Contreras 1

Karla Contreras

Ms. Guzman

AP English Literature - Period 1

4 October 2017

2009 Exam Prompt 3

In her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood addresses the prominent role

gender plays in the functioning of society. The novel is set in a dystopian America, in which

women are treated as objects without power and men are able to have control and liberty.

Atwood uses symbols and allusions throughout her novel in order to emphasize the idea that

women are inhuman and can easily be stripped of their rights and identity when a society begins

to fail.

The most significant symbol is the color coating placed on women’s clothing based on

their new role in society, removing their individuality, self-expression, and placing them into

categories. Handmaids all wear red from a dress to gloves and shoes but white wings on their

heads. Wearing red places those women in the category of women who are healthy enough to

give birth, but that is all they can do. When they are with other handmaids there is a familiarity

that their new purpose is for nothing else than to have children, which will be taken from them

and given to a Commander and his wife. Along with the completely red attire, handmaids must

wear white wings on their heads, in order to prevent them from communication with each other

or being aware of their surroundings. The wings finalize the tearing apart of women’s identity,

making them aware that they are no longer viewed as individuals but as an object that although is

necessary in the functioning of society, can be easily be replaced by better maintained women.
 Contreras 2

In order to further develop the idea that society sees women as nothing but objects,

Atwood uses allusions to the Bible. In the scriptures of Luke and John, Martha is a woman who

is solely fixated on maintaining a tidy home and all preparations for Jesus. In The Handmaid’s

Tale a group of women are given the title of Martha, and they are responsible of cleaning around

the house and following commands from their Commander and his wife. Although in the Bible

Martha was voluntarily following the words of Jesus, in the novel Martha Rita is simply

following orders so that she does not have to face any consequences of her refusing to do so.

Using a biblical name such as Martha alleviates the hard labour that comes with being a Martha

in the Gilead society. It also creates the idea that women are categorized as those willing to take

part on maintaining a household but in reality it is just another way of destroying the women’s

identity by not only disregarding past names but also having them wear clothes based on their

new “role” in society.

The novel The Handmaid’s Tale focuses on a dystopian society that removed all identity

from women and began to utilize them as objects. By incorporating symbols and allusions to her

novel, Atwood is able to draw out the reality that women will be seen as inhuman and their

identity or self-worth is insignificant. Main character Offred lives through the changes in her

society and her hope diminishes as the novel progresses. Readers get to see how women are

manipulated into thinking they are being protected and helped but in reality their identity is being

taken from them.