ipl-logo

Submissiveness In The Handmaids

193 Words1 Page

This quote shows that The Handmaids culture were taught to be submissive and it shows Offred’s interpretation of their strategies to stop revolutions or thoughts that could cause someone to revolt. The woman training them, Aunt Lydia, encourages all the handmaidens that even though the new concepts introduced in their schooling may seem strange at first, they will eventually become mundane or submissive. For if they didn’t the handmaidens would be punished for stepping out of line like one woman that did in the quote above. To promote the submissiveness all of them go through an indoctrination, the indoctrination is a brainwashing ritual at the Academy where they train to be handmaidens. In another scenario in Chapter 13, Offred describes a

Show More
Related

  • Outward Conformity In The Handmaid's Tale

    639 Words  | 3 Pages

    Outward conformity along with inward questioning, that is what the main character, presented in Margaret Artwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has to undertake in order to survive in a theocratic society. Stepping out of line in any way risks your life, so in a place where freedom of speech and basic human right’s no longer apply, Offered must comply with whatever rules they have in place and pretend to agree with the system, but in the inside, she cannot help but think about her past life, her husband, her daughter, before everything began. Flashbacks are integrated in the novel to not only compare the old society with the new one, but to also demonstrate this fake conformity Offred has to display to others and her internal struggle with giving up on escaping the Republic or just accepting her fate and playing by

    Read More

  • Control In The Handmaids Tale

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Handmaid’s Tale, the effects of suspicion on a society, on handmaid’s, are clearly visible; it can also be seen that the government’s method of control leads to the creation of a dystopia. The Handmaid’s Tale proves that a society built on fear and shaped by suspicion achieves near total control of the population by the ruling class, the government of Gilead in this case. In chapter 42, Aunt Lydia describes how they will no longer announce the crimes that the prisoners have committed at the Salvagings. Once Offred learns this she states, “Now we are left to our own devices, speculation” (Atwood 275). Therefore, through Offered, the reader is able to see how the handmaid 's will now have suspicions of what the prisoners did to get hanged, since they are no longer being told.

    Read More

  • Femininity In The Handmaid's Tale

    1008 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout the novel, aphorisms play a large role in depicting the role of women as subservient to their male counterparts. By altering distinct aphorisms from the Bible and then locking it away from women, the male leaders of Gilead use the Bible to impose their rules and views. These modified sayings are instrumental in the effort of the subjugation and indoctrination of Handmaid’s. Although Offred resists conforming to such brainwashing, her constant references to Aunt Lydia's precepts are indication of the success of such tactics. One saying in particular, “Modesty is invisibility” (Atwood 28), is so indoctrinated in Offred that she conforms to the doctrines and rules of Gilead without hesitation.

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tail Essay

    945 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Equal Rights Amendment and the Struggle for Women’s Rights The American women’s rights movement has come a long way in the last century. This branch of the civil rights movement worked towards achieving equality for women in various areas over the years, from voting to abortion. One of the goals of the movement since the beginning of the 20th century has been the addition of an amendment to the constitution protecting citizens from gender discrimination.

    Read More

  • Control Of Women In The Handmaids Tale

    678 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Handmaid 's Tale power is used to control the women and sort them into certain gender roles. Each women in the society of Gilead is assigned a certain job that is stereotypical of a woman 's job such as cooking, sex, and reproduction. These women are the lowest class in Gilead and have no control. The men have superior power of the women but the women such as Ofgeln and Offred gain control in power in their lives. Men have an upper hand in the control of these women.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Conformity In The Handmaid's Tale

    856 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the factors used by the characters in the two novels for their survival is conformity. An example of conformity that plays an important role in the two novels is clothing. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the classifications of each individual are conformed by different clothing. The Handmaids wear red dresses, Marthas wear green, Wives wear blue, Ecowives wear stripes dresses of the three colours, and Commanders and the Angels wear black clothing. According to Offred from The Handmaid's Tale, “The wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen” (Atwood 9).

    Read More

  • Conformity In The Handmaid's Tale

    1854 Words  | 8 Pages

    Conformity in the Handmaid’s Tale A Japanese proverb says, “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down”. As seen in several historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials or the Holocaust, this concept illustrates the idea that nonconformity will get punished or suppressed. During the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler’s populist regime led to subservience out of fear because resistance was too dangerous.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rebellion in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine not being able to do what you used to do because some actions are forbidden in this new society. In the Handmaid's Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are limited to certain actions. Throughout the story, Offred’s actions are rebellious because she has broken so many rules. Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellion by showing the Commanders and Offred’s affair developing throughout time and the actions of both characters.

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Power In The Handmaids Tale

    1504 Words  | 7 Pages

    “Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.”- William Gaddis. People take advantage of power when it is entrusted to them because of their own greed, which as a result lead to societal deterioration. In the story, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, the higher-ups from Gilead abuse the power that is given to them, ruining the life of the citizens in the society. This was the cause for the need of higher birth rates and fixing conflicts in the world, but this was handled immorally.

    Read More

  • Passivity In Handmaid's Tale

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book A Handmaid’s Tale passivity is a common theme throughout Offred’s journey as a handmaid. In this context, passivity is allowing others to do things to you without complaining or pushing back to protect oneself and to keep oneself safe from harm or cruel treatment. There are several instances in which Offred is forced to be passive in order to please the people who have Offreds life in their hands. In the position that Offred is in as a handmaid, she is expected to do as her commander and the wife of her commander instructs her to do, and if she does not comply to these orders, no matter how unusual or unfair, she faces severe punishment or even death in the worst of cases. Just like Offred there are several other women who are forced to call Gilead home that must be passive in order to stay alive.

    Read More

  • Strength In The Handmaid's Tale

    489 Words  | 2 Pages

    ”But it’s too late to think about that now, already their feet are on the dusty-rose carpeting of the stairs” (Atwood, 293). Offred debates many ways that she could escape or kill herself, but in the end she realizes that she doesn’t want to die, and that she wants to continue on. Strength is shown repeatedly throughout The Handmaid’s Tale. Offred is pushed and forced to do things that she would never do, and through it all she is able to come out strong, and in the end, hopefully survive all she has been

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

  • Totalitarianism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1251 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of

    Read More

  • Patriarchy In The Handmaid's Tale

    1122 Words  | 5 Pages

    Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, argues that women are instruments of the patriarchy, that women know this, and that women allow the system of oppression to live on. Her fictions ask, “What stories do women tell about themselves? What happens when their stories run counter to literary conventions or society’s expectations?” (Lecker 1). The Handmaid’s Tale is told through the protagonist, Offred, and allows readers to follow through her life as a handmaid while looking back on how life used to be prior to the societal changes.

    Read More

More about Submissiveness In The Handmaids

Open Document