ipl-logo

Dystopia In The Circle, The Circle And The Handmaid's Tale

838 Words4 Pages

Dystopian novels such as Dave Eggers’ The Circle, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale consist a common problem that their society is run by totalitarian figures who oppress anyone that doesn’t believe in their ideals. Where the protagonists avert from being manipulated into their propaganda and arbitrary restrictions. Whereas, The Handmaid’s Tale is structured and developed into two parts, such as a sequence of events and historical context. Likewise, The Circle correlates to modern society due its contemporary lifestyle influenced by technology that supervises everyone’s motives. Which all corresponds to George Orwell’s 1984 totalitarian society where privacy is theft and the tyrannical association supervises and manipulates the public. …show more content…

Protagonist Offred is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic society that formerly represent the United States. Handmaids are authorized to deliver children for the high-ranking couples that are having problems with having children. Offred serves the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, a former gospel singer and advocate for traditional values. Offred is not the narrator’s real name Handmaid names consist of the word of followed by the name of the Handmaid’s Commander. When Offred is at the right point in her menstrual cycle, she must have impersonal, wordless sex with the Commander while Serena sits behind her, holding her hands. A shared problem in the dystopian novels is lack of freedom, for example like the freedom of all women, is completely restricted. She can leave the house only on shopping trips, the door to her room cannot be completely shut, and the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force, watch her every public

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Harrison Bergeron And 1984

    902 Words  | 4 Pages

    When a good idea is taken to the extremes, it can have serious consequences. Similarly, a ruling power can drive a society into chaos if its methods are not the best. The novel, “1984” by George Orwell, and the short story “Harrison Bergeron”, written by Kurt Vonnegut, both exhibit a dystopian society where there is no freedom. However, both had different ideas that lead them to this same result. The governments that ran these societies both had good intentions behind their actions, but their means of achieving them came with the cost of individuality and the privacy of the people.

    Read More

  • Idealism In The Handmaid's Tale

    918 Words  | 4 Pages

    The society itself is called Gilead, which is a name derived from the Bible and is known for being a mountainous land valued for its fertility. In light of fertility rates dropping, this world reverts to traditional forms of thought to coerce women like Offred into submission and childbirth. With this focus on the male desire for children and fertility, Atwood portrays the subsequent objectification of Offred to the extent that her worth diminished to only her womb. An adjacent consequence is its harmful effect on Offred's identity as in the wake of this new society Offred was forced to abandon her name from before Gilead. The name Offred represented that she was Fred's handmaid, and she was only to be referred to as such.

    Read More

  • Violence In The Handmaid's Tale

    995 Words  | 4 Pages

    The dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, is about a new Christian theocracy that took over the government in the United States by creating a new society named the Republic of Gilead. This new society was created due to a nuclear fertility crisis, and their main goal is to heavily control women’s reproductive freedoms in order to increase the population. The protagonist, Offred, is a handmaid whose main role in society is to breed healthy children. In order to maintain control over the women in Gilead, the society uses acts of cruelty and violence to force the women to conform into their respective roles. In the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood presents sexual violence, the removal of knowledge, and public hangings in order

    Read More

  • Control In The Handmaids Tale

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Racism And Classism In The Handmaid's Tale

    746 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Dehumanization In The Handmaid's Tale

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Handmaid’s are not only not allowed to touch the Commander during the process; they are not even allowed eye contact. This portrays the idea that the Handmaid’s are only there to provide sexual stimulation for the man, and is not allowed to take any sort of pleasure in the act. The Handmaid’s must remember, “For him …I am only a whim.” (Atwood 159). Another example of sexual dehumanization during the Ceremony is when Offred is “serviced” beforehand.

    Read More

  • 1984 Victory Gin Analysis

    973 Words  | 4 Pages

    Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.

    Read More

  • Isolation In The Handmaid's Tale

    957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Atwood clearly emphasizes this point through the inclusion of Offred 's inner thoughts; which in turn, help to illuminate to the reader the process of this deterioration. Atwood also shows how the Republic of Gilead uses totalitarianism tactics, which parallel those used in North Korea, in order to remain in control. In The Handmaid’s tale, a dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood uses imagery and allusion throughout the novel to illustrate how the republic of Gilead uses techniques to deteriorate one 's mind in order to maintain their power. Throughout the dystopian country

    Read More

  • 1984 And The Handmaid's Tale Essay

    1239 Words  | 5 Pages

    In ‘1984’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, the destruction of the individual is due to a combination of the destruction of independence, language and totalitarian monopolistic control. Complete collectivism, despite separate political beliefs, is presented throughout dictatorial societal jurisdiction as being the predominant way to maintain eternal power. The regimes seek to control individuals and therefore engage in continuing reconnaissance or surveillance of the populace. The mind is the most individual source of power to any person and totalitarianism aims to create complete orthodoxy by controlling and manipulating the mind. Both Orwell in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ and Atwood in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ are examples of how dystopian literature presents

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    It is narrated by the protagonist, Offred who is a handmaid forced into sexual servitude. Facing a plunging birth rate, the fundamentalist regime treats women as property of the state. Handmaids are the few of the remaining fertile women and their sole purpose is to help the government into re-populating their society, where a lot of people are left sterile. The Handmaid’s Tale deals with the theme of women in subjugation to misogyny in a patriarchal society, primarily. It shows the struggle that women have to go through in that society, as a Handmaid or as not being able to be one.

    Read More

  • Rebellion In The Handmaids Tale

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Marxism In The Handmaid's Tale

    2035 Words  | 9 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Theme Of Power In The Handmaids Tale

    1504 Words  | 7 Pages

    “Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.”- William Gaddis. People take advantage of power when it is entrusted to them because of their own greed, which as a result lead to societal deterioration. In the story, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, the higher-ups from Gilead abuse the power that is given to them, ruining the life of the citizens in the society. This was the cause for the need of higher birth rates and fixing conflicts in the world, but this was handled immorally.

    Read More

  • Totalitarianism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1251 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of

    Read More

  • Patriarchy In The Handmaid's Tale

    1122 Words  | 5 Pages

    Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, argues that women are instruments of the patriarchy, that women know this, and that women allow the system of oppression to live on. Her fictions ask, “What stories do women tell about themselves? What happens when their stories run counter to literary conventions or society’s expectations?” (Lecker 1). The Handmaid’s Tale is told through the protagonist, Offred, and allows readers to follow through her life as a handmaid while looking back on how life used to be prior to the societal changes.

    Read More

More about Dystopia In The Circle, The Circle And The Handmaid's Tale

Open Document