The Handmaid's Tale

Even though the women who can bear children are “cherished”, the babies are not which can be seen when babies are referred to as “shredders” and “unbabies.” Furthermore, it is interesting that the babies are not “cherished”, but the women who can bear children are because it is illegal to have an abortion and can lead to the doctor being killed who performed it. If the handmaids do not get pregnant within three months then they move down in the hierarchy. It is argued who has it worst in the society, however they all share something in common, being oppressed. The handmaids are not allowed to read, go out into public on their own and even have access to everyday things such as lotion. It is seen as vain and people say, “who are they trying to impress?” when they use such items. Offred steals butter to use as a substitute for lotion because she does not have access to it. Lastly, their names perfectly symbolize their oppression: Offred is Fred’s handmaid; she is “of Fred.” Everyday liberties people take for granted and this dystopia shows what it would be like to live under these harsh laws that can lead to execution.

It isn't just handmaids, or even only women that have forfeited their personal identity; men have lost theirs as well. Their loss of individualism is symbolized by their generic titles. There are three classes of men in Gilead: the 'Commanders,' the Doctors, and the 'Eyes.' Like the color-coded uniforms of the women, the generic titles of the men announce their function. The Commanders are supposed to fertilize the handmaids; the Doctors examine the handmaids monthly to check for possible problems with their reproductive organs; the Eyes are the spy network of Gilead and are responsible for enforcing discipline. Also like the women's color coded-uniforms, the men's generic titles deprive them of their individuality and reduce them to mere task objects.

The Handmaid’s Tale is about Offered as she shares her thoughts and experiences in a journal-like form and provides some advice. Offred is a lower class female who has been taken from her husband and daughter at 5 years old to be a handmaid for the red commander at the red center. The point of this center is to reproduce with the Commander

Modern civilization is tossed aside in Gilead, a country where fertile women are used to bear children for powerful families as the result of sterility and decreased birth rates. Symbols that are used in 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood are red capes to depict the concept of conformity based on totalitarian laws, The Eyes to represent that people can not hide any lack of cooperation from the ever-watchful and all-knowing government and nooses to portray death as the consequence of noncompliance. Symbolism is utilized to demonstrate Gilead as a dystopian society that takes away individuality, enforces rules, and displays the outcomes of disobedience. Firstly, the handmaid’s uniforms of red cloaks symbolize the conformity these women are subjected to because of new laws.

Red is an important color in the Republic of Gilead because it is the color worn by the handmaids. The color choice of red is very symbolic of their purpose. The simplest explanation is that the color represents fertility because it resembles the blood of a menstrual cycle. The whole purpose of a handmaid is to become pregnant and have a child, so fertility is extremely important. However, deeper thinking will come to provide a dual representation for the handmaid red.

We first start seeing the changes in the movie The Handmaid’s Tale. Before it was a movie it was a book written by Margaret Atwood in 1984 and published in 1986. The book won two awards: The Governor General's Award in 1985 and the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987. In 1990, because of the book’s popularity it was made into a movie. The movie has the same setting as the book, a dystopic world in America where religion and state are mixed while fertility is in high demand.

In Gilead Handmaids are seen as adulterous, harlots and are hated by everyone because of their role, “But the frown isn’t personal: it’s the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for.”(pg.19 ) they are especially hated by the wives of commanders.

The Handmaids Tale is a poetic tale of a woman's survival as a Handmaid in the male dominated Republic of Gilead. Offred portrayed the struggle living as a Handmaid, essentially becoming a walking womb and a slave to mankind. Women throughout Gilead are oppressed because they are seen as "potentially threatening and subversive and therefore require strict control" (Callaway 48). The fear of women rebelling and taking control of society is stopped through acts such as the caste system, the ceremony and the creation of the Handmaids. The Republic of Gilead is surrounded with people being oppressed. In order for the Republic to continue running the way it is, a sense of control needs to be felt by the government. Without control Gilead will

In addition to a caution against totalitarianism, this book serves as a statement on feminism, and the impact that women have on a society. In The Handmaid’s Tale women are stripped of all of their basic rights, and are living in a predominantly male dominated world. Offred is the voice of a woman who has experienced the effects of this first hand. This book is her memoir telling her victimization, where her memories and experience combine together to show how she overcame and survived. The whole society of Gilead itself is based on the misogynistic view that women are at fault for the low infertility rates in the world.

In Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a dystopian future. In this future, nearly all the women have become infertile, so the few who can still have babies have been rounded up, brainwashed, and assigned to powerful men in a twisted attempt to restore the human race.Set in Gilead, a totalitarian society in what used to be part of the United States that treats women as property of the state, and the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude.Women are subsidized to having no rights and are subject to being only tools reproduction purposes, and are turned into a thing called Handmaids. Every Handmaid is assigned to an elite wealthy couple to help them produce a child. As, another way to strip the women of their identities they are given new names associated with the males name of the couple they are serving.Handmaid names consist of the word “of”

Imagine, all of a sudden, being forced to begin a new life. The Handmaid’s Tale is a story about a reformed society based on an altered bible where there are specific social castes. The Handmaids are women who are fertile and have children with Commanders because the Commanders’ Wives are sterile or too old to have children. The novel follows a Handmaid named Offred and her life as a Handmaid. Offred frequently remembers her past life of her husband and daughter. Offred dislikes being a Handmaid, but it is better than the other choice of being sent to the hazardous Colonies. Offred develops several interesting relationships and learns of the secret society, Mayday. Offred, the Commander, and Nick are unorthodox characters in Margaret Atwood’s

In order to truly represent the Gilead in this I wanted to identify the main colors or circles of the Gilead. The black is at the highest position because it represents the “eyes” and the commanders, the highest ranks in the Gilead. The green are the “marthas,” the brown the “aunts,” and the grey and white representative of colors we’ve seen on econowives, handmaids, and others. The red and blue, representative of the wives and handmaids are purposefully joined together as one. In the Gilead the handmaid and wife are supposed to be connected

To begin, the red color of the handmaid’s dresses represents the immorality of the services they provide to the powerful commanders and their wives. In Gilead handmaids are mandated to have sex with their commanders in the hopes of baring a child. Giving birth to a healthy child is the ultimate goal of the handmaids that they must devote themselves entirely to in order to be safe under authoritarian rule. The red color of their dresses is a constant reminder to themselves and others that their importance is their fertility. Offred the protagonist states, “everything except the

A Critical Analysis of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In this dystopia novel, it reveals a remarkable new world called Gilead. “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, explores all these themes about women who are being subjugated to misogyny to a patriarchal society and had many means by which women tried to gain not only their individualism and their own independence. Her purpose of writing this novel is to warn of the price of an overly zealous religious philosophy, one that places women in such a submissive role in the family. I believe there are also statements about class in there, since the poor woman are being meant to serve the rich families need for a child. As the novel goes along the narrator Offred is going between the past and

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a novel set in the not-too distant future, in the Republic of Gilead formerly known as the United States. The Republic of Gilead is a totalitarian, theocratic state run by a few “True Believers.” Although the leaders of Gilead make claims that they are attempting to create a better society for human survival, it’s sole purpose seems to be to repopulate the state due to an increase in men and women becoming infertile as a consequence of radiation, chemical pollution and sexual transmitted diseases. The novel follows a Handmaid named Offred, whose sole purpose in Gilead is to have a baby. Offred struggles to adjust to her new life as she still has memories of her past life. In the novel, Atwood addresses