Despite Atwood’s portrayal of Gilead as soulless and destructive she has nevertheless succeeded in giving the reader a sense of optimism

The Handmaids Tale is set in the futuristic republic of Gilead. Everybody has somebody controlling what they do and only a minority confound control over other people. In the send-off chapter al i we learn of the carcass of control within the Handmaids residence. There ar the angels, who be responsible for the Aunts, who have responsibility for the handmaids, i. e. the narrator. This system has the sole purpose, comeback we argon for breeding purposes There is supposed to be aught socialize astir(predicate) us, no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lustsWe ar two-legged wombs, thats all sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. The narrator of takes on a office based on the Biblical yarn of Jacobs wives when they failed to c do workerlyive, he fathitherd shaverren by their handmaids. In a world in which the fertility of both ridees has dropped dramatically, it is the role for which puppyish women who have demonstrated their ability to bear children atomi c number 18 destined, rather to the sphacelate of the Wives who have to house them.For this administration to function effectively it is important that a tall level of control is exerted and more than essentially, that the people within the governing understand in that respect purpose. They argon not there to build relationships, they atomic number 18 there for reproduction and whatever(prenominal) other aspect of life is irrelevant. ironically the politics is developed for sex up to now any attri preciselyes you would normally nurse to a sexual relationship have been bear offd. There is no conversation, no intimacy, no pleasure or appreciation of yourself or your grammatical constituentner in concomitant there is no relationship with your partner or anyone else. material contact must be kept to what is necessary and the act of sex itself is simply necessary for reproduction. For the governing to work there post be no olfactory modalitys. To pr up to nowt imprin ts developing within people towards others Gilead works to remove anything that makes the person unique, this is why the authorities has been described as soulless as by taking outdoor(a) peoples personalities you are practically taking away their soul. This is similar to the system in Aldous Huxleys Brave New World where the apprehension of love has been destroyed.The idea of falling in love with someone has been make almost impossible, as there is no opportunity for this to happen, everybody been made as soulless as possible. There must be no character, identity operator or expression of self to avoid people getting into any do of relationship. The women are literally branded with numbers a tag that ties them to the regime. They are made to wear uniforms (in describing the uniforms Atwood appears to me making a link to the similitude to the German and Canadian prisoners of war uniforms from World War Two) and are re yelld in attempt to completely depersonalise them.They are treated as cattle, as a group with no thought of their proclaim. This leaves the indorser questioning their rendition of the narrator, we some ages see her as an individual taking minor revolt once against the regime, and yet at other times we see her as one of many that are all in the same helpless authority. The high level of control they hold over their people enhances Gileads destructive manner. still the narrators name Offred has been composed by the regime.The myth explains this unusual noun as beingness a word that is composed of the possessive preposition and the first name of the name of the gentlemen in question. only most refs pick up on the stage on the word offered she is offered around the gentlemen in monastic order. No individual or group is strong enough to overthrow the regime and this is the focal depute of the regimes strength. They can enforce and law no amour how un unspoiled because there is no one strong enough to oppose it.However at no point is the reader led to conceive that the narrator has attached up accept and that there is no purpose for her anymore. This is of a assured effort by Atwood to create a positive perspective of the touch through her narrative technique, imagery and by surrounding the character with situations where they could potentially rebel. The harsh regime of Gilead is emphasised by Atwood offering the reader a comparison of the narrators current situation and her previous one, it has been suggested that this is Atwood supporting the theory that aid causes regression, not progression.These comparisons are possible because of the flashback technique that occurs throughout the novel. For example, Offred contrasts the way she use to think to the highest degree her body to the way she thinks about it now I used to thin of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a meat of transportation, or an implement for the accomplish of my ordain now the flesh arranges itself differently. Im a cloud, c ongealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is solid and more real than I am and glows red within its distinct wrapping.Where as in the story, Offred uses the flashbacks as a way of escaping, a more practical level Atwood uses them to reveal to the reader the reasons behind the current situation and how the novel possibly relates to our lives. matchless critic commented, 1the essential element of a cautionary news report is recognition. The reader is very aware that Offred once lived a life similar to their suffer, this heightens their compassion towards the handmaids and in some ship canal the novel acts as a warning, for what could potentially occur in our give future.By allowing us to see Offreds past and compare it with the life she has been labored to live now it is obvious how much destruction the regime has caused. For the novel to progress it is essential Atwood creates optimism, because Offred herself has to say positive in order to heading with the situations, she cannot give up therefore Atwood cannot let the reader think she has abandoned up. Minor acts of rebellion are ways of showing the reader that the system has flaws, there is a gap and if Offered works hard enough she can get through the gaps in the system.For example, no communication is meant to happen amidst the handmaids and yet Offred and Moira find a way of talking through a hole in the wall, which poses as a hole in the system. However, Atwood creates the feeling of empowerment and hope through these rebellions but she never goes as utmost as to say there definitely is hope. It is possible that Offred is aware than any act of rebellion is simply a coping tactic and the regime impart not fall, she will leave eventually and the regime will go on unshaken.Offreds relationship with the commander acts as something else to think about, as the reader we do not dwell on the land of the society as we are now concerned with the relationship Offred is forming, of of course this is due to the narrative style of the novel, we are guided towards thinking about Offred and the commander because that is what Offred is thinking about and we are recital her thoughts, in the form of a dialogue to her audience.However it is ambiguous as the whether the commander forms an bond certificate with many of his handmaids, so Offreds relationship with Nick is far more arctic to her story as it is as close as she could have to the consort of relationship she could have formed before the regime, the sort that she had with her husband Luke. The lay on the line she eventually takes with him we know could be the end of her but at the time its a chance for a better standard of life, of course again this could be perceived as Offred falling under the control of Gileads regime by going out of her way to have a child and conforming to their rules.Gileads destructive power is emphasised by showing the extremes it will force people to go to, to succumb to their demand s. An essential part to the regime is the fact that everyone is a victim everybody has had to sacrifice something and give up part of their old life. Even those that still have a small marrow of control have given up more than they have gained. Serena ecstasy is portrayed as a malicious character by Offred, yet she has lost her relationship with her husband, she has no contact with anyone and has to live in a regime that has her husband sleeping with many different women.Atwood uses process and reconstructive memory when writing and the reader is often reminded that truth is only a matter of the tellers perspective. If the reader is never sure of the lawful details then they are allowed to picture the worst possible situations, and the best. Time shifts and short scenes add to the equivocalness of the story and the reader may question how factually based the story actually is and how true to life Offreds description of other characters are.Moira is a upright example, it could be she was never as strong or rebellious as Offred claimed she was, she was maybe a role model for Offred and her character was exaggerated because Offred indispensableness her role model to be strong. However it is not only the reader that is unsure of the truth, Offred has very little facts at her disposal. The only time the handmaids are educated is when they are listening to the Bible being read or watching the news. In the same way the Ministry of Truth created the news in George Orwells 1984 there is suggestion the news the handmaids are shown is fabricated.By acknowledging this fact Offred has rebelled against the regime. However she also accepts that any news is better than none and she simply has to believe the news because there is nothing else to go by. It is the only source of knowledge. Gileads controls are so tight she is forced to believe what she hears. This too is similar to 1984 and the pattern created by George Orwell of doublethink which is to acknowledge two co nflicting truths at once. Offred accepts the news is in all probability false and yet she also believes it is true because she has to.This is similar to the relationship amongst the reader and the narrator we accept that what here cannot be entirely true yet we have to believe it. Offred herself does not know what has happened to her daughter or her husband therefore she is able to cling on to the hope that they are alive, as it has not been confirmed otherwise. The reader does the same with Offreds existence at the end of the novel, we hope she is alive and the ambiguity of the ending allows us to do so. Quite often in the novel Atwood creates a sense of hope after to take it away again, or create optimism with an underlying olfactory modality of doubt.When Offred discovers the note in the cupboard nolite te bastardes carborundorum she is filled with hope, reading it as a message left for her by the last person that lived here, she is reading which she is not allowed to do as la nguage has been abolished and this all adds to the positive feeling of going against the regime.However Offred then builds up the message to by more significant than it is and is let down when the commander translates it as dont let the bastards mill you down. At the end, we discover that Offreds story was not founding the form of a manuscript but as a recording on a cassette player. This is confusing for the reader as the strict structure of the regime would not have made it possible to have access to a cassette player. One suggestion is that Offred did escape and managed to record her story at a later point. However even if Offred had been writing this would have been a constant form of rebellion, as language had been abolished.It has been suggested that Offreds storytelling is an act of resistance to Gilead, just as her tale itself is an act of resistance to masculinist fiction conventions, including that archetypal patriarchal text, the Old Testament. In many ways the historic notes are more essential to the content of the novel than Offreds story. On a positive note, the historical notes assure the reader that the regime of Gilead was overthrown and society returned to normal, Offreds story has been found in the form of cassette recordings, this suggests she did flee and managed to get her writing on to tape.However, Offreds story is found but it is not heard or understood. Male historians have tried to impose their cognizance of it on to it and created a title for it. The regime has apparently not changed their discriminatory attitudes, history has taught them nothing. The professors are abusing Offred as Gilead did by removing her authority from the telling of her own story, they seem more worried at the fact there is nothing more about the Commander and his true identity. Ironically he does just what Offred predicts would happen to the story of the Handmaids from the point of view of future history, well be invisible. The new day historians have depersonailised her just as much as the regime did by taking away her voice and forcing reader is brought into a punt vision of the future and is forced to judge what they have just read.Atwoods historical notes satirise American society as it stands today, where as Gilead is based on an international range of models, which include not only historical examples but contemporary political carnage in Iran, Latin America and more recently Iraq and Afghanistan. Denay Nunavit (deny none of it) seems to be Atwoods message out of the past to the future, grown the reader a sense of shared moral responsibility for our own futures. This is effective as the pre Gilead society is very similar to our own society today. The novel was first published in 1986 the age of the R shape syphilis and Aids epidemic Aids had just being brought to the publics management and there was a massive campaign to prevent its spread.A morsel reason we are given for the need of a society such(prenominal) as Gile ad was various nuclear power plant accidents hemical and biological warfare, dribble piles and toxic waste disposal sites all readers will have a go at it these issues and can map them on to real life incidents such as Chernobyl. Similarly to 1984, Atwoods novel seems to be an extension of real fears her audience would have had. This was noted by one reader who commented that what is especially meaningful is the fact that the book was published in the 80s, long before many of the concepts were as relevant as they are now. 2 Ironically once the regime has been abolished there is no longer the optimistic tone in Atwoods writing, suggesting that even though Gilead was destructive, the intention of the society was good and there was room for hope, as yet we can now see that life after Gilead reverted to pre Gilead ways and there has been no progression, development of understanding and this is a far more blackball situation to be faced because it suggests man will never learn.