Oppression In The Handmaid's Tale

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Unravelling Destiny Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. The oppression of women remains a significant issue in modern day society. To this day, there are still women who suffer through discrimination, assault and abuse at the hand of the male population. In the novels, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, the protagonists endure female oppression for their denial of change leaves them vulnerable in a dehumanizing environment. The oppression on these women evolve them from a life of liberty to a life destined for lugubriousity.

Dehumanized into objects, the protagonists, in the novels, sole purpose in society is to …show more content…
Stripped of her bank account, job and family, Offred is left in shambles for she has nothing of her own left. The government pronounces her as a Handmaid, in which the only viable reason she is living is for her fertility. Offred undergoes training as a Handmaid at the Red Centre, where she is brainwashed with other women to understand the importance of their role as a Handmaid and how lucky they are that they have been chosen to become Handmaids. She is stripped of her rights of reading, writing, freedom of speech and association; she is objectified as a household pet to the Commander and his wife in which she is raped on numerous occasions to deliver the future generation of the Republic of Gilead. Offred understands her role as a Handmaid when she quotes, “There is nothing to be entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts; no special favors are to be wheedled, by them or us, there are to be no toeholds for love. We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (Atwood 171). Handicapped, the government executes their power and control over Offred leaving her powerless in a subjective environment. Dehumanized with nowhere to run to, Offred settles into her endless cycle of
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