The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel centered around the protection and imprisonment of women in a society named Gilead. Although‚ there are many differences between modern society and Gilead‚ the most significant difference is the type of freedom given to women. The contrasting aspects of the two types of freedom is best described by Aunt Lydia‚ who believes‚ “There is more than one kind of freedom. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of the anarchy it was freedom to
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government and be brainwashed for the government’s benefit. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood‚ the author describes a society led by a government with complete control‚ not allowing citizens to have any freedom whatsoever. Atwood uses story as a construct and character roles to convey the theme‚ explaining that the government relies on dehumanization to control the people and how this is wrong. Firstly‚ Atwood uses story as a construct to convey the theme of the government relying on dehumanization
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Rat Song Introduction ”Rat Song” is a poem written by Margaret Atwood and is part of Selected Poems from 1976. What is interesting about the poem is that it is written from the point of view of a rat. And by looking through the eyes of a rat (which many people see as a primitive and inferior animal) the poem shows how judgemental‚ hateful‚ hypocritical and “unnatural” the human race is. The poem furthermore advocates that humans are a much greater parasite than the rats they are so desperately
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The Beauty of Life: How Atwood Constructs Her Message in “Happy Endings” Readers around the world are drawn to happy endings. We thrive on the “happily ever after‚” the tying up of loose ends that ignores the frays in the strings – the consequences of the conflict‚ the other sides of characters‚ and the scenes that made us take a step back‚ but are tolerable in the end because the last page has been turned. The universe that we left behind on our bookshelf is fine and dandy‚ so the intricacies that
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Margaret Atwood’s novel “Oryx and Crake” is a thought provoking speculative fiction novel‚ published in 2003. Margaret Atwood was born in Ontario‚ Canada‚ where she was raised with her mother‚ a nutritionist‚ and her father‚ an entomologist. As a result of her father’s continuing research in entomology‚ Atwood spent most of her childhood in the backwoods of Quebec‚ reading Dell map books‚ or Grim Fairy-Tales and comic books. With such an early interest in literature‚ she began writing at a young
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The Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood relates a story taking place in a dystopian society where Christian fundamentalists enforce their beliefs. Their society shows what family values might look like if they were enforced. Women stay at home gardening and having babies. If women are unable or refuse to do so they are marginalized and sometimes executed. Throughout the book Margaret Atwood uses flowers as a symbol of life or fertility‚ to describe the women in Gilead and to disguise terrifying things
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Oppression is a recurring theme in mankind’s societies; the oppressors often subject the oppressed to unjust treatment. Although it is important to investigate the dynamics between the oppressor and the oppressed‚ it is also essential to analyze how the oppressed react and relate amongst themselves. Martin Luther King describes the relationships amongst the oppressed in a manner contrary to the unrealistic belief that they would be united in comradery and redemption. In fact he says‚ “The ultimate
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four types of works: autobiographical sketches‚ travel notes‚ experimental pieces addressing the nature of writing‚ and short pieces dealing with typical Atwood themes‚ notably the relationship between the sexes. ‘‘Happy Endings‚’’ which is essentially a self-referential story framework‚ falls into the third category. In ‘‘Happy Endings‚’’ Atwood fulfills this role with a challenge that she throws out to those writers who rely on the stereotypical characterization of men and women and to the reader
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In “Bread‚” Margaret Atwood takes a concrete object‚ bread‚ and views it through multiple lenses. The story has five different sections‚ each that asks the reader to think about bread in a different way. In the first section‚ Atwood conjures actual bread before the reader by undermining her own directions — first she asks the reader to “imagine a piece of bread” then she says‚ “you don’t have to imagine it‚ it’s right here in the kitchen‚” and describes it. Atwoods descriptions and the second person
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Margaret Atwood‚ in her short essay “True North‚” wants her readers to come away after reading her essay understanding that things have drastically changed from how they used to be and how they are now. Atwood begins to capture her audience’s attention first by reminiscing and recalling her childhood memories of how it used to be in the “old days” in “The North.” “The North‚” as she refers to it in her essay‚ is more commonly known to us as Canada. Atwood then refers to the United States as “The
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