Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"

Paper Summary:

The paper describes how Margaret Atwood in "The Handmaid's Tale" suggests some of the failures in contemporary society by projecting these shortcomings into a future society. The paper explores Atwood's concerns about the nature of the family, the danger of pollution and the fear of women that the gains they have made will be taken away. The paper concludes that the novel highlights how much more has to be done to create the truly egalitarian society most people want.

From the Paper:

"Offred experiences not only the demands placed upon her to be a surrogate mother but also many other indignities as her society imposes its code upon her, forcing her to dress and behave in a certain way or be punished. Atwood develops a vision of the place of women in society today as well as in this future, using an extreme situation to comment on the secondary position women occupy in Western society today. The story is set in a future United States called Gilead. This new version of the U.S. came into being after the President was assassinated and the Constitution suspended, after which an authoritarian regime developed based on a return to traditional values and fundamentalist Christianity. Gilead has what amounts to a state religion and ruthlessly eliminates all who would take a different point of view."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballantine, 1985.

More papers on Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale":

• Comparison Essay # 100871 : "Dreams and Memories in "Nineteen Eighty Four" and "The Handmaids Tale"
• Analytical Essay # 20884 : "Margaret Atwood "The Handmaid's Tale"
• Comparison Essay # 100541 : "1984" and "The Handmaid's Tale"

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