The Handmaids Tale Literary Analysis of the Book [Essay]

The Handmaid’s Tale Book Analysis: General Information The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist novel that highlights the perils of women in a society that has not only dehumanized their status but also made it almost criminal to be a woman. The story highlights a cruel world where women do not enjoy the freedom of choice. Women are described as mere objects for male selfish desires and satisfaction. In The Handmaid’s Tale, analysis essay, gender roles and inequality issues will be reviewed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Handmaid’s Tale Literary Analysis of the Book [Essay] specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Using this law, men have withdrawn all the things that would have otherwise made life worth living for women. In the Republic of Gilead, women are not supposed to read, write, or even listen to music. These are luxuries only reserved for men. Women are also denied the natural pleasure s such as love and romance. They have seen as objects of male enjoyment, something that has no human values other than to make men happy. As such, they live in a dystopian world. The story reads like a fictional autobiography. It is told from the first-person point of view. However, this story is not just propaganda to highlight gender issues. This is because of its complex characters, setting, and thematic concerns. The male figure is torn between remaining loyal to the Faith or breaking the law and engaging in the pure pleasure of love and romance. The reader feels that some of the male characters identify with the suffering of the female character but cannot do anything as they are held ransom by the Faith. Critical Interpretation of the Story Setting The novel also seamlessly combines the fundamentals of modern religion with ancient totalitarian regimes of leadership, making it a masterpiece. The complexity of the story and the ideals it propagates makes it more than a work of f iction because it highlights real issues that affect modern-day societies. To a keen reader, the setting of the book is very complicated as it combines ancient, modern, and post-modernistic issues in an almost unnoticeable way. Time-wise, the novel is set not so much into the distant future. Geographically, the story happens in a land where the former United States of America lies after a Christian theocratic regime overthrows it. The Republic of Gilead, the resultant state, thus lies within the boundaries of the current United States of America. When the United States of America’s government is overthrown, and democracy is replaced by ancient Christian theocracy that borrows heavily from the Old Testament, the reader is thrown back in time to when the government hid behind religion to establish oppressive regimes. Still, the novels highlight the use of credit cards, effectively depicting a government desperate to fight pollution and other challenges of the modern world. That a commander rules the country brings the reader into the present-day world of absolute dictatorship (Atwood 81). The handmaids’ predicament who have to bear children for the Commander’s wives may be considered as symbolic of Rachel and Leah, the biblical Old Testament characters.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is the evidence that the social setting is heavily connected not only with fundamental Christian ideals but also with post-modernistic social issues such as population control. The complex nature of the environment, therefore, influences the direction of the story so that it helps the author to sufficiently blend historical and futuristic ideals in a way seen as still relevant to the modern world. The Handmaid’s Tale: Literary Criticism Analysis The reader can understand the story better upon a closer analysis of the characters. The main ch aracter is also the narrator and tells the story from the first-person point of view, making it more of an autobiography. The narrator, Offred, can be seen as both an objective observer and an actor. Telling the story from the first-person point of view means that any misinterpretations are avoided. As such, the reader is able to get information that is as close to the fact a first-person interpretation of those facts. Because the narrator is the emblem of the plight of all women in this society, telling the tale from the first-person point of view makes it easy for the reader to understand what women go through and at the same time, share in their plight. It also helps to make the story real and eliminates the notion that the story is just mere feministic propaganda (Brians para 10). Symbolism in the Book Offred is best understood from the analysis of her name, the symbolic roles she plays in the novel as the symbol of women suffering. Offred, the protagonist, is kidnapped from her husband and thus separated from her family by this oppressive dynasty. She is brought to the Commander’s house to bear children for his barren wife. Offred is her patronymic name that can be broken down into two names: of and Fred. This indicates that she is of Fred, meaning that she belongs to Fred, the Commander. The theme of freedom is clearly evident through the story. Offred is seen to change throughout the story from the wife of a peasant to the emblematic figure of women liberation. Her significance is seen through her symbolic birth name June, which in the context of the Republic of Gilead means Mayday, the day the women, will be salvaged from their torment. Her name June thus becomes symbolic of the rà ©sistance that would soon lead to their freedom (Atwood 220). It is possible to develop an understanding of the character from her description of herself. Despite living in a male-dominated world where the power of women has been dramatically curtailed, Offred still manages to maintain a self-awareness of who she is and confidently identifies herself as a woman without any hint that she belongs to any man. She describes her physical attributes that are distinctively feminine. Furthermore, despite living in a world where a woman is just an object of man’s desire Offred is able to strictly maintain the definition of herself as purely woman, devoid of any material trappings thus: ‘I am thirty-three years old. I have brown hair. I stand five seven without shoes’ (Atwood 143). It is this appreciation of herself as a woman coupled with her symbolic name June, which makes Offred the emblematic figure of the resistance to male domination.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Handmaid’s Tale Literary Analysis of the Book [Essay] specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Theme of Sexual Repression in the Book Offred is also the insignia of how women suffer sexually. It is through her experiences that the reader comes to know her strengths as a woman, repressed thoughts and aspirations that she poses regarding intimacy. It is through Offred that the reader is able to see the way women, in general, are degraded as mere tools for men’s sexual gratification. Offred describes her sexual experiences from the first person’s perspective and sees sex in four ways. For her, the sexual experiences that women in the Republic of Gilead go through cannot be termed as lovemaking. Neither can they be said to be rape as women are not supposed to have the right to sex and thus, by default, should not have the right and the power to refuse. In this case, it is not even within the power of women to refuse sex. Offred says that her sexual encounters with Fred, her master commander, cannot also be termed as copulation either as this means that two people are involved. In a real sense, only the Commander is involved as her senses, mind, and emotion are not. In her words, sex is seen as degrading, humiliating as well as an emotionless experience as it is only physical and given upon demand from men thus: â€Å"My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. 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† (Atwood 94). Men’s Roles in The Handmaid’s Tale Society Literary analysis of the The Handmaid’s Tale shows that other than the main character, other characters play significant roles in this story. Even though these characters have individual uniqueness, they have been categorized into two main groups: male and female. The male characters are divided into four: The Commander of the Faithful led by Fred, for whom Offred is a handmaid. He is the symbolic male chauvinistic character in the novel. There are also the Eyes, the men who offer intelligence services to the Republic of Gilead rulership, Angels and Guardians of Faith who are the soldiers who fight to protect the republic as well as the Gender Traitors, the homosexuals seen as traitors of the Faith and sent to die painfully in the colonies. The relationships between the main character Offred and the men are master-servant kind of relationship. Through this relationship, the reader is able to see the weaknesses rather than the strengths of men. Although the novel presents men as superior and faultless, it is their ability not to procreate (to be infertile) that exposes their weak side. This proves that the notion of men being superior with absolute power over women is false.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Women are the stronger characters as they are the ones who are able to procreate. Offred, as well as other handmaids, are taken from their lawful marriages to procreate for infertile kings (It is unheard of and illegal to declare men as sterile). The Commander is seen as sterile by his wife, Serena Joy, who arranges from Offred to sleep with her driver to give birth for the Commander. This experience also presents women as too willing and ready collaborators. Women’s Roles in â€Å"The Handmaid’s Tale† Society Women characters are also divided into two main groups: legitimate and illegitimate. The legitimate women are the wives, maids like Offred, Aunts, Marthas, and Econowives. The Aunts are seen as stumbling blocks to the freedom of the women. They, like the men, have the luxuries of reading and writing (Atwood 139) and are seen as part of the colony. In one of the most visible oppositions to the liberation of the woman, the aunts tell Offred to stop’ J une-ing’ too much: June means mayday liberations (Atwood 220). The handmaids in the house of the Commander also give the story from a biblical perspective in reference to some of the biblical figures who took maids to bear children for them when their wives could not. Literary Devices in the The Handmaid’s Tale The most effective tool for communication is the use of language. The author uses narrative techniques and vocabulary creatively as a tool for communication. The author uses modern language words and syntax construction, making the novel seem so deceptively easy to read. Language is used as a potent tool for communicating women’s aspirations for freedom as well as portray the colonial mentality of their men in these societies effectively. The choice of words in describing Offred sexual experiences with the Commander shows that the women are emotionally removed from the experience. It also portrays the ability of the woman to communicate their notion about sex, which is far from what men see it be. The author chooses words like copulations, rape, fucking, and making love to describe Offred’s perspectives of sex. These words also portray the author as having a modernistic approach to sex not just as an act of procreation but as a way to express love. Through the tone of language, the reader can see that a woman does not see sex as just an act but an expression of love, something devoid in this society (Atwood 94). The author’s choice of words like ‘unbabies’ reflects the fears that do exist amongst the women of this society. The author’s use of dialogue is also as effective as the choice of words. Various conversations have different effects. However, the most common outcome of the use of dialogues portrays women’s emotional connection regardless of their character. Offred’s prayer said in monologue reflects her fears as a woman, her loss self and of life, and her desire to gain it back (Atwood 286). Although the treacherous Ofglen is the opposite of Offred in character, their dialogue portrays them as sharing in the suffering that all women go through (Atwood 285). Furthermore, the telephone conversation that Moira and Offred have prepares the readers for what might occur the woman after the fall of the United States of America. It is also an indication that the woman had a premonition of what was to befall her after the establishment of the Republic of Gilead (Atwood 174). Conclusion Analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale shows that this is a story told about the future and the problems that might occur in the world due to technological advancement. As such, it is not necessarily a piece of science fiction but speculative fiction, a narration of probable things that might happen in the future. It also deviates from the mere   feminist propagandist genres as it has a complicated setting, characters, and themes. The Handmaid’s Tale essay proves that even t hough the novel is an exaggeration, it portrays the fact that women are still oppressed in the modern world. Thus, the tale is not far fetched, since even a male reader is able to identify with the oppressed women in both the novel and real life. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Anchor Books, 1986. Print. Brians, Paul. â€Å"Study Guide to Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale (1986).† 1995.   Web. 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