The Handmaid's Tale Comparative and Persuasive Essay

Introduction

The Handmaid's Tale dystopian book is the work of a Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The narrative which was published in 1985 revolves around lives of fertile Handmaids that are made to engage in sexual activities and bear children against their will. The entire text explores the theme of women in suppression to misogyny in a patriarchal society and the different ways these women attempt to get back their freedom and individuality. The Handmaid's Tale series, on the other hand, was created by Bruce Miller basing on the same novel and is also of the dystopian drama genre but produced later on in 2016. The plot of the series just like the novel follows the life journey of Offred who is also a Handmaid. Both of these two works contain a recurring theme of rape and sexual violence towards women which is shown in use of language and generic conventions; however one of these is more effective in portraying this issue than the other.

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The second episode of The Handmaid's Tale series begins by showing the opening scene where Offred is getting sexually assaulted once more by her Commander as she blankly stares at the pastel blue coat of the ceiling. She tries as much as she can to detach her mind from her body so she can block the ordeal from her thoughts by musing about their car. She says, "Our car was that color...We bought it off Craigslist," absentmindedly. Offred thinks to herself that the recurring rape was now getting more normal just like Aunt Lydia promised her. She wonders if that is a good thing or the worst feeling. These words clearly show how Offred is trapped and does not know how to liberate herself. The society has made her the victim, an instrument to be freely sexually assaulted and used for bearing children without having a say in the whole matter, (Nelson, 2012). To escape the harsh reality, when she is sexually violated by her master, she thinks of happier and more soothing thoughts and escapes in a world where she has the freedom, happiness and is treated like a human being. Sadly, she always ends up back to the real and harsh world of constant sexual violence.

When she gets back home from her stroll, Offred realizes that it is time to visit the Commander. This is something that was not permitted of a Handmaid; she was never to be in the company of her Commander unless she was with the wife being sexually dutiful. As she strides into the dark, she thinks of herself as the girl in the horror movie, where women have only one role of being sexy, scared, appealing and vulnerable. This exactly mirrors what she is feeling inside, she is scared and feels vulnerable, she only sees herself as an instrument of sex. She feels as if her body does not belong to her and just like in horror movies, she is abused by her master and the duty of staying alive is entirely upon her. She can struggle to survive, fight back or give up and die. Women are forced to bear children and are not allowed to lose the babies no matter the circumstances. Therefore they have to try their best and remain in their best health conditions to avoid being stoned to death as a punishment (Nelson, 2012). The commander invited her over just so she can be a pawn in his pretend world, where he lets her play a game of Scrabble with her. He simply wants her to feel as if he has been given a little freedom that will, later on, be taken away from her once she becomes the sex slave like she is.

Atwood through The Handmaid's Tale novel uses the theme of rape and sexual violence as a way of showing the world the kind of life women in the 1980s lived. These Handmaids are solely isolated by the society to offer their bodies for sexual duties and any other defilement through rape as long as new lives were brought into the world through them. The society does not care whether these Handmaids end up dying in childbirth or during the assaults. In fact, such incidents would render one dishonorable and shameful of their "privileged" position instead of being seen as heroes and saviors. The theme in the novel is highlighted in the celebrations of the Ceremony of the Particicution (Atwood, 2011). In this event, handmaids are kidnapped by the Aunts and made against their will to become sex slaves. They are held down by wives of Commanders while their rapists devour their bodies without any care in the world. Ironically, this kind of act was celebrated by the participants of the ceremony, something that shows just how much they did not care about the handmaids and how rotten the society was.

In the novel, the act of brutally assaulting women is not seen as a disgusting crime; instead, people hail it as a religious, evolutionary and social necessity. The author further examines the theme in the Particicution which occurs when the handmaids execute rapists in Gilead. The ordeal usually happens in the town square, and the Handmaids assemble to tear suspected rapists in the most painful punishment. This could be the only thing this society does right, deciding on which punishment rapists deserve even though all men are rapists in a way. The society is only concerned with which kind of man has the permission to rape a Handmaid, and its corrupted foundation makes the people think they can distinguish between a rapist and a good man. The good man is the one with high status and with authority allowed to abuse women sexually while the rapist is one from lower class with no authority and power (Atwood, 2011). As much as this punishment may seem justified unless every handmaid stops being sexually abused, every other person deserves such punishment.

Conclusion

Of the two texts, the novel is the one effectively portraying the actual representation of rape and sexual violence theme. Through texts and generic conventions, the Author reveals the most extreme forms of sexual violence that the women had to go through. This society is so deeply rooted in raping and assaulting helpless women that see the act as one deserving celebration. The corrupted foundation hails such heinous acts as religious and has convinced people that there is only one group of people justified to abuse women and use them as instruments of bearing children. There is no better portrayal of sexual violence against women than the one Margaret Atwood shows us in her novel, The Handmaid's Tale.

References

Atwood, M. (2011). The handmaid's tale. London: Vintage.

Nelson, D. E. (2012). Women's issues in Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.