The Role Of Oppression In The Handmaid's Tale

To hold people to oppression, you must convince them first that they need to be oppressed. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel, takes substantial efforts to depict this very scenario. She portrays a patriarchal society where women’s bodies are exploited, reading and writing by women are forbidden, and women are strictly monitored and oppressed. Along with other subjects, Atwood explores the social myths defining femininity, the social and economic exploitation of women, as well as women's relations with each other and with men. Specifically, she stresses how male oppressors try to justify their acts of oppression in order to be seen with morality and as a hero, rather than a criminal. Furthermore, Atwood also criticizes …show more content…
She amplifies how those who feel that they have been stripped of their humanity strive to gain back their sense of humanity by imitating the role of the oppressor and, in turn, try to strip their oppressors of their humanity. This can be seen in the beginning of the novel where Offred and the other Handmaids are being detained in a former high school gymnasium, after they have lost almost everything important to them. They have become an object needed to be regulated and have become nothing more than potentially productive ovaries. Regardless, the Aunts call the Handmaids “sacred vessels” and “ambulatory chalices” to impose status and honor onto the duties of the Handmaids (Atwood 136). In fact, the Aunts try to persuade the Handmaids that Gilead has restored respect for women and that they are valued and appreciated now because they are "holding the future in their hands" (Atwood 55). Such encouragement and admiration in the context of the society is disturbingly ironic. The power structure of Gilead is anything but liberating for the Handmaids. As a result, the Aunts have become mechanisms to convince other women that their subservience is necessary. Atwood critiques this by showing how even the oppressed can become the oppressors. She points out how in doing so, the oppressed also gain a similar short lived feeling of importance and dignity. Such role reversals are also present in the relationships between Handmaids and the Wives. Their connections operate on mutual dislike as the Wives consider the Handmaids distasteful. During a Birth Day visit, the Commander's Wife makes the following comment to her friends, '"Little whores, all of them, but still you can't be choosy. You take what they hand out, right, girls?"' (Atwood 115). This