Preview

Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1024 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale
Since the wave of Feminism in Canada, Feminism has been written into the literature by Canadian authors. They believe securing women’s rights would enhance the recognition of women’s value in society, which can lead to the moral and social improvement of all humanity. Secret daughter introduces a weak female character Kavita, who is prohibited from keeping her child in a distorted society. The handmaid's Tale reveals a new career called handmaid in the future society, whose mission is to have children for senior officials. Both Secret daughter and The handmaid’s tale describe an oppressive patriarchal theocratic society. Female characters have to struggle with the cruel reality for their role as women. By doing so, they try to challenge the patriarchal power structure and unfair treatment of women. This resistance proves that there is no inherently superior gender. It reveals that women should revolt against the unequal society for fundamental freedoms and rights. In Secret daughter, a strong religious belief controls the whole society. Females are seen as inferior people. One of their important responsibilities is to have a son. If they fail, they will suffer social discrimination. In this situation, females are faced with a variety of mental stresses. Kavita is a typical character in this novel, as the beginning of the novel says “Kavita knows she cannot blame him entirely for what happened. He is no different or worse than the other men in the village, where sons are favored and always have been” (Gowda 50). Since Jasu knows Kavita is pregnant with a boy, his behavior changes a lot. This quotation reveals that females are imposed a task of having a baby, and they are also under spiritual pressure due to male’s attitude and behavior. A similar situation is also described in the other story The handmaid’s tale. This story shows us a newly created world in which women are lack of freedom, and it is taken for granted. Women are considered the tools of having

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Offred lived a normal, American life when all of the sudden, her family was taken from her so she could go have somebody else’s baby. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a woman’s tale of her life, her story, and her struggles in a new society and how she got there. This story by Margaret Atwood tells the life of Offred, a handmaid for a wealthy couple and her daily struggles trying to adapt to her new world. Offred tells how she makes deals with her Commander and his Wife with hope of getting out and how that changes her life. The progress in this book is not as one would probably describe progress, but it is as follows: the government and society had to make major changes in order to bring about the new system and laws, Gilead is thinking of and executing ways to raise the birthrate in their country, and handmaids and women in general are protected at all costs.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The author offers that Handmaids Tale, “Atwood’s novels became part of a new wave of fiction writing by feminist who wrote both to entertain and to dramatize the plight of women.” He goes on about all the contributing factors that inspired the new fiction writing. He covers the plot and gives quotes from the book specifically from the women and their perceptions. He goes on to explain the different categories of women and their roles. The confinement and objectification of women are evident in the analysis. Government and religion are discussed in great detail and their part in Gilead societies. The religion influences the government entirely and women pay the price. Rape is discussed is perceived as being provoked that women ask for it. The…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Author Margaret Atwood’s writing has been shaped by one particular movement- the push for women’s rights in the 1960s and 1970s. When Atwood was a college student, “a woman was expected to follow one path: to marry in her early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking” (“The 1960s-70s”). Employers assumed that the females who did work would soon become pregnant, so ladies were unlikely to advance in their careers. What money they did earn was controlled by their husbands, or their male wardens, as females are legally subject to them. With the development of the birth control pill a few years later, women could now chase professional careers and “the double standard that allowed premarital sex for men but prohibited…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “The beginning of the feminist movement in the 1960s changed her attitude toward a self-destructive mindset that she later labeled a "post-Romantic collective delusion” (“The Handmaid’s Tale”).…

    • 1190 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    (C) The women in this novel are dependent on men to handle political and economical duties. Today there are some countries were they prohibit women from attending certain events or doing certain tasks. In the novel, they demonstrate that females don't have certain power and that men do obtain. For example. in India and some countries in Africa , it's the female's task to stay at home and take care the children or not even attend school.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The issue that has been persistent for as long as one can remember is Misogyny in the society. The belief that women are inferior to men has been contaminating the human mind. The issue can be commonly seen in the society in form of domestic abuse, violence, objectification in name of advertisements, and especially in the music industry where the lyrics are filled with hateful messages towards women. Even though the governing laws consider men and women as equal, but the mistreatment of women continues to be the headline of every newspaper.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood takes place in the Republic of Gilead, in which women are placed in certain groups and stripped of their identity. Gilead focuses on bringing back old religious aspects into life by dividing individuals into biblical groups. The women especially the main character Offred is completely stripped of her name and possessions as well as being forced to not be able to talk, read, or write. In Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the government of Gilead uses religious fear tactics in order to turn women against each other and strengthen their power.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood depicts a dystopian society where the United States has been taken over by a monotheocracy and transformed into the country of Gilead. The majority of the woman in this society have been split into three basic categories: Wives, Marthas, and Handmaids. There are also Econowives, Aunts, and Unwomen. The main character, Offred, is a Handmaid. The Handmaids’ sole purpose in this society is to provide babies for powerful households where the wives are deemed infertile. Throughout the novel a struggle can be sensed between most of the women. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood demonstrates the way that oppressors will use tension between minoritized groups to distract from their oppression.…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Instead of simply standing by and further going along with the unethical treatment towards women, people began to speak up and no longer allow for the discriminatory government to keep reign. Coincidentally, Atwood’s literary appearances during this time established her writing style and craft. Although she’s from Toronto, the Women’s Liberation Movement played a potential role in Atwood’s future works, such as “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Jean-François Vernay also advocates that the historical context of the novel as a “critical feminism…of feminine resistance to patriarchy” which correlates the the movement (Vernay). Since Atwood witnessed the movement and was able to watch the progressive change from a considerably conservative to a more liberal society towards women, she channels those experiences into her literature as a way to prevent the negative aspects of a conservative perspective to infringe on women’s rights again. For example, in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the main character, Offred, is essentially imprisoned by her government which is a parallel to how women were treated by the U.S. during Atwood’s time. Although comparing the misogynistic society in which Offred is surviving in to the U.S. during the 60’s is…

    • 2436 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Handmaids Tale

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The Handmaid’s Tale,” written by Margaret Atwood is a fictional book that takes place in the near future when all of women’s rights were taken away. The book is from the point of view of a girl who just lost her family, all her money, her possessions and is later taken away to be a handmaid. This all took place because of the overthrow of the government. As a handmaid it is her duty to obey all new laws and to reproduce children for the “higher class” or she will face the wall (be hung).…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Handmaid's Tale Women

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages

    All throughout history women and men have been seen differently. Men have always been seen as strong, smart, tough, and natural leaders. Women have been seen as weak, timid, nurturing, and always following a man’s lead. As you can tell they are very different. Less than 100 years ago women didn’t have rights in America. They weren’t allowed to vote, own property, or pretty much do anything without a man’s approval. The group “ United Society of Believers in Christ second coming” were adovocating for women’s rights a century and a half before women had the right to vote, according to news wise .com.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When any substantial power is taken from people, they still have the capability to maintain control over themselves and have the power to rebel. Even though the handmaids appear to be hopeless, Offred sneakily uses her sexuality to gain power and control over the commander. There is a scene in the novel where Offred uses her body and sexuality in order to tease the men, she gains attention and a feeling of rebellion, letting her feel powerful and in control over men. "I move my hips a little, feeling the full red skirt sway around me.” Which shows that the only power Offred has left is her own body and her body language along with it, evidently displaying that even small actions like this allows her to feel…

    • 129 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Handmaid's Tale

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Offred says to herself, “What do you mean? The Commander, it must be. See me? What does he mean by see? Hasn’t he had enough of me?”(99). In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, The Commander is a man who expresses several sides of his character and personality. Throughout the book the Commander shows character traits of someone who is emotional and sympathetic. In their society, the Republic of Gilead, the Commander is one of the main people that are responsible for creating it. At first the Commander comes off as the ultimate dictator or authority, but when he’s not in public, he is someone who has a much different side to him. The Commander shows how he is torn between how things used to be and the new society they all live in now. In hindsight, the Commander is sympathetic by how much of a hypocrite he really is, how he seeks an emotional relationship and how much he regrets his decisions in creating this society.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Handmaid's Tale

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing texts forces us to question our values in the context of the author’s zeitgeist and our own. The dystopia novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), written by Margaret Atwood, and the film adaptation Children of Men (2006), directed by Alfonso Cuarón, both examine the abuse of power by totalitarian government regimes which come about as a result of chaotic disasters. These oppressive governments’ abuse of their given power creates a dystopic world, and with it come restrictions to individual freedom. By viewing the two texts together, we are able to gain a greater understanding of the composer’s context.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, is an eerie example of a “dystopian” novel. A dystopian novel portrays a terrifying picture of a world which makes the reader say, “what if?” Atwood wrote the novel in the 1980’s following the free-spirited, fun-loving period of the 60’s and 70’s. The plot, characters, themes, symbolism and setting of the novel display a picture of what the future world could be like if women’s rights were completely removed.…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays