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Feminism In The Handmaid's Tale

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Feminism has always been one of the most controversial issues in history. It is the ideology that women should be equal to men in terms of political, economic, personal, and social rights, and many feminist movements have been started worldwide in order to define, establish, and achieve those rights for women. Margaret Atwood is one of the writers who fully support feminism, and she has shown many different aspects of feminism throughout her novels. As one of the most notable novels of Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale depicts feminism through an antifeminist environment where female characters are dominated by patriarchy, giving readers multidimensional feminist viewpoints.

The story takes place in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States …show more content…

In the novel, Atwood focuses on exploring the relationships between women, which are very complicated. Women are separated into groups. Those have most freedom are the Wives, who are married to Commanders, and although they do not have such privileges like men, they still gain many benefits. Wives could visit other Wives, work on their gardens and knit. They have their husband to rely on, which is something they are proud of. However, they are still not allowed to read or write, as the only group of women who are permitted to do so is the Aunts. They are unmarried and infertile women who are usually older and has a certain amount of power before the regime. Their job is to retrain and monitor the Handmaids, lecture them how bad and dangerous the old world is while the new one is much safer and more worth living so that the Handmaids will be obedient and submissive. Handmaids are women with viable ovaries who were either divorced, married to a man who had been divorced, or had reached a certain age without ever marrying before Gilead. Therefore, their social function is to bear children for Commanders and their Wives. They are below everyone in society, even Marthas who are almost considered non-existent. If a Handmaid gets pregnant and gives birth to a baby, she will continue to serve as a Handmaid,

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