Oppression Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

If women wanted to do anything other than care for the household, they would be looked down upon and titled as an unfit mother or wife. The Canterbury Tales displayed women as an ideology that women could not hold power and that beauty could be obtained by altering their appearance for women to become attributes for men. In this society, Chaucer is sympathetic to women while also realizing that men own women. The Wife of Bath went through five husbands, each giving her just what she wanted. All of her marriages taught her something different, either you get love or your give love.

These standards take every ounce of power from the women and hand it to the men, preventing women from overcoming these standards. For example, Angela Vicario, the youngest daughter in her family, suffers through the judgement of society and the set standards of marriage and virginity. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, the author illustrates how men force women into submissive roles in society in order to emphasize how it causes women to feel powerless and lessens their ability to attain equality with men. One illustration, proved by Bayardo San Román, demonstrates how men have the power to force women into submissive roles, especially through marriage. When he first comes to town with silver saddlebags matching his belt, he amazes everyone through his power and wealth.

Imagine living in a world where roles are given, freedom is taken, and you must abide to the rules unjust to everyone. Would you fight back, or reluctantly follow these oppressive rules? Offred is an independent and emotional woman who is forced into labor. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women are forced into certain labor based on their fertility and status in this new society. Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country.

Dystopian societies, conveyed through The Handmaid's Tale and Bumped, often control women’s relationships and bodies to stay in power. In Handmaid’s Tale, there is a hierarchy based on gender, where the men are placed at the top or near the top. Women are lower, thus tend to end up being treated like property and have many more restrictions placed upon them. On page 28, Offred mentions, “Modesty is invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. Never forget it.

She also had to learn to ignore that her family was taken away from her (Canton 13). Offred falls in love with Nick, who was the Commander’s helper. Living in this society as a Handmaid would not be a life many people would want. As a Handmaid, one must follow strict rules; their thoughts and actions would be almost completely controlled. Handmaids are forced to have sex with a man who does not see them as anything other than a “two-legged womb” (Atwood

Throughout the arguments by Wollstonecraft and Mill, the customs of society primarily created by men, support the oppression and prejudice against women. In turn, this has impeded the development of a women’s morality. So, what if there were no men to impede women? In 1915, Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman proposed a fictional society that was comprised entirely of women in the novel, “Herland”. The society is isolated from the outside world and the women reproduce through parthenogenesis, or asexual reproduction (“Feminist Ethics”).

Imagine living in a world where roles are given, freedom is taken, and you must abide to the rules unjust to everyone. Would you fight back, or reluctantly follow these oppressive rules? Offred is an independent and emotional woman who is forced into labor. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, women are forced into certain labor based on their fertility and status in this new society. Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country.

Atwood parodies the way some of the religious right may perceive women in which they are important for creating life by introducing handmaids, women who have been reduced into only their procreative purposes. Another technique that was used is when she parodies the way traditional families’ wives take on the names of their husband. In the story, handmaids are named “Of” plus the name of their commander, criticizing how changing the surnames makes it seem like the men are the owners of the women. The way these issues were satirized in the story are effective because of the role of the main character. It would be difficult to not sympathize with a victim of a totalitarian society that oppresses women to a much greater extent than to that of men.

1. Three political issues that are most evident for women during the 1960’s and 1970’s Chicana/o Movement are oppression, machismo, and control over their bodies. Chicana’s encountered oppression from La Raza because they focused on getting equal rights for the men and completely put the women’s needs aside. Women were not accepted by the leaders in the Chicano Movement or the Anglo establishment (Vidal 22). Chicana’s experienced machismo within the Chicano Movement because they were seen useful only to perform sexual activities or support the men.

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. Throughout the novel, aphorisms play a large role in depicting the role of women as subservient to their male counterparts.