The Handmaids Tale - Social Situation :: Handmaids Tale Essays

The Handmaids Tale - Social Situation   Margargont Atwoods novel The Handmaids Tale belongs to the literary genre of anti-utopian (dystopian) science fiction where we read about a womans fictive archives of a nightmarish United States at the end of the twentieth cytosine when democratic institutions have been violently overthrown and replaced by the new fundamentalist body politic of Gilead. In the novel the majority of the population ar suppressed by using a Bible-based religion as an exc theatrical role for the suppression. How does this work and wherefore can the girls, the so called Handmaids, be considered the victims of society? Also, in what way does Gilead use biblical allusions?  That is some of the questions this essay will give answers for.   To begin with the so called Handmaids ar girls who have only one purpose in living which is to reproduce. They are women who when have reached the age and maturity to reproduce have been taken to Gil ead where they are tattooed with four digits and an bosom (Gileads tattoo which works as a passport in reverse) which immobilises them, in contrast to the winged male eye which is the state symbol. Then they are re-educated at the so called Red-centre, the name emphasises feminine sexuality and how they are taught there can be linked with brainwashing. They are told how lucky they should feel because they have been saved from the primitive and cruel external world where women are being raped and maltreated. Other things they learn are numerous sayings and mottos of the Red-centre like Pen is Envy which is based on a Freudian psychoanalytic theory which presents penis envy as an ingrained element of femininity, and a mark of womans natural inferiority to men. So knowing this, are they actually better of in Gilead? There they are valued only in terms of their biological usefulness as child bearers due to that the birth rate in the society has fall to a catastrophicall y low level because of deadly pollution and sexually transmitted diseases which cause sterility and infertility. They are known by their Commanders jump names, Of -(name of commander), this to underline their function as sexual objects without individuality.   Moreover, apart from being divest their own names Handmaids are also deprived legal rights.