Atwood presents women in the novel? Essay

Atwood includes in the novel Offred as a young child reflection her m different burning pornographic magazines because she wants her readers to question how far the women in the auberge at the time the novel was set twisty in creating the Gilead governance feminists takes part in activities such as campaigning against pornographic materials and disrupting spectator contests because they believe that they are degrading to women, Atwood is saying that by protesting against such, they are agreeing that censorship should be brought in and that women should be protected from such material at the heart of the Gilead regime is the protection women. Margaret Atwood is ch wholeenging militant feminists to decide at what cost are they ready to pay in order farm the matriarchal society they are campaigning for.Also Atwood is warning the readers that the plan of the need protect women offer be dangerous it could slip from a demand for more freedom to a kind of neo-Victorianism, after al l it was the need to protect women that justified all manners of women subordination in the 19th Century including confining women to the kitchen and barring them from voting. Before writing this novel, Atwood compile newspaper clippings and reporting events from the feminist movement, religious right-wing groups and various cultural practices around the world so, this tangled debate could also be referring to the views contemporaneous Islamic women who argues that the veil and the all-enveloping clothing is aimed at dealing with sexual badgering and sexual objectification.By including this in the novel, Margaret Atwood is warning her reader to be circumspect of such promises the language is feminist, but the results could be deeply patriarchal-as it is in the book. Throughout, Atwood presents various types of women and their different responses to the patriarchal regime of Gilead, two of which are Janine and Moira. Moira is flamboyantly go-as-you-please and possesses unshakea ble self-assurance, refusing to subscribe to the ideologies of Gilead by her subversive attitude to life. Atwood presents Moira as a emblem of hope for Offred. Like Offred, her function in Gilead is to conceive, but she does not allow this bother her as she sees herself escaping Gilead one day, in fact it is this determination that helps her effluence the mental madness.Moira in the novel is also portrayed as an asset to the other handmaids in the Red Centre because her seditious humour is use as a weapon against the tyranny of the Aunts. The author also presents Moira as the voice of reason e. g. in chapter 28, Offred tells of how critical Moira was when she found out that Offred was involved in an extra-marital affair with Luke she disapprove back then. Not of Luke but the fact that he was married. As mentioned before, feminism is not a kindred body of thought hence different feminists catch different feminist beliefs Margaret Atwood is using the character of Moira to show the readers the other strands of feminism.Moira is a lesbian and the like Offreds mother, she is also a politically aware feminist and sure of her right as women but unlike Offreds mother, she does not have to go to extreme lengths to fight for equality Moiras idea of feminism is being assertive as a women and being loyal to other women (hence she accuses Offred of stealing Luke) Moiras reluctance to conform to rules of Gilead is crucial to her mental constancy and her survival. Margaret Atwood contrast Moiras reluctance to subscribe to the ideologies of Gilead with Janine, who deeply believes and accepts the Gilead regime.Janine is both a victim of freedom and oppression. In the novel, we told that as a handmaid, she was left to irritate her own emotional scares when her baby was declared unborn and destroyed because it was ill-shapen and also that before the Gilead regime she was gang-raped something she is made to believe by the Aunts that it is her breakout her fault, her fault, we chant in unison.There are great parallels amid these events in each case, she is a powerless individual, victimised as a women and her baby is destroyed. Janines fragility reinforces Moiras inner strength. Janines tramp into madness in chapter 43 serves as Atwoods way of apprisal the readers that people can not be forced into believing in something imposed on them and that true converts of the Gilead regime are eventually into driven insane by the systems inhumane practices. Page 1 of 3 Show preview only The above preview is unformatted textual matter This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Margaret Atwood section.