Handmaids Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale
A literary accomplished writer, Margaret Atwood has provided many readers with over 30 novels, poems, and short stories that have touched everyone in a different way. Whether reviews are negative or positive, the analysis of the deeper context brings up a whole new discussion when presented with The Handmaid’s Tale. Personal goals, attitudes and views on feminism and women itself are reflective in this novel and contradict an opportunity for growth and maturity. In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, a depressing yet humorous journey of the protagonist, Offred, is presented through themes including sex roles, guilt and innocence, hope, and religion.
Offred is the main character of the novel and serves as the narrator. Atwood “reveals Gilead through the eyes of one woman… cheating to show the reader more than the character has access to. Her information is limited. In fact her lack of information is part of the nightmare” (pg 398). Gilead a society as a result of the assassination of the American government. Women in the Gileadan society serve only one purpose; to reproduce. An often referral to the women include “two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (pg 171) which signify the 1% of the female population who are still fertile and can bare children for the household. A handmaid, which Offred is, serves as the incubator for the child, and is impregnated by the Commander of the household. Along with other chores, the views placed upon these women range from the clothing that is worn to the duties performed. Red, is the color in which handmaid’s dress in, which signifies the blood shed at birth and the reproduction of a bigger and better civilization. Atwood incorporates feministic views since “there isn’t anything in the book not based on something that has already happened” (Atwood 393). The future of women as a gender is greatly effected by the overall stereotypes...
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