Margaret Atwood

Many characters in Margaret Atwood's fiction novel The Handmaid’s Tale break various rules. These characters consist of people high up in ranks like commanders to people low in ranks like handmaids. Even characters who you would not expect to break the rules do. For example, Serena Joy she is the commander's wife and also high in ranks but as soon as we meet Serena Joy in the novel she breaks one of Gilead's laws by smoking which is forbidden. During the novel, it reveals that breaking the rules…

individualism and autonomy. In order to achieve this totalitarianism, these men are willing to do anything necessary in order to achieve their goals. Just like how the aboriginal’s lost their independence by the early settlers, the proletariats in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale have lost their individualism by the power-hungry aristocrats that control the…

The Struggle of Women In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the women in Gilead appear to have diminished rights and a limited amount of freedom. These women have lives that resemble a lifestyle similar to the women who lived prior to women’s suffrage, even though this novel takes place in a futuristic time. Some of these women, like Offred, remember the past and long for a time when they can be free again. However, for many of the women, they will never understand what it is…

Atwood follows this pattern of exaggeration and begins to critique the complicated issue of bioengineering within contemporary society by projecting this into her dystopian world with the genetic manipulation of animals. William Deresewicz, a literary critic, suggests that dystopias are based on societal issues and advances and that, “Ours will be the century of biology.” (Deresewicz, 2009) Atwood’s commitment and knowledge towards science and environmentalism, has followed this idea and has…

Offred is a slave, she is a slave to an internal war within herself and an outside war that she has no control over. Offred is a handmaid. During a time of war her family and her were separated and she was given a choice. She could either choose to go to the colonies and clean up nuclear waste, or she could be a handmaid and give her body up for the wars purpose. The purpose of being a handmaid is to be an instrument, to bare children for the commanders and their wives. Offred only wants to find…

The Handmaid’s Tale is an effective satire in which Atwood underlines specific themes and issues present in society. Throughout the extensive reading and analyzing of the Handmaid’s Tale, the satirizing of many elements in our society becomes increasingly obvious throughout the progression of the novel. Margaret Atwood uses her literature to express her opinions towards the way society is run through the use of satire. Although most satirical works are meant to be humorous, we can clearly see…

The Wrongful Extinction of Sensuality In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, she creates a dystopian society where women are valued for their sexual functions instead of their attributes. Her novel is set in a post-United States era in a time where men control everything, from the jobs to women’s bodies. Offred, previously married, is a handmaid of a powerful Commander and his wife. It is her job to provide the couple with a child. Society has been trained to believe that all eroticism is…

Demetria Magazine Mr. Milliner EES21QH:02 10/20/16 In The Handmaid 's Tale, language is the most important means of communication in the novel. Margaret Atwood creates a world (Gilead) that is all about stripping women 's freedom. It talks about a feminist issue where the identity of a woman has been tore down. She uses language as a form of power. The book is mainly about a society where women are not free. The book is written from a woman 's point of view who was living in Gilead…

having trouble conceiving. She just like many others want to escape to freedom Canada, but at the end of the book Offred gets taken away by two men. She does not know if she is being rescued or arrested. In the book, The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, it is clear that Offred, The Commander, and Moira are unorthodox. Offred, the main character, is a very unorthodox woman.…

The biblical sphere in which Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake operates in provides little room for doubt. She brings in elements from both the Trinity and the Garden of Eden, both found in the book of Genesis and uses it in a post apocalyptic context. The novel begins with the aftermath of the destruction of the world as we know it. Narrated from the perspective of Jimmy, also known as Snowman, he is a lone survivor of what he believes is the extinction of mankind as he knows it. What is…