"The Handmaid's Tale"

Book Review # 96882

English > Analysis
Literature > Canadian

An analysis of the patriarchal society of Gilead and the position of women as depicted in Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale".

1,959 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 1999

Paper Summary:

This paper deals with women in Atwood's future dystopia showing the society of the United States as extremely patriarchal with women being depicted as physical objects of fertility, a walking uterus. It contends that the novel is not only a critique of the society but also a warning that any time women are defined according to certain stereotypes (sexual or parental) the results are equally confining and ruinous for women and society.

From the Paper:

"By assassinating the president and the Congress and suspending the Constitution, a new state authority based on religious conservatism is formed. Women are dismissed from work, their money is taken away: "They've frozen them, she said. Mine too. The collective's too. Any account with an F on it instead of an M" (187). Over night the economical basis of their emancipation is destroyed. The law prohibiting ownership of property by women actually existed in the 19th century and earlier, just as many other extreme aspects of Gileadean culture (in some parts of the world a few exist even today). There are no libraries, books, or newspapers, no brothels or porno shops, no cinemas or restaurants. There is no money; everything can be bought with tokens. "

Sample of Sources Used:

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. London: Vintage, 1996
Atwood Margaret. Sluskinjina pri a. Zagreb: Globus, 1988
Webster's Encyclopaedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Gramercy Books, 1989
www. wsu. edu: 8080/ brians/science-fiction/handmaid. html