The Handmaids Tale
In Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale, our eyes are open to an oppressive society of which seems to be the near future. Widespread sterility has led to the rich controlling young women of childbearing age, who are called "handmaidens". The tale is narrated by Kate, also known as "Offred", her handmaid name. She relates her struggle throughout in the most vivid of ways. The struggle around her: the oppressive Republic of Gilead, and the struggle within herself: her effort to maintain her sanity. Her narration is tainted with one main motive, which is her relentless pursuit for the past. The way things used to be things that were so basic to her. Moreover, it is her strive to regain the freedom she has been stripped of which guides her. It is her light at the end of a tunnel she has involuntarily been placed. In the republic of Gilead, women are categorized as Wives, Marthas, Aunts and Handmaids. The latter is considered t
Many at times, the only time we acknowledge what we have is when it is taken from us. A gathering of people who are there to socialize. Something Kate had been deprived from. The relationship between Gilead and our society is the fact that gender does play a major factor on the way we are expected to behave. We must then recognize the problems that Atwood was trying to point out. In the final moments of her tale, as she sees guards come for her arrest (or so she thought) she contemplates suicide as an alternative for her demise. The handmaid was not more than a means to an end result. We must consider ourselves very fortunate for not living in a real-life Gilead. More likely than not, it is a positive one hinted by Nick' appearance in the end. Nevertheless, the genre of this novel is not fantasy but rather fiction and thus implying this can actually occur. The commanders, top- ranking officials of Gilead, are the wives' husbands. If successful, the child was claimed by the wives as theirs. In the story, the women carry on a label, which goes in accordance to the roles they play in this fictitious society.
Common topics in this essay:
Aunts Handmaids,
Unknown Atwood,
Commander Jezebel's,
Gilead Nevertheless,
Republic Gilead,
Handmaid's Tale,
Kate Offred,
republic gilead,
handmaid's tale,
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Acceptance Essays
