The Handmaid's Tale Essays Examples Essays (Examples)

How different it was to be from the loose ungoverned part I had acted before, and how much happier a life of virtue and sobriety is, than that which we call a life of pleasure."(moll Flander, Chapter 38). By this choice of words, Defoe contrasts sobriety and pleasure and the conclusion could be that there is no pleasure for the virtuous. By "life of pleasure," he means, of course, rather the life a whore than anything else, but the ambiguity remains. At that stage, like Offred, Moll, who could also be called "Ofthebanker" lived through all the various possibilities a woman had at her time. By using her most powerful tool, her sexuality, she attracted all kinds of men and manipulated them into taking care of her, one way or another. She also used her intelligence to manipulate the women around her, but her success in doing it was also…

Not only do the handmaids have no privacy; they sleep with their masters under the watchful eye of the wives. Their days are segmented and scheduled. omen lack autonomy and their bodies belong not to them but to the oppressors. One of the most poignant reminders of the low position of women in Gilead society is the invasive and coercive medical examination required for all handmaids. "hen I'm naked I lie down on the examining table," begins Offred, retelling one of the many days in which male doctors probed her. "He deals with a torso only," (p. 67). The doctor's free reign and his dealing with her as a "torso only" underscore the position of women in Gilead. They are animals. They are machines. "My breasts are fingered in their turn," (p. 67). Using the passive voice, Offred senses the deep impersonality of the situation and just as she does…

Handmaid's Tale

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." [Genesis 3:16] -- (Chapter 19)

The above verse was revealed after Eve was deceived by the serpent and she ate the forbidden fruit and made Adam eat is as well. Then God cursed Eve stating that she will have to go through pain during labor. The Republic of Gilead interprets and follows this verse in a way that God wants woman to give birth through the pain and if they try to use methods to ease the pain, then they are defying God's plan. Being extremist Christians, they prohibited the use of any pain killers. As Aunt Lydia is seen to explain that women are not allowed to use such pain killers because God…

Now she is forced to accept her demeaning role as a handmaid and forget that she ever had a family, a voice to speak out, or any rights at all.

Offred's past is ultimately what makes her present so unbearable. If she had never known any other way to live, then it would be easier for her to accept her lot in life as a handmaid. However the fact that she had experienced so many more freedoms before the coup and the chemicals and the pollution that changed everything, makes it all the more difficult for her to adjust. Her situation is not unlike someone who has lived free and then suddenly finds themselves spending life in prison. Had they lived their whole life in prison, they would not know what it is like to live free, so they would likely handle it much better than someone who had to…

Handmaid's Tale

Atwood Creation of Alternate orld

About the Book

The book Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood is the tale of a woman named Offred who belonged to the Republic of Gilead. Some particular details were published at the time the novel that recommended Gilead's time frame to be in the current since the State of Gilead is now appears as the new form of a northeastern American State.

The story is a bitter mockery on the state of present day's culture, with alertness of what may happen if some particular extremist groups attain the strength and power. However, the significant and main theme of the novel is not only just on the liberty and freedom but also a debate as to whether the freedom from harm is more costly than the independence of ones own will.

Atwood Creation of Alternate orld

The author has written the book on the…

The
Commander (whose last handmaid hung herself in the bedroom) begins to meet
with Offred after his wife goes to sleep. One evening, she finds he has
brought her sexually revealing clothing with makeup and he takes her to a
speakeasy, staffed by prostitutes. It is there she meets Moira again, who
is working there. Moira tells Offred that she saw Offred's mother in a
movie where she had been sent to one of the radioactive colonies. Offred's
mother would have been considered an "Unwoman" for two reasons - she had
been a radical feminist before the revolution and she was beyond
childbearing age.

The Commander's wife - a former gospel singer known as Serena Joy -
suspects that Offred is not conceiving because of the Commander not being
able to impregnate her, but this cannot be mentioned. Serena then
arranges that Offred go to meet with Nick, the chauffeur,…

Freibert; "The custom of using the handmaid for progeny permeated Israelite history and custom" (Domville, 2006). Legal documents that date back to the 15th Century BC support biblical records of that practice, Domville continues.

In another scholarly article in the University of Toronto Quarterly (Neuman, 2006), the writer explains that Atwood, and outspoken feminist from Canada, insisted after publishing the book that she, Atwood, "invented nothing" in her descriptions of the fascist state of Gilead. "There is nothing in the book that hasn't already happened...All the things described in the book, people have already done to one another" (Neuman, 2006).

But Neuman is quick to point out that not every critic buys into Atwood's believe that this dystopian is plausible. Critic Dean Flower wrote that Atwood's premises in the Handmaid's Tale is "...so lacking in plausibility or inevitability as to be embarrassing" (Neuman, 2006).

But back to the original thesis:…

Gender as Prison

At first reading, Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale seem to have little to do with each other except for the very general fact that both novels have elements of social and political commentary in them. But, while the world's portrayed in these books are fundamentally different from each other, a closer reading suggests important intersections and congruences in the novels around the subject of gender. For in both cases, the major characters are both defined by and in important ways imprisoned by their gender. In the case of Atwood's protagonist, the prison is one that she actively resists because she is always clear that it is a prison, while Babbitt is initially convinced that he is a free man. By the end of the novels, each has come to a different understanding of the ways in which gender (which is to say,…

" (Atwood, 4) the seamless convergence of the warm familial title 'aunt' with the image of this corporal mode of enforcement helps to underscore a society that is violently hostile toward independence, particularly contextualized by its treatment of women. There is an element of forcible control over these women that smacks of government imposition, a key element of the society and the primary mode through which the rights of women are disrupted.

Certainly, the aggression which seems to be an increasingly inescapable aspect of the is channeled toward the female gender as a whole in Atwood's novel, even as Offred struggles to recognize this. She herself ponders the meaning of the valued traditionalism in her society; "A return to traditional values. aste not want not. I am not being wasted. hy do I want?" (Atwood, 7) it is clear that, far separated from the notion of femininity as something more…

political, social, and civil rights as they are, the notion of possible futures haunts nearly everyone. Potential political realities in the present and not-so-distant future are examined in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time. These novels have become modern classics precisely because of their poignant relevance to real-world social and political affairs. Although both Atwood's and Piercy's novels are at least in part set in future times, both tales are devoid of any significant characteristics that distinguish them from the present day reality. Thus, both The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time eerily depict life in modern-day America even as they bridge gaps in time. In particular, issues related to gender and to political power are salient in both books. Through the core elements of their narratives, The Handmaid's Tale and Woman on the Edge of Time reveal that male-dominated…

Gender, Sexuality, and Identity -- Question 2 "So, is the category bisexuality less or more threatening to the status quo than is homosexuality?"

The passage suggests that in fact, rather than presenting patriarchic constructs of identity with less threatening formulation of human sexual identity, bisexuality does the exact opposite -- it presents common social norms with the more threatening notion that human sexuality is not an either/or 'Chinese menu' option of stable choices. The practice of homosexuality, even when it is deemed taboo and beyond the pale of the human sexual order is still a 'comfort' to the heterosexual norm. The construct of homosexuality suggests that human sexuality exists in an either/or dichotomy. So long as one is attracted to the opposite gender one is, in essence, safe from the presumably aberrant, even pathological orientation of homosexuality.

However, bisexuality presents a potentially fluid rendering of human sexual desire, whereby even…

acculturative stress of African Catholic Missionary Nuns (ACMN) serving in the United States. This chapter is divided into five parts. The first part explains the meaning of acculturation and adaptation experiences specific to missionaries. This part emphasizes (1) different perspectives from social and behavioral scientists examining the phenomenon of acculturation (2) different theoretical models describing the stages of acculturation (3) dissimilarities between immigrants and missionary immigrants and what makes the two unique. The second part of this chapter examines the emotional and psychological distress missionaries experience as a result of acculturative stress. The third part focuses on coping strategies and resilience of missionaries. The fourth part introduces the existing literature in the area of acculturative stress of missionaries, emphasizing on limited empirical research in this subject and the necessity for further research in this area of study.

Part One: Background and Overview

Different Social and Behavioral Scientific Perspectives Concerning Acculturation.…

Storni, Alfonsina. "You ant Me hite." The Norton Anthology of orld

Vol. F. Ed. Sarah Lawall and Mayard Mac. New York: Norton, 2002. 2124-2125

The poem titled "You ant Me hite" written by Alfonsina Storni explores the issue of women mistreatment by men. The women complain how men expect them to be virgins when they (men ) are not.

Atwood, Margaret and Martin, Valerie.The Handmaid's Tale . Anchor.1998

In this book the author portrays how women are only valued for their fertility and they are allowed access to education in the patriarch society. This work is important to the research since it shows how women were mistreated by being regarded as sex symbols as well as not being allowed access to education.

Staves, Susan. Married omen's Separate Property Rights in England, 1660(1833. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1990.

This work is a recollection of the actual case studies and examples of various…

Kubrick himself suggested the baton be passed onto Spielberg due to that director's unique abilities.

The play was originally-based Brian Aldiss's short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," on which a.I. is based, in 1983 (Corliss 1-3). In the Kubrick formulation, the world is a lot darker and Gigolo Joe is much more aggressive. According to Corliss in the "Joe was much more aggressive, more twisted." Here he is, in Spielberg's word, David's "scoutmaster." Spielberg did this to solve many of the problems Spielberg had with the text, Joe being one of the biggest problems. By softening things and making them more human and less dark, he provided solution to the problem (Ibid 1). The Flesh Fair and Rouge City are vintage Kubric and remained a part of the body of the work. Garish scenery completes this menagerie Spielberg identifies himself with the abandoned child (ibid 2).

It is the…

Clown in illiam Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Othello:

Comic relief and symbolism

The Elizabethan playwright illiam Shakespeare is the author of some of the most famous tragedies every written. The Tragedy of Othello is one of the rawest of all of his works, given that it is a romantic drama that hinges upon one of the most primal emotions of all human beings -- the sensation of jealousy. The jealousy of Iago for the great Moorish general Othello, and Othello's debilitating fear that his young wife Desdemona has been unfaithful is frustrating for the audience to watch, given the unjustified nature of both Iago's and Othello's emotions. However, as he does with all of his dramas, Shakespeare uses humor to provide comic relief during tense situations. This can also be seen in the character of the gravedigger in Hamlet and the use of the Porter in Macbeth. In Othello Shakespeare…

I think the state should be neutral, and there should be opportunities for everyone, but that is not real life. I think that men mostly run government, but to call states patriarchal seems too extreme for me. I believe that there will be more opportunities for women both in government and the private sector, and that this is a wiser and less volatile outlook than the more radical feminist ideas. I do not have a problem with women or minorities in government, and I believe the state should encourage and make way for more of this type of participation.

As far as economic ideals are concerned, I believe a blend of the Minimalist and the Developmental state is the best alternative. I believe that capitalism is a good thing, but that wealth does not need to be distributed evenly, so I am not a fan of the socio-democratic state. I…

China Syndrome

Several interesting facts surrounding he China Syndrome are worth bringing out at the beginning of this paper. First, Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and Michael Douglas, the principal actors in the film, were all actively anti-nuclear at one time during the 1970s and 1980s in California and Oregon. Fonda in fact flew from Los Angeles to Eugene Oregon in 1976 to appear as a celebrity on behalf of the proponents of Measure B, a ballot proposition (which failed) that would have restricted the further development of nuclear plants in Oregon pending the establishment of a safe repository for the highly radioactive "nuclear waste."

he same kind of ballot measure that was voted on in California in 1976, and was defeated because of massive advertising by the utilities, which used scare-tactic V commercials showing a family eating dinner by candlelight (the direct implication was that the lights would go out…

Crash

Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Crash

Crash is a 2004 film that analyzes racial and social tensions that are rampant in society. Crash is divided into a series of vignettes that converge through a series of automobile accidents. The film features an all-star cast that includes Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Pena, Chris Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Frasier, Terence Howard, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate, and Thandie Newton. Issues of race and ethnicity, in addition to gender, can be seen in the storyline that involves Dillon, Phillipe, Howard, and Newton.

In the film, Matt Dillon plays racist LAPD Officer John Ryan and Ryan Phillipe is his more tolerant partner, Tom Hansen. In the film, Ryan and Hansen pull over TV director Cameron Thayer and his wife, Christine, because the vehicle that they are driving matches the description of a vehicle that was recently stolen. In the first encounter…