ENG-W 170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Totalitarianism, Word Taboo, Incendiary Device
Document Summary
Margaret atwood"s novel, the handmaid"s tale, depicts a society in which everyone is assigned a role in society and no one is allowed to speak out against the totalitarian regime. The protagonist of the novel, offred, is kept as a handmaid to a commander and has the job of bearing children, since few women in the society are fertile. Handmaid"s tale, women and lower-class individuals are no longer permitted to read or write, essentially preventing them from publically opposing the political views of their time. Throughout the novel, however, offred finds ways of critiquing and challenging the culture she lives in, despite the limitations place on her freedom. Based on the handmaid"s tale, we can understand dystopia as a genre which explores not only the ways in which a political system can oppress others, but also the ways in which its characters can find hope. The republic of gilead denies basic human rights to all people, especially women.
