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Quotations In The Handmaid's Tale

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The first quotation is taken from the first few chapters of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. The novel does not seem to be set in a specific time period just before and after a post-apocalyptic catastrophe. At the beginning of this quote, Oryx is talking to Jimmy about the life she lived and how her community was as a child. The second quotation is taken from the first couple of chapters in The Handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood. The novel is set in the totalitarian regime of Gilead and the protagonist Offred recounts the different coloured clothing that separate the ranks in the regime as she steps out to go to the supermarket. These quotations are similar in terms of theme. In both, Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale, sexualization …show more content…

From reading these novels, one can see that both types of authority figures have a great influence over everything done in each community. In Oryx and Crake, the compounds are the basic stand point of the CorpSeCorps, so when Jimmy's mother escapes it causes Jimmy to be a target. The compounds are meant to keep people in to "protect" everyone. Jimmy's whereabouts are being monitored by the CorpSeCorps in order to determine the whereabouts of his mother who he has not spoken to in a long time. Comparatively, Jimmy's mother must be tracked down until her official death is confirmed. In The Handmaid's Tale, Offred has suspicions of Nick being an Eye. The Eyes are security individuals similar to the CorpSeCorps. In speaking about their purpose or origin, they differ slightly. The Eyes are so secretive, that no one knows who is or isn't one. In addition, they are meant to spy on people, but to people living in Gilead they are seen as the eyes of the lord; based upon religious perspectives. When Offred was accompanied by Nick she was relieved, but also suspected him to be an Eye. Lastly, both governments believe the only way to achieve this control is through fear, explaining the strict rules and monitoring of the people. This is portrayed through both

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Handmaid's Tale Quotes

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The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood has a great deal of quotes with strong meanings behind them. The quotes in the novel force you think because they apply to how people live their lives in our own society. One quote that I thought applied to some of my own personal experiences was from chapter 30, and it said “ You can’t help what you feel, Moira once said, but you can help how you behave” (192). In this quote the narrator contemplated her feelings toward Nick. She believes that she may like him, but doesn’t think it would be honorable to replace Luke, her husband from before.

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Motifs In The Handmaid's Tale

1107 Words | 5 Pages

Further in the novel, we see Offred’s moral traits become even more compromised by her surroundings. When a black van with an eye painted on it drives by her, Offred’s fears that “there must have been microphones, they’ve heard us after all” (Bronte 169). Living in Gilead has taught her to fear her opinions of the society; those before her who rebelled all ended dead. When the police drag a man to the car and brutalize him, Offred’s first feeling is relief and says “What I feel is relief. It wasn’t me.”

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Essay On The Oppression Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

1620 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout history, women have often been subjected to prejudice and an inferior status to men. Due to sexist ideologies of men believing that women are not capable of controlling their own lives, women have often been reduced to the status of property. This concept is prominent in many pieces of literature to demonstrate the struggles women have to go through in a predominantly, male structured world. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the author illustrates a woman’s battle in an extreme society ruled by men to express the misogyny occurring in the time period when it was written, 1894. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia summarizes Atwood’s story as one that “depicts one woman’s chilling struggle to survive in a society ruled by misogynistic fascism, by which women are reduced to the condition of property.”

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How Does Margaret Atwood Use Allusions In The Handmaids Tale

2713 Words | 11 Pages

As many devout Christians would say, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, takes the idea of political legitimacy in a corrupt society and identifies its source of power: God. Atwood’s narrative follows the life of a young woman named Offred, an independent woman working in American publishing when the country is taken over by the state of Gilead. In the newly formed Gilead, women able to have children are indoctrinated by the teachings of Aunts. These women, who are inspired by Nuns, restructure Offred and her peer’s views on social structures in the Republic of Gilead, which are subsequently conservative due to their religious allusions

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Femininity In The Handmaid's Tale

1008 Words | 5 Pages

cultural constructs of femininity, identity, and the extent of government control. The story explores the affects social and political trends have on society. The Handmaid’s Tale evaluates gender roles and the subjugation of women. Atwood’s use of aphorisms, symbolism, and allusions urges readers to examine the juxtaposition of cruelty and vulnerability in femininity.

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Use Of Figurative Language In The Handmaid's Tale

1108 Words | 5 Pages

In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the protagonist, Offred, expresses her wish that her “story [is] different,” that it is “happier,” or at least “more active, less hesitant, less distracted” than it is ultimately portrayed (267). However, as her story is told, these characteristics are evident in the way she talks and acts, especially around those with authority. Hesitant to express her true thoughts and feelings, and distracted by memories from her previous life, Offred attempts to piece together her role in the society that has taken her freedom. The result is a compilation of moments, of memories, both from her present, her past, and even speculation about her future.

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Conflict In The Handmaids Tale

1436 Words | 6 Pages

There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (Atwood 91). This makes the reader believe that Offred has given into the social injustice at Gilead being the oppression of women.

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Imagery In The Handmaid's Tale

836 Words | 4 Pages

In face of severe situation, people often feel relief when they think of happier, simpler times in order to alleviate the severity. In the fiction novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, a theocracy government controls every aspect of life in order to produce the best result of its plans. At the beginning of chapter 12, Offred takes a required, but luxurious bath because she can take off the burdensome wings and veils. While she bathes, Offred remembers her daughter from the past and a time with her family. Atwood compares Offred’s past and present through imagery, tone, similes, and symbolism combined with parallel structure to highlight the vulnerability of women to their surroundings.

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Injustice In The Handmaid's Tale

1482 Words | 6 Pages

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates a quizzical protagonist, Offred, in a dystopian, totalitarian society where fertile women are only a mere vessel for child birth. Every month during Offred’s menstrual cycle her Commander, Fred, and his wife Serena Joy perform detached intercourse while Serena holds Offred’s hands. The handmaids of the Republic of Gilead are not allowed to use their mind for knowledge nor take part in formal society. They are but the vacuous-minded property to their Commanders and their infertile wives. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred discloses the day to day moments and her commicalOffred had once lived in a world where she was her own person with a job and a home with a family of her own but now she lives under unfortunate circumstances that disable her from being a true, soulful human.

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Symbolism In The Handmaid's Tale

1410 Words | 6 Pages

Symbolism can be defined as the use of symbols that an author uses to suggest more than the literal meaning of the object .Symbolism often allows the reader to understand the text better and connect with the story on a different level. In The Handmaid’s Tale, symbolism can be seen in various parts of the novel. One of the most common type of symbolism that can be identified in the text is through the use of colours. One of the most obvious symbols in the novel is the uniform that every Handmaid is supposed to wear.

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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.

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Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

801 Words | 4 Pages

There are two ways people will react to when their freedom is taken away. They will either accept it or rebel against it, which is what a lot of the female characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale accomplished. Shown through Offred’s repetition of certain events, Moira’s tone of being a fighter, and Serena Joy’s desperation, the reader can see that lack of freedom leads to rebellion. Offred, the novel’s narrator, now lives in a world where women are powerless. She has had her freedom taken away, and at times follows the rules, but ends up rebelling in many powerful ways.

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The Handmaid's Tale Analysis

952 Words | 4 Pages

In Margaret Atwood’s novel, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moira is depicted as the symbol for resistance to authority and represents hope to the Handmaids. Atwood presents her as a polar opposite to Offred. She is independent, strong-willed, and outspoken. Conversely, the pair can be argued to be doubles in the fact that they both ‘resist’ to the oppressive Republic in Gilead.

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Freedom In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

1364 Words | 6 Pages

Aunt Lydia’s more relevant quote in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, is the two freedoms, who gives the reader an accurate insight of the Gilead society. This quote exposes the contrast between the freedom before and after the settlement of the Republic of Gilead, and the mentality of the brainwashed nation. It is well known that the Gileadean era is a dystopia, but the reader must study deeper into both societies –Gileadean and pre-Gileadean- to understand which one is really worse. Before the appearing of the Republic of Gilead, freedom was seen as a person’s desire, however, on the Gileadean era, freedom is a collective idea. On the current community, freedom is settled by laws based on moral and social values, but ignoring the

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Handmaid's Tale Literary Analysis

857 Words | 4 Pages

Margaret Atwood has seamlessly woven a tapestry of feminist elements - mainly regarding gender oppression - within her works. With that, using two of Atwood’s texts, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Year of The Flood, as the foundation for our literary research, we will be focusing on the commodification of the female flesh in both similar dystopian contexts. Commodification refers to the action or process of treating an object, or a person, as a raw material or product that can be bought and sold, or even treated as an object of which sovereignty can be held over by one. In both works, women are victimized and treated as sexual beings whose bodies and physical expressions can be freely used by the men who have power over them against their will. The two texts illustrate how society brings about the oppression of women and this exacerbates the commodification of women.

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