Handmaid's Tale Essay

The handmaid 's tale is a dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood that focuses on oppressing women, abusing them and using them for reproduction and solely nothing else. The idea of raping women to get them pregnant in this book is not a problem in their society. The whole idea of giving women the same rights and equal chances as every other gender is not believed in this society. In today 's world, this way of treating women is not a realistic idea. Women today have rights and are still fighting for more.

This play, A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, focuses on women, especially in marriage and motherhood. Torvald is a character, who describes inequality between men and women and the women’s role in the society in that era. He believes that it is an important and the only duty of a woman to be a good wife and mother. As an individual, a woman, could not conduct or run a business of her own, she needs to ask her father or husband and they were only considered to be father’s or husband’s property. Women were not allowed to vote and divorce if they were allowed they would carry a heavy social shame and it was only available when both partners agreed.

The Fight for Women’s Rights For long, women were considered inferior to men. Before the start of the women’s rights movement, people thought that females were destined for a life of cleaning, taking care of kids, and being a good; submissive wife. They couldn’t own property, couldn’t vote, couldn’t attend school nor college, couldn’t work, couldn’t even take care of their own money; it was as if they were objects, destined for reproduction. In medieval times, women were even considered the devil’s work. This was such a common belief that even St. Jerome (who was a saint) once said: Women is the gate of the devil, the path of wickedness, the sting of serpent, in a word a perilous object”.

The nature of womanhood, or what we perceive as the inherent proclivities that govern only those born as a woman, is often the base argument for the unequal treatment of the female sex. Women are weak, natural-born mothers, unfit to do much else beyond simple household chores and rearing children. This portrait of women seems almost comical in its antiquity; however, we cannot disregard the past, as it shapes the present. The question of the nature of womanhood is rarely allowed nuance, which is a shame, because womanhood can be many, often contradictory things. Instead, the traits we often associate with womanhood stem from society’s projection of what women should be, not necessarily what they are.

Though it was frowned for a woman to act, think, write, and speak like men, that didn’t stop them. In the book, Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin, we learned that women were prohibited to exercise anything out of field and house work, especially politics, this book demonstrates that over the decades, women had altered that perception.

Many males did not take into consideration their own faults and actions when it came down to it. Readers could take away from this novel how the world has evolved since the time period this book was written in, but how girls will till face some of the challenges like men degrading women in our world today. The feminist theory shows that many women feel that these circumstances and perspectives should be changed, and all humans should be equal. Everyone is at fault for their own actions and that is a message readers could take from this

This is the reason Lennie and Curleys wife are ideal for one another, they both draw out the outrage and love in one another as they are both in the same circumstance, for instance Lennie is mentally handy caped thus meaning if you were like Lennie back then you would be shunned and would only make society worse. Curleys wife was a woman which implied she had no power and no rights as men did implying that the main suitable spot for her to be was in the house. To add the unfathomable amounts of time Curleys wife spent in the house was not beneficial as it promoted dejection and the feeling

Little girls could not attend school and had to stay home and help their mothers. There are still many places around the world where women can’t work or go to school and lots of places where racism still happens. There are also many places where people have no rights because they have a dictator instead of a democracy. A dictator controls everyone and does not allow people to vote for their leader and usually gives the position to someone in their family when they die. It is usually in countries with dictators where women don’t have equal rights and cannot work or go to school.

“Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression” (Nelson Mandela). Women throughout history has been shown to be treated unequally compared to men, they are heavily repressed by stereotypes of society and by men who believe they are superior compared to women. Zora Neale Hurston explores the roles of women in the novel, Their Eyes were Watching God, through the characters of Janie and her second husband, Joe Starks. Even with two different marriages, Janie never got the chance to be who she really is. The men in her life had held Janie back from what she wanted.

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, demonstrates that a lack of freedom leads to a breaking of rules. After living in a world with no freedom with only memories of her life before, Offred begins to get frustrated. Once Offred begins to see that even high ranking people in this society break the rules, she begins to as well. Although, Offred knows breaking the rules is wrong and can have consequences she can not continue to live this way. It began with small rules such as women in the red center communicating and sharing names.