In sections I-V of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the reader gets a sense of the dystopian society that has been set up in which the narrator has been sent to live with what can be assumed as a wealthy family. The narrator makes it obvious that the head of household is the Commander through using a title for him and simply calling his wife “the Commander’s wife.” In fact, throughout the first five sections of the book, the implication is that married women are defined by the status of the man they had married. Those women that are not married, however, are designated to tasks revolving around the family each woman is assigned to.
Every so often, the reader gets a glimpse of how things were before the the community became a dystopia. …show more content…
There are strict rules and are always people to make sure that every rule is followed down to the letter. The society is oppressive, despite the stated intention to be that of protecting and freeing women from a society in which they are in the way of harm or poor life skills. According to Adrienne Rich in her piece Claiming an Education, a woman is taught to sit “in passive silence even when she disagrees inwardly with everything that is being said around her” (Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, p. 24). This is shown in The Handmaid’s Tale when the narrator says that she is happy with the way she is supposed to live her life in order to obey the rules, even though she is not …show more content…
Women are worth less than men, their worth being determined by the status of their husband, their ability to get pregnant, or their ability to do housework. Even the clothing women wear reflects the status they hold, whereas the clothing of men is never discussed in any regards. Although men have rules they have to follow as well, it seems to be the women that would get in trouble for any rule-breaking that might occur whenever they are involved, even if they are not the ones breaking the rules. Patriarchy is also present in the reasoning this society has evolved; for women to be
Every so often, the reader gets a glimpse of how things were before the the community became a dystopia. …show more content…
There are strict rules and are always people to make sure that every rule is followed down to the letter. The society is oppressive, despite the stated intention to be that of protecting and freeing women from a society in which they are in the way of harm or poor life skills. According to Adrienne Rich in her piece Claiming an Education, a woman is taught to sit “in passive silence even when she disagrees inwardly with everything that is being said around her” (Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, p. 24). This is shown in The Handmaid’s Tale when the narrator says that she is happy with the way she is supposed to live her life in order to obey the rules, even though she is not …show more content…
Women are worth less than men, their worth being determined by the status of their husband, their ability to get pregnant, or their ability to do housework. Even the clothing women wear reflects the status they hold, whereas the clothing of men is never discussed in any regards. Although men have rules they have to follow as well, it seems to be the women that would get in trouble for any rule-breaking that might occur whenever they are involved, even if they are not the ones breaking the rules. Patriarchy is also present in the reasoning this society has evolved; for women to be