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16 views3 pages

Conclusion Edited

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Hicham Maiden
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Conclusion

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale employs several aspects to give a full

picture of a dystopian world. Oppression and injustice are the main factors of the novel. In

the full picture, Atwood portrays all the suffering that women going through. Women's body

becomes a sexual tool to reproduce as the main function and for pleasure as a hidden

function. Therefore, women are being used and sexually oppressed. Also, they are stripped

from all basic rights. Moreover, women’s identity is disappeared in the novel. It is one of the

massive changes from democratic country to Gilead. Neither education is allowed nor taking

care of herself, which affects handmaids freedom. Hence, freedom in the Handmaid’s Tale is

subjective. Women in Gilead cannot define freedom or control their choices as individuals,

they must only obey the rules. Religion, on the other hand, represents a useful tool to gain

dominance and hypocrisy. Aunts use religious speech to control handmaids, while men in a

full contradiction to religious teaching have sexual acts outside the marriage framework.

Oppressing, however, have casualties. Women through the novel react differently.

Unlike Janine who abides by the law, several other characters oppose it. Opposing Gilead's

laws takes two forms. Organize resistance presented in Mayday and individual one through

characters. Atwood uses the theme of resistance in her story to shed light to readers that

women will face injustice even though their weakness. Ofglen sacrifice her life to protect

Mayday. Her action shows the highest form of courage, which comes as a characteristic of

women in the novel. Furthermore, the author mentions the fierce side of women in Moira.

She, fearlessly, confront another opponent to escape. Thus, women's resistance in the novel

represents the opposing power to injustice. Women face patriarchalism cruelty in the same

form of Good versus Evil.

Women’s relationship in the novel takes many forms. Wives consider handmaids as
rivals because of them that they could share their husbands in the ceremony. Also, the fact

that handmaids are fertile while wives are not created not only rivalry but also envy.

Handmaids have what wives could not possess, the ability to give birth. Also, Atwood uses

color narrating to differentiate between women's categories. The colors symbolism allow the

reader to have a better understanding of characters and their impact on women to women

relationships. Colors, then, plays an important role in the story which is describing women's

function and their social status. Furthermore, the individual connection among women takes a

large space in women's relationship. Either a head-on conflict or total submission. While

some passage shows Offred and Serena Joy direct conflict, other events take portray

handmaids submission to aunts. The relationship purpose in the novel is to show to which

extent women are different and divided.

Atwood main purpose in The Handmaid’s Tale is to criticize the patriarchal system.

She pictures the difficult situation upon which women are going through. She employs

flashbacks to compare between the good life before Gilead and the unjust one in Gilead.

Also, she uses positive women's characteristic to question men's dominance. Handmaids are

brave in the novel unlike men, which is used as a critique factor in the novel. In addition,

Atwood uses the Marxism approach to criticize religion and social inequality. Same as

Marxist theory, religion in the novel is only a mean to have control over citizens. Also,

through the Marxism approach, she attacks social inequality between classes.

The handmaid’s Tale is an important fiction that deals with women’s issues insides

society. It may be writing in the eighties but Atwood ideas still valid at our time. Some

countries still treated women similarly to Gilead. Thus, Margret Atwood’s novel is a crucial

story to learn woman's values and change our ideologies towards them.

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