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Handmaids Tale Quotes

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The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood is a novel about a society that has replaced the United States of America and in a totalitarian state where the power is held by a group of powerful people. Offred is the main character that in the book is a handmaid for the commander in chief. A handmaid is a woman who bears children for couples that cannot conceive. When the handmaids get at a certain point in their cycle they are to have meaningless sex to whomever they are assigned to. The Handmaids Tale has a very personal connection to biblical references and historical references of the past. The historical references in the Handmaids Tale are significant because they show the reign of control throughout the novel by referring to biblical times, …show more content…

The role that men are seen to have greater authority over women is something that is highly portrayed throughout this novel. Men are always seen as inferior to women because that is how are society has been taught to see women. Women are viewed as just care takers and stay at home workers while men do actual labor. In the Handmaids Tale, Gilead is ran by men and powerful men that control women in which they have to do as they say. In Genesis 2:18, God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Implying that the male species was supposed to portray an image of God and women were created to be their helpers. In Gilead, the handmaids are their to just bear children and have to do as the higher authorities say this is a direct correlation with biblical ties because throughout the bible women were always seen as property of men. In the bible, women are owned by their father until they are married in which most times has to be approve by their fathers. These Handmaids get no choice in what they have to do and who they get to do it with it is portrayed that these Handmaids are just property of the people that they are assigned to sleep

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    Handmaid’s whom are the fertile women in the Gilead society, are stripped from all freedom and rights, banned from knowing any form of literature and have to be submissive to men, allowing their bodies to be sexually used to produce children. In contrast, women who are not fertile such as Wives have their freedom taken away too as they are confined to doing assigned jobs around the house. In contrast, the Aunts and the Commanders are shown to have the highest rankings in the Gileadean society. They are powerful figures, with privileges such as the Aunts being allowed to read and write and the Commanders being permitted to get married and have a handmaid's assigned to

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