Conflict In The Handmaids Tale

In Margaret Atwood’s novel, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moira is depicted as the symbol for resistance to authority and represents hope to the Handmaids. Atwood presents her as a polar opposite to Offred. She is independent, strong-willed, and outspoken. Conversely, the pair can be argued to be doubles in the fact that they both ‘resist’ to the oppressive Republic in Gilead.

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred has a continuous search for justice for her daughter, in a society in which her idea of justice is starts as one concept and changes to one that she never expected.

The protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale is referred to as Offred (of Fred). Through the manipulation of literary devices such as juxtaposition, allusion, and descriptive diction, Margaret Atwood voices her concerns about our future, and reveals just how quickly and completely our present could transform. As chapter 33 begins, the Handmaids are off to the Women’s Prayvaganza (a portmanteau of pray and extravaganza). The event, juxtaposed to the ‘fun festival’ it resembles, is really a mass wedding with girls as young as fourteen married off to Angels (troops).

The Commander and Offred’s relationship is non-existent at first, but then it develops over time. They start initiating a secret affair in his office, an action that is forbidden in Gilead. They are not allowed to have any communication, yet both of them break the rule by commencing a relationship. Offred 's demonstrates her feeling of guilt towards Serena Joy in this quote, “ I felt I was an intruder, in a territory that ought to have been hers. [...] I was taking something away from her, although she didn 't know it.

The author also uses rhetorical questions such as “Why tempt her to friendship?” to emphasize the lack of even the possibility of a meaningful connection between Offred and the Marthas. This use of figurative language highlights the inescapable suffering and isolation that Offred encounters while interacting with others, and achieves a hollow, detached tone. In factual recollections of the events occurring, diction and syntax are also crucial in the construction of this isolated, resigned tone While describing exchanges between herself and the rest of the household, Offred uses short, precise sentences, void of intricate words or complex structure.

Offred initially feels a sense of loss due to her position as a fertile woman since the independence and individuality she once enjoyed has since been stripped from her by the Republic of Gilead. It is only through rebellion that Offred is able to slowly regain her sense of self and reject the role that Gilead forces her into. By rebellion, however, it is often more dangerous for the perpetrators than to the government’s grip on the people. Offred’s societal role as a handmaid in Gilead forces her to first obey, then causes her to question, which finally allows her to realize her

“We just won’t tell him[Commander], will we?” (303) is a solid proof that Serena is not loyal to the Commander and she just wants to have a baby. When Serena found out about the affair she said “Just like the other one. A slut. ”(420).

Gilead values obedience to their core beliefs and use many tactics to maintain it. The citizens often spy on one another and Eyes are spread throughout the society. Offred’s depression and fear is what controls the way she behaves even around Ofglen, who later on became one of her closest companions. “She may be a real believer, a Handmaid in more than name. I can’t take the risk.

So, generally speaking, the people of Gilead are so passive about the way that they are treated because this is the only way for them to continue to survive. Offreds passivity is something that is touched on several times throughout the novel, but she does not just learn this skill on her own, but is taught by a woman named Aunt Lydia. “Aunt Lydia said it was best not to speak unless they asked you a direct question. Try to think of it from their point of view she said, her hands clasped and wrung together, her nervous pleading smile.

Rebellion; the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood is a novel. The novel takes place in Gilead a dystopian society. Everyone in Gilead has an important role to play within the society, however, it seems as if none of the characters seem content with their role, due to the restrictions they face. In the novel, the lack of freedom leads to rebellion as shown by the characterization, interior dialogue, flashbacks, and foreshadowing.

Offred is suspicious of what the handmaid 's did. She looks at their hands, and a clue is given to her when she sees “black gloves”(Atwood 275). She ponders what they could have possibly done to have warranted such action from the authorities. Her speculation shows how the society of Gilead functions. The government of Gilead wants the handmaids to see that the prisoners are being hanged, as their suspicion is how Gilead gains control of them.

Some of these methods include destroying identity through classification, objectification, and indoctrination. Most women of Gilead are sufficiently repressed that they seem to accept their assigned roles, at least outwardly resigned to their fate. Atwood uses gender roles in The Handmaid’s Tale to show the lengths to which misogynistic totalitarian governments will go, to protect their dictatorships. The Republic of Gilead is a hierarchical society which requires complete submission of women to men. By taking away women’s paid jobs, confiscating their property, draining their bank accounts, and giving them no recourse, the male leadership leaves women in a fully dependent and subservient position.

Through word choice and plot, the reader now feels angry with Glynnis. She is throwing blind accusations at her husband, isolating herself from all her friends and losing connection with her daughter. Oates describes her as a wayward wife. Her husband pushes her out of the window yet he is still seen as sane and sensible. While the other characters in the novel are rooting for Ian, hoping he is not sentenced to jail, Ian “would not make of his wife whom he loved a drunken frenzied knife-wielding woman, to save his own skin” (American

Nick and Daisy experienced a closeness when they were reunited with each other, but people change and choices in their pasts were uncovered and led Daisy to abandon a true friend. After losing Daisy in a miserable situation he also lost Jordan due to nearly the same issues. Jordan did not see Nick for who he truly was anymore and when she decided to give up on their relationship she did so and never looked back. “... Nick declares that after returning from the East he "wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever", he connects the war with cynical, guilty, disapproval of the New York...

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates a quizzical protagonist, Offred, in a dystopian, totalitarian society where fertile women are only a mere vessel for child birth. Every month during Offred’s menstrual cycle her Commander, Fred, and his wife Serena Joy perform detached intercourse while Serena holds Offred’s hands. The handmaids of the Republic of Gilead are not allowed to use their mind for knowledge nor take part in formal society. They are but the vacuous-minded property to their Commanders and their infertile wives. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred discloses the day to day moments and her commicalOffred had once lived in a world where she was her own person with a job and a home with a family of her own but now she lives under unfortunate circumstances that disable her from being a true, soulful human. Through the use of biblical allusions and specific word