The Handmaid s Warning By Margaret Atwood - 1363 Words

The Handmaid’s Warning What will the future bring? What will happen as feminists speak out, women work out of home, pornography spreads and is battled, and the desire for children dwindles? Perhaps life on Earth will improve. Maybe women will have the rights they demand, porn will be defeated, and people will respect women’s bodies. Maybe mothers will miraculously have the perfect number of children: just the right amount to keep the population within its limits. Or perhaps a deterioration will occur, as Margaret Atwood predicted in The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s setting is futuristic, compelling, and terrifyingly believable. Her main character relates to the readers as real people. Her themes laced in the plot, from exposition to resolution, stem from conflicts with other characters, inner struggles, and heart wrenching losses. Readers are captivated as Atwood intertwines her literary elements, and warns the audience of a possible reality. Margaret Atwood tells the tale of a handmaid, and Atwood enlightens those partaking of her vision to the potential of such a degenerate future. The Handmaid’s Tale is set later in time, still on Earth, not too far from the present, but with a starkly contrasting society. This new world functions in the same general buildings, such as a school gymnasium, where the protagonist reflects on her knowledge of the games â€Å"from pictures,† and cheerleaders that had â€Å"miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair,† (AtwoodShow MoreRelatedThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1249 Words   |  5 PagesDystopian Research Essay: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood In the words of Erika Gottlieb With control of the past comes domination of the future. A dystopia reflects and discusses major tendencies in contemporary society. The Handmaid s Tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. The novel follows its protagonist Offred as she lives in a society focused on physical and spiritual oppression of the female identity. Within The Handmaid s Tale it is evident that through the explorationRead MoreOppression Of Women In The Handmaids Tale1732 Words   |  7 Pagesthat â€Å"better never means better for everyone [...] it always means worse, for some† (Atwood, 244). This accurately describes the nature of patriarchal societies, such as the society that is described by Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale. The Republic of Gilead is a patriarchal society that has religious, and patriarchal values that benefit the men in the society, at the expenses of the women of the society. Atwood also develops the oppressive natu re of the society through the use of her stylisticRead MoreMargaret Atwood s The Handmaid s Tale Essay1724 Words   |  7 Pagesdystopian future of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale women’s bodies are used as political instruments. Because if the harmful pollution in the United States, a new Constitution has been made to address and correct the decline in birth rates. To do this the government has created Handmaids. Handmaids â€Å"are placed in the households of [army] Commanders whose Wives can no longer bear† babies anymore (Cameron 299). The future of the Republic of Gilead depends on the Handmaids ability to have aRead MoreTheme Of Women In The Handmaids Tale1239 Words   |  5 PagesIn Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, women have one purpose- to reproduce. Offred, the protagonist, subjects to the command of Gilead, a dystopian society â€Å"in which a brutal patriarchal regime deprives women of power and subjectivity, enslaving them through a sophisticated, ubiquitous apparatus of surveillance† (Cooper 49). She is under the stringent control of the Commander. In the mid-1980’s, the President of the United States was assassinated and an oppressive group of people seizes controlRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale By Margaret Atwood1328 Words   |  6 Pagesoccur, as Margaret Atwood predicted in The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood’s setting is futuristic, compelling, and terrifyingly believable. Her main character relates to the readers as real people. Her themes laced in the plot, from exposition to resolution, stem from conflicts with other characters, inner struggles, and heart wrenching losses. Readers are captivated as Atwood intertwines her literary elements, and warns the audience of a possible reality. Margaret Atwood tells the tale of a handmaid, and AtwoodRead MoreThe Reconstruction Of Power By Margaret Atwood943 Words   |  4 PagesHaley Hollimon LTC Bozeman EN 102, L19 3 February 2015 The Reconstruction of Power Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood utilizes various elements of fiction to develop and question the concept of power and control in the patriarchal society of Gilead. Offred, the main Handmaid, is the instrument of which Atwood delivers her message about corruption and power. Offred’s vague diction, unreliable characterization, and erratic tone illustrate the distress of this transitional society (AbcarianRead MoreThe Handmaid s Tale Tv Series By Margaret Atwood1291 Words   |  6 Pagesreproductive capabilities. This is the bleak dystopian reality portrayed in Hulu’s TV series, The Handmaids’ Tale. The show is not just another sci-fi fantasy. This show serves as a warning for viewers, reminding us that progress should not be taken for granted as it can be reversed, and complacency can lead to crisis. The Handmaid’s Tale TV series is based on the book of the same title, written in 1985 by Margaret Atwood. Set in the country of Gilead, previously known as the United States of America, a totalitarianRead MoreIs Today s Society Becoming A Dystopian World?1313 Words   |  6 Pagesbecoming a dystopian world? Both the novels 1984 by George Orwell and The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood provide warnings of how each author sees certain problems in society leading to dystopian states. Civilizations are forced to live by rules and for certain purposes to ensure the governments own goals and aspirations, but arise for different reasons. Atwood is concerned with political groups and aspects of feminism; The Handmaids Tale illustrates how declining birth rates could lead to a stateRead MoreTotalitarianism’s Role in the Handmaid’s Tale1505 Words   |  7 Pagesworld. People accepted the new society without much resistance only to later realize that they had been dup ed. The founders of Gilead took conservative ideas and implemented them to the extreme. Women’s rights are taken away. Reading is forbidden. Handmaids are introduced to bear children. The government takes over and a dystopia is born. They control almost every aspect of the people’s lives, down to the food that they consume. Though the totalitarian government of Gilead tries to break spirit of theRead MoreMargaret Atwood s The Handmaid s Tale Essay1624 Words   |  7 Pagesreproduction and sexuality, Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, her poem A Woman’s Issue, and George Orwell’s 1984 all convey that sexual repression undermines individual identity and autonomy. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood uses her description of the Ceremony to emphasize how Gileadean society controls sex in order to manipulate its citizens and force the women of Gilead into passivity and dissociation from their bodies. During the ritualistic Ceremony, the Handmaids are raped by their Commanders