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The discussion of women’s freedom has been going on for a very long time. Women have been fighting for and have now been granted the basic human rights, which is the freedom to choose what you want, “freedom to,” and also given the opportunity to enjoy freedom from getting any harm, “freedom from.” Women authors have come up to advocate for their rights by writing books demanding their rights and freedom. This paper reviews the book, The Handmaid’s tale, by Margaret Atwood, this edition was published in the year 1998 by Anchor Books. The book is written in the form of a speculative fiction about the past and present life of a young woman named Offred. Additionally, the paper will review how women used to be treated in the past where they were denied their rights and freedom from many things. The paper will try to explain how life used to be in the past before the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian government took control, and how life changed to be much harder for women because of the constitutional changes made by the new regime.
In this book, Offred who is the narrator of the tale explains how life changed from time to time in the new Republic of Gilead. Initially, Gilead was democratic state but a-bomb attack led to the president’s death and some other members of congress hence a formation of a totalitarian government. The attack had some other negative effects like environmental changes, toxic wastes, and acidic rains which resulted in infertility (Atwood, 1998). The infertility rate led to low birthrate which made the government to abolish some women rights. For example, women were not allowed to work or even read. Their roles were then reduced to housewives and household maids for their masters which they refer to as the “commanders”. The marriage rules were also altered in that there was no room for divorce and thus men were allowed to only stay with their first wives. This affected the narrator, as she was initially married to a divorcee which was against the new laws.
The book addresses how laws were enforced in order to control women’s freedom. Initially women demanded the freedom to choose what they want and also received freedom from harm. The hierarchy utilized there young bodies for the sole purpose of bearing children, then once the child is born, they raised by the wealthy family. Moreover, they demand freedom from harm as they are subjected to harm by their masters (Atwood, 1998). Being used as sex slaves is abuse, hence substantiate the need for support in advocating for freedom. Due to the environmental changes that brought about sterility in women, the government put in place rules to counter the decreasing birth rate in the country. In this case, the government demanded that married infertile couples use these handmaids to reproduce with their husbands and raise children in order to preserve their hierarchy (Sahu et al. 2016). These handmaids were sexually enslaved by the system and stripped of basic human rights, “we are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans” (Atwood, pg. 136). As a result of this, the narrator believe that women rights are been violated and therefore advocates for the religious and political bodies to rise up and fight for the rights of the weak in the society, in this case, the women’s (Atwood, 1998).
In the book, Gilead’s women can’t vote, hold a job or acquire a bank account. Offred recalls the message from Aunt Lydia, who are the teachers of the handmaids and are responsible for making sure they learn and abide by the new laws. “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it” (Atwood, pg. 24). This statement infers that Gilead still runs a conventional pyramid system, where there are powerful controlling men, the commanders. Atwood presents you a vivid understanding of the differences in gender roles. The patriarchy is allowed to take complete control of Gilead’s women. Additionally, they are able to coerce these ‘aunt Lydia’ (anti-feminist) of society to instill their manipulated values into the handmaids (pro-feminist).
Additionally, the government in power gives more powers to the hierarchy in the society. The narrator sees the society as a triangle with the rich at the apex, with a comparison of both women and men who are in power while the poor and the majority take a base of the triangle with no power, mainly women. The narrator sees the women as being subjected to their commanders and mainly used as concubine by the society’s hierarchy. This proves the main idea that women’s freedom to choose is violated, and that their freedom is granted by their commanders. In that society, the women have no right to resist any guidance given by men (Sahu et al, 2016).
To date, radical feminist continues to defend equal rights for all women. Meanwhile, the powers that be continues to claim that by denying women from language will protect them from learning bad things and making bad lifestyle choices. “Gilead claims that even women are given freedom to choose for themselves, then they could undermine the authority of men and of their husbands at home” (Sahu et al, 2016). He further claims that giving the women all the freedom they want will be taking the society back. Despite these claims, women are seen to be dehumanized as they are forcefully taken for sexual pleasure and also used to bear children (Sahu et al, 2016).
The tale attracts many people attention in the quest to fight for women’s freedom. Gilead state claims to help the women to get freedom by protecting them from harming themselves. The author as well as many of us, are angry by these violations of human freedom by the people in power and advocates for the political bodies, to rise up against these blatant disregard for women rights and bring about equality. The book is interesting to read because we are encouraged by how she tried to fight for her freedom, even though she faced many obstacles and how at later stages the narrator attracts the attention of many people who stand by her and move together toward fighting the inhuman acts.
The Handmaid Tale has raised some very important controversies happening in today’s society, which needs to be addressed. For example, the book raises the issue of gender inequality in the society (Doyle et al, 2017). This is evident in the book as Offred is heard saying women are being subjected to their men and should avoid resisting any guidance’s given by men, which lends to the assumption that women are incapable of making sound or meaningful decisions.
Even though Atwood’s book ends with more questions of the reality of this feminist nightmare it encourages thoughts and concerns especially as the news media continues to bring to the forefront sexual misconduct by the elites in our society. Women are only need for sexual pleasures and for child bearing. Women are supposed to the weaker of the human species therefore are not able to choose or protective themselves. Hence why the rights to freedom to choose should be controlled or tempered and freedom from harm should also be in the hands of the male dominance. The Handmaid’s Tale is as such a wakeup call to radical feminism as warning of how easy things can revert backwards if society falls prey to entrapment and deception by male dominance. Atwood also reminds us that language is power to sustain freedom.
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