The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

In order that she may be able to give her hand with dignity, she must be able to stand alone."- Margaret Fuller. Before the twentieth century, women had no rights whatsoever. They could notç vote, hold a public office and were limited in the work force. Majority of women's roles in society were to clean, cook, and teach. This is similar to the women in the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The women of the Republic of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale were exploited, treated like obstacles and limited to one role in society. Today, women have the power to be anything they want to be. The roles of women have evolved over the past century from being the caretaker in their homes to having the same equal opportunities as men; this demonstrates Margaret Atwood's purpose in her novel The Handmaid's Tale, which exemplifies the empowerment women have in the twenty-first century societies.

In the Handmaid's Tale women are oppressed, and treated like objects. This is synonymous of how we have treated women through out history as well as people of other races. Margaret Atwood objectifies women in three different categories to ironically display the prejudice society has shown against them. These three categories are: Marthas, Handmaids and Wives.

"Its female population is divided into classes based on household functions, each class clad in a separate color that instantly identifies the wearer- dull green for the Marthas (houseworkers); blue for the Wives; red, blue and green stripes for the Econowives (working class); red for the Handmaids (whose function is to bear children to the head of the household ..." (McCarthy)

The primary function of the Martha is to be the caretaker of the home, clean and cook (Coad). They are forced to wear a green veil to distinguish what they are in society. In Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Rita is the Martha of Offred's household. Rita believes that Offred is just another "household chore, one among many"(Atwood 48). This demonstrates that not only society is discriminating against women, but they are discriminating against themselves as well. When people within their own group oppress each other, it gives others the rights to do the same thing. The primary job of the Handmaids is to reproduce. "I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice but there was some, and this is what I chose."(Atwood 94) This shows the limited power that the Handmaids have in their lives. The last category that women are classified as in the novel The Handmaid's Tale is Wives. The Wives, are simply " sterile" (Sunday Times), so they don't have anywhere else to go in society. This makes them jealous of the Handmaids who have the power to reproduce and go back to Margaret Atwood's purpose of writing this novel in that, in anyway women chose to show it they have the power to do anything they want. This could also mean they have to the power to believe in anything they believe in too, which is being jealous of each other. When women are jealous of one another they can't work together and accomplish any goal, which is demonstrated in The Handmaid's Tale.

The dichotomy between the American Slave trade and the discrimination against women is ridiculously similar. They are both people of two different groups who have been oppressed merely because of their appearances. These two groups are also similar in other aspects as well. In the novel The Handmaid's Tale, women were forced to reproduce, this was the same with African Americans on plantations. "Forced procreation arose from widespread slavery associated with plantation agriculture..." (Merriman) The reason why these two groups were forced to have offspring, was for the same purpose. They were to help society as a whole. One aspect that these two groups have in common though is they both proved that they deserved their rights in society. This is part of Margaret Atwood's overall purpose in her novel The Handmaid's Tale to display how women overcome obstacles.

One thing humans don't realize is that we are constantly discriminating and persecuting against a gender, race or religion. Women throughout history have worked extremely hard to gain their rights and could easily have them taken away. Women's losing their rights has been demonstrated tremendously through the Taliban. Afghanistan has issued the "confinement of women to the home, the compulsory wearing of burkhas..." (Swale) This is similar to the women in The Handmaid's Tale. Women are forced to wear specific clothing's aka the veils, and have no option. Also in the Taliban, "Women were no longer allowed