Margaret, Atwood. The Handmaid's Tale. pages 100-200
"They've frozen them, she said. Mine too...Any account with an F on it instead of an M. All they needed to do is push a few buttons. We're cut off." (Atwood 167)
Moira (Offred's friend) says this after the revolution in "The Handmaid's Tale" begins, when the President and the Congress are shot.
This quote was chosen because it shows the first symptoms of what the male dominating society in "The Handmaid's Tale" is doing to the females. Furthermore, the events that occur in this quote can also be related to certain events that have occurred in other cultures.
"The Handmaid's Tale" highlights how powerful men can be, and how they can have the ability to strip women of their rights, and to force them to do things that they would find unimaginable to do otherwise. Furthermore, it also shows how helpless women are when faced with a society that is entirely controlled by men.Some of the rights that the Handmaid's in the novel have taken away are: the right to read, the right to leave the household(unless shopping for groceries with another Handmaid), and the right to speak against the situation that they're trapped in.
Throughout the course of history, there have existed women from different cultures that have lacked possession of the same rights. One such group of women were the ones that resided in Ancient Greece. A commonality that lies between the two groups is illiteracy. Just like the women in "The Handmaid's Tale" are forbidden to read so that throughout the course of time they will turn illiterate, the women in Ancient Greece were not forbidden to read. Instead, they were unable to read because of not being taught how to. Furthermore, they were also unable to speak out about subjects of great importance like Philosophy, because their opinions were considered invalid. This is similar to the way that women in" The Handmaid's Tale" are not allowed to express any unorthodox beliefs. In addition to that, in Ancient Greece, women were also in charge of domestic chores such as cooking, which meant that they were rarely able to leave the home. In "The Handmaid's Tale" the Handmaid's are also unable to leave the household unless they are send out to shop for certain food items.
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5 comments:
I think a lot of discrimination against women has occured in history because of a lot of creation myths. In the story of Adam and Eve, as well as Pandora's box. When women were able to think for themselves it caused problems for society in the stories. Even though it isn't true many men and societies believed that. Good connections between society and your book. Keep up the good work.
Wow, I am glad time have changed.
It kind of relate to my novels in a way. The fact that back in the 1800s, women were allowed to learn only arts and language, but still the women were not considered important when it comes to inheritance. Only men,(the first born sons),had the ultimate power to possessing property.
" In addition to that, in Ancient Greece, women were also in charge of domestic chores such as cooking, which meant that they were rarely able to leave the home."
Nowadays, men like to cook! Not all men, of course.
Keep the posts coming! =)
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