The Handmaids Tale Essays (1692 words) - The Handmaids Tale, Operas

The Handmaid's Tale ISP Essay - The Handmaid's Tale Many fictitious novels written today mirror real life; this tactic can provide readers with a sense of formality. Yet in some cases, fictitious novels provide readers with the shocking realization of a society's self destruction. I believe The Handmaid's Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, falls in the second category. Issues raised in this novel such as manipulation, public punishment, ignorance, and pollution are problems we face in the world today. Atwood's conception of the future encompasses many of these problems, and her use of these extreme conditions force readers to recognize her book as a warning; against creating the realities of Gilead in our world today. In the novel, men abuse their power in order to satisfy their personal needs. One mastermind of the Gileadean Era perfects his control over Offred with each secret visit. As a handmaid, with the added responsibility of being a companion, she learns of her inevitable servitude towards her Commander from an old friend. He's my Commander, I say. She nods. Some of them do that, they get a kick out of it. It's like screwing on the altar or something: your gang are supposed to be such chaste vessels. They like to see you all painted up. Just another crummy power trip. - page 228 The Commander's Wife also takes advantage of the power she has over Offred's life. In return for performing the illegal act of having sex with a man other than the Commander, the Wife will produce a picture of Offred's long-lost child. This form of blackmail cruelly introduces hope to Offred, a notion which has been foreign to her for many years. She suddenly envisions hope of regaining her previous life, along with all of the rights she once took for granted. The day which began this horrible nightmare, is one she will never forget. In this one day, Offred lost her job, access to her life savings, and any say regarding her future. This is a frighteningly similar situation to an article written in the July '97 issue of Homemaker's Magazine. A ragtag band of bandits called the Taliban ... thundered into the capital city of Kabul on September 27 of last year, and overnight the lives of women and girls were catapulted back to the dark ages. After hanging the government leaders in the public square, the Taliban announced their draconian decrees on the radio: schools for girls were immediately closed. Women could no longer work. They had to be completely covered ... because a woman's face corrupts men.1 (Global Issues) Muslim scholars all over the world say this is a grab for power and control in a country that's been struggling with unrest for 18 years. It is also misogyny, a contempt for women that goes hand in hand with the disturbing rise in extremism in Muslim countires.2 (Global Issues) Men who abuse their power, for whatever reason, pose a serious problem to society's advancement. As Atwood presents this issue in her book, the connection to the situation in Afghanistan establishes an alarming insight into a conceivable future. Besides the issue of women being manipulated, the government of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale abuses its power in other ways. Public hangings, or Salvagings, are another example. This method to deter subversive activity is taken to the extreme; the criminals of society are first drugged, and then hung in an absurd setting, where the whole town is forced to witness an act that present Western civilization considers private. Yet in Atwood's future world, dead bodies hanging on the Wall are a common sight. We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn't matter if we look. We're supposed to look: this is what they are there for, hanging on the Wall. Sometimes they'll be there for days, until there's a new batch, so as many people as possible will have the chance to see them. - page 31 The Eyes who control Gilead choose to kill off all political dissenters, falsely accusing them of committing illegal acts, then punishing them in a public manner that is very disturbing. This fictitious scene is not far from the truth in India, where the lynching of a village girl and her two alleged lovers made Canadian newspaper headlines. The public lynching was thought necessary by the court in order to punish the 16-year-old girl of eloping with members of different