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Human Reproduction In The Handmaid's Tale

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In The Handmaid’s Tale, human reproduction seems to be the driving force behind the totalitarian regime put in place by the government. This importance placed upon reproduction is due to a large decline in fertility, due to a number of environmental factors. The Republic of Gilead also seems to be a patriarchal society. Men are seen as superior, and they have more freedoms than women. Men are not seen as part of the reproduction problem. While talking with her doctor, Offred states: “There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law” (Atwood 61). This view of men as superior to women causes a lot of freedoms to be stripped from the females. Women are

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