaid’s Tale, were experiencing the results of climate change and pollution and wanted an increase in the population. On the home front, Americans were experiencing epidemics like AIDS, the carcinogenic effects of nuclear waste accidents and the increase of polygamy and the Mormon sect. Today we still deal with some of these issues. A future similar to the one depicted in Gilead is possible. In fact, traits of it are in play in 2017, as it was in America during the Reagan era (Weigel 7). The society in quot;The Handmaid#39;s Talequot; is close to becoming a reality as American birth rates are falling as many women can#39;t afford to have children, are incapable of producing children, or focusing onShow MoreRelatedThe Handmaids Tale Essay1215 Words   |  5 PagesPaula Hawkins, a well-known British author, once said, â€Å"I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head.† In Margaret Atwood’s futuristic dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale, a woman named Offred feels she is losing control over everything in her life. Offred lives in the Republic of Gilead. A group of fundamentalists create the Republic of Gilead after they murder the President of the United States and members of Congress. The fundamentalists use the power to their advantage and restrictRead MoreThe Handmaids Tale Essay1591 Words   |  7 PagesUpon reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, one notices the tragedy of women losing rights. Imagine the feelings of losing all rights and freedoms; how hard the transition would be from an American society, centered on freedoms, to the society where Offred lives in The Handmaid’s Tale. Thankfully for all Americans, Atwood’s prediction of what society would become in the future was inaccurate. But, not all countries enjoy the same freedoms and luxuries as America does; the treatment of womenRead More The Handmaids Tale Essay931 Words   |  4 PagesThe Handmaids Tale Serena Joy is the most powerful female presence in the hierarchy of Gileadean women; she is the central character in the dystopian novel, signifying the foundation for the Gileadean regime. 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The most notable change is that concerning women. Whereas, in the past, women have been gaining rights and earning more â€Å"freedom to’s†, the women in the society of The Handmaid’s Tale have â€Å"freedom froms†. They have the freedom from being abused and having sexist phrases yelled atRead MoreHandmaids Tale - Manipulation of Power Essay1257 Words   |  6 PagesTHE HANDMAID’S TALE Grade 11 English Analytical Essay Words: 1 245 Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a disturbing novel that displays the presence and manipulation of power. This is displayed throughout the novel and is represented significantly in three ways. As the book takes place in the republic of Gilead, the elite in society are placed above every other individual who are not included in their level. Secondly, men are placed at the top of the chain and they significantly overpowerRead More Feminism In The Handmaids Tale Essay1588 Words   |  7 PagesFeminism In The Handmaids Tale      Ã‚  Ã‚   Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960s as the Womens Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of womens empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminismRead MoreThe Handmaids Tale Men Essay1607 Words   |  7 PagesWomen’s Bodies as Political Instruments and Elimination of Sexual Pleasure: Oppression throughout Society In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of women’s bodies as political instruments and elimination of sexual pleasure is explored. The republic of Gilead â€Å"depicts a futuristic society in which a brutal patriarchal regime deprives women of power and subjectivity, enslaving them through a sophisticated, ubiquitous apparatus of surveillance† (Cooper 49). Offred is a girl who lives withRead MoreThe Handmaids Tale Men Essay1666 Words   |  7 PagesWomen’s Bodies as Political Instuments and Elimination of Sexual Pleasure: Oppression throughout Society In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, the idea of women’s bodies as political instruments and elimination of sexual pleasure is explored. The republic of Gilead â€Å"depicts a futuristic society in which a brutal patriarchal regime deprives women of power and subjectivity, enslaving them through a sophisticated, ubiquitous apparatus of surveillance† (Cooper 49). Offred is a â€Å"girl† who lives