Handmaid's Tale Themes

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Power, control, and the internal struggle of a society adapting their’s belief to those of their government are themes that commonly compose a dystopian novel. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood we are introduced to a woman, Offred, who clings to her past life and memories before the government of the Republic of Gilead took over. Offred, is a handmaid that must have sex with her commander to procreate a child because supposedly the majority of the other women have become infertile. She is one of the few women who still has fertile eggs therefore, she must follow the job assigned to her. However, she holds onto the memories of her husband and daughter because she has completely lost everything else that she had, she only hold onto the hope of seeing them for at least one more time. At the same time, in the novel 1984 by George Orwell we are introduced to a man named Winston who is always cautious about his thoughts and who4 works for the Minister of the Truth. However, this all changes when he meets and falls in love with Julia a woman who is his co-worker and that a wears a sash representing her abstainity. As the novel progresses Winston and Julia start questioning the Party’s policies and slowly start to show rebellious actions. Winston and Julia have sex in a secret room but they are quickly found by the Thought Police and are taken to Ministry of Love where they are tortured until …show more content…
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred often thinks about her past life to take her mind of the current situation of Gilead. We see her often questioning herself about why she took everything for granted in her past, things like doing the laundry, dating casually, walking around town with her husband, etc. She remembers the small things she did with her husband and thinks about how different things are now. Offred
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