Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood example essay topic

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, published in 1983, is the non-fiction book I have chosen to review and relate to the material studied in the course, Cross-Cultural Social Work Practice. Margaret Atwood is a well-known, critically approved, best-seller artist who's created some masterpieces such as The Robber Bride and Cat's Eye. The Handmaid's Tale is set in the futuristic Republic of Gilead. Sometime in the future, conservative Christians take control of the United States and establish a dictatorship.

Most women in Gilead are infertile after repeated exposure to pesticides, nuclear waste, or leakages from chemical weapons. The few fertile women are taken to camps and trained to be handmaidens, surrogate mothers for the upper class. Infertile lower-class women are sent either to clean up toxic waste or to become "Marthas", house servants. No women in the Republic are permitted to be openly sexual; sex is for reproduction only. The government declares this a feminist improvement on the sexual politics of today when women are seen as sex objects. The novel focuses on one handmaid, Offred (she is given the name of the man whose children she is expected to bear -- she is of Fred).

Offred became a handmaid after an attempt to escape with her daughter and husband from Gilead. They fail; her husband is killed and her daughter given away to a needy woman in the upper circles. Offred is in the service of the General and his wife, Serena Joy. Serena Joy hates that she is unable to bear children and hates Offred for taking her husband seed. If Offred does not become pregnant promptly, Serena Joy will undoubtedly take revenge by sending her away, possibly to the toxic colonies.

Offred does not become pregnant, but she does develop an unexpected relationship with the General. He plays games of Scrabble with her (all forms of writing are officially forbidden to handmaids) and gives her gifts of cosmetics and old fashion magazines. One night he dresses her in a cocktail dress and takes her to an illegal nightclub where Offred runs into an old female friend, now a prostitute in the club. Serena Joy, desperate for children, finally arranges for Offred to sleep with the chauffeur. The two are happy together since she thinks she is pregnant. Soon after, Serena Joy finds the cocktail dress the General gave to Offred.

She knows her husband is to blame, but accuses Offred anyway and sends for the police to take her away to certain death. When the van arrives to take her away, however, she finds out that it is driven by rebels who are to carry Offred to safety. The Handmaid's Tale is in the first place, a quite obvious case of sexism, one of the social issues talked about in this course. Offred, along with all the other handmaids, does not have any rights the men presented in this book do.

For instance, she does not have the right to own. Not only she doesn't own a thing in the house she lives in, but they " ve also taken away all that she once had including her daughter. She does not even own herself. She's not allowed to do anything unless it's the wish of the Commander. She's The Commander's, that's why she's called of Fred, or as they say Offred.

Only men in this society are allowed to read or write, and none of the women, not even the Commander's Wives are. The value of the female gender has been reduced to it's lowest: a walking womb. During the Handmaids trainings, they " re taught that God has created women only for reproductive purposes and that's exactly how they " re being used in the society Everyone is aware of this matter and that's why when in Chapter 23 a baby girl is born, the Handmaid who has carried the child says: "A girl... poor thing". The baby is not even called a "She" but is called a "thing", and that's how it is in Gilead, a woman is a thing, a reproductive machine, being used by the men in power. It is painfully obvious that the regime only benefits the males, excluding women and forcing them into second class citizenship. Yet their unjust actions are justified to the population, who are won over by the idea that their lives are of a higher standard than before and that in the long run, they are ultimately fulfilling their natural destinies: 'We " ve given them more than we " ve taken away, said the Commander.

Think of all the trouble they had before. Don't you remember... Think of human misery... This way they " re protected, they can fulfill their biological destinies in peace. With full support and encouragement The Handmaid's Tale is really about the role of women in society.

If it were possible to eliminate women from Gilead, it seems that the republic would have done so. Instead, they are reduced into doing the one thing for which Gilead can find no substitute -- producing children. They are so reduced that they cannot even feel passion or enjoy sex. Infertile women have it even worse; they are not considered to be women at all, and are deported or killed. The message is that women are needed to continue humanity but that they are to have no other role in the society that they allow to exist. An interesting point is implied but left unspoken by Atwood.

No matter how much their activities are confined, a society cannot function without women. Women always have a measure of power because they exclusively possess the means to propagate a society. Another social issue, which Margaret Atwood has addressed us to in this book, is surrogacy. The Handmaids described in this book are exactly the representation of today's surrogate mothers, except for the fact that they are not being paid to do this but are being forced. Surrogacy has been an unsolvable dilemma for quite a long time, all over the world. There have been numerous debates going on about this matter and still there's no clear solution in sight.

The way Ms. Atwood looks at this issue is a really interesting one. Although most of the Commander's Wives are capable of reproducing, and carrying babies, they rather have the Handmaid's, the lower class women, carry the babies for them. So obviously Margaret Atwood thinks that this is what surrogacy's about in the real life as well, the lower class women, possibly with lower amount of pay checks, becoming a surrogate mother, to satisfy the lust of another women, socially living in a higher class. The Handmaid's Tale is a critique of anti-abortion rhetoric and some reproductive technologies. In Gilead, reproduction is taken out of women's control. The novel is critical for making capitalist, contemporary America seem like a free heaven.

Only the dictators argue that contemporary (1980-90) gender politics harm women. The characters with whom readers are encouraged to agree, think our America is a bastion of equality. Offred, for example, envisions freedom in terms of fashion magazines, silk stockings, and traditional motherhood and families. She believes in "family values", linking her more with the Right than one might expect. Futuristic society as Atwood portrays it is grim, restricting and terrifying while at the same time being unrealistic and to extreme. By using a satirical dystopia to depict the worst aspects of social change, her novel also becomes a warning for the reader to take note of socially concerning issues, which may in fact lead to future tragedy.

Dealing at length with the oppression of women through institutionalized sexism and patriarchal dictatorship, 'The Handmaid's Tale' written by Margaret Atwood is a commentary on social change. Through the narrative of Offred, the main character of the novel, the reader is able to see the potential consequences of religious fundamentalism and institutionalised sexism becoming the driving force of a society. For Offred, who represented the women of Gilead, her society had changed from being socially satisfying on most levels to tyrannical and ruthless. Atwood's bitter satire of religion, feminism, relationships and social hierarchy provides an entertaining, yet deeply disturbing vision of the future. Though a little too extreme to be realistic, 'The Handmaid's Tale's till offers a dire warning to humankind, predicting the worst for society is yet to come. Atwood's work can be taken as a warning about the dangers of a patriarchal society and the dogma of the religious right, what we are facing right now in the present societies existing in Iran, or Afghanistan, where the Islamic leaders are taking over the human rights, specially the women's rights.

Realistically, the scenario presented in this book is impossible. The safeguards built into the system would prevent such an occurrence (I have to believe this). But maybe Atwood's work could alternatively be perceived not as a warning but rather as a reflection (albeit an extreme one) of the past. Patriarchal institutions have controlled most cultures for thousands of years. Women may have been allowed to do other things, but arguably their primary purpose, according to the conventions of society, was to have children and propagate humanity. The Handmaid's Tale could be a warning about the future, but it is also certainly a cry to the injustices of the past.