CAMBRIDGE ADVANCED LEVEL EXAMINATION English Literature 9695 Exam Based Writing Practice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Name: Vinuthi Dheeraratne 01 hour ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------PROSE The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood Answer the question. (a) To what extent do you agree that The Handmaid’s Tale expresses ambivalence about feminism? Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is an account of the future, a dystopia, where pollution and radiation have rendered countless women sterile, and the birthrates of North America are dangerously declining. A puritan theocracy now controls the former United States, now called the Republic of Gilead led by the Sons of Jacob. Handmaids are recruited to repopulate the state and this world that Atwood creates seems absurd and near impossible as women are kept under slavery for reproductive purposes. Though the novel is mostly seen as a femisnit novel, the protagonist of the novel seems to be indecisive on her ideologies of feminism. Though the first person female narrative of Offred provides a feminist message in the novel, a closer look at her account of her life shows that she is not the feminist that we would have expected her to be. Unlike strong feminist characters like Moira nd Offred’d mother, Offred conforms to the set standards of women and we see how she takes upon the assigned roles for women prior to the rise of the regime. We see how Offred takes her mother’s strong drive for her feminist movements “unneccesary” and how she laughs at her mother’s ideas of having to live under a certain prototype. “You young people don’t appreciate things, she’d say. You don’t know what we had to go through, just to get where you are”, Offred’s mother fears the consequences of slacking in this area, a fear that would just prove to be justified, as she is sent to the colonies after the creation of the colonies. Even after the regime is established, we see how Offred does not show any active defiance. Unlike Moira, who escapes the Red Centre despite being punished earlier, Offred decides to give into the regime. The novel reveals how Moira used to be a feminist in the time before and Offred’s flashbacks show instances of her as an active personality. “ Now, said Moira. You don’t need to paint your face, it’s only me. What’s your paper on? I just did one on date rape”. This shows how Moira is in fact a feminsit as she clearly critiques the treatment of women in the society. Furthermore, Offred’s fellow Handmaid, Ofglen is another woman who is seemingly much braver than Offred. Ofglen is involved in the resistance and she is the one who pushes their relationship beyond what is generally accepted among Handmaids. She gives Offred Page | 1 information about the resistance and wants Offred to pass on the information received from her Commander, which is something that Offred does not dare. Though all the three women, Moira, Ofglen and Offred’s mother are presented as three failures we see no doubt in their sense of feminism which is rather unlikely in Offred. Moira is sent to a brothel after being captured while she was trying to escape, Offred’s mother is sent to the colonies while Ofglen hangs herself. Offred decides to choose survival over defiance. The readers tend to see Offred as more of an anti-feminist, when Ofglen hangs herself before “The Eyes” came for her, Offred is relived since Ofglen then cannot reveal anything about her. “She did it before they came. I feel great relief. I feel thankful to her. She has died so that I may live. I will mourn later”. Offred does not feel any guilt or express any sadness, but feels relief as she knows that she is safe at the moment. Relief at the death of another woman, is certainly not what the readers would have expected from a feminist. Offred’s reliance on other characters make her seem more as chauvinist. Offred surrenders to survive. All her life she has been surrounded by women who fight and sacrifice themselves for the cause, but she has not been able to join them. As a result, she gives in to Gilead discourse in order to survive, while the women who do not surrender end up dead. Offred wants Gilead to fall, but she does not have the power to participate in making it happen. Consequently she relies on other women. We also she how she not only depends on women but also on men. At Atwood’s vague ending we see how instead of finding her own way out of gathering up enough power to end her life, Offred decides to seek Nick’s help, despite not confirming if he was from the resistance or an Eye. Offred’s drive to get what she needs, in terms of sexuality, lust and love, restricts her thoughts as a feminist. We see how before she falls in love with Nick, she was quite willing to pass on information about the Commander, but then after the entire episode with Nick, she becomes reluctant and in fact has no interest in the resistance or whatsoever. For the sake of her survival, Offred decides to be a mere sex object for both the Commander and Nick, which we as readers would have hoped to see otherwise. However, despite being seen more in the negative light for acting as the typical feminist, Offred does have a sense of feminism and defiance in herself. In the Republic of Gilead. women are not allowed to read or write. In a place where even the shops have sign boards with images instead of letters, Offred manages to record her life in Gilead. Offred's way of defiance is certainly passive. We see her going against the regime mainly through her thoughts. Her memories of her past life as a librarian, mother and as a wife shows how she is still not ready to completely surrender herself. Her passive acts such as thoughts of going against the Commander, fantasising about him and Nick and silently cursing and feeling power over Serena Joy, shows how she does try to be rather resistant to the staring patriarchal energies around her. Offred’s finding of the Latin phrase “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”, and her treatment to ut as a prayer also shows that sense of feminism in her, which keeps her from fully transforming into a Handmaid under the regime. In a totalitarian regime, where women are treated as mere objects and where they are turned against each other, Offed’s efforts undeniably show a sense of feminism and defiance, but as readers we surely expect more from the protagonist. Just like Atwood, makes it rather unclear if Offred is a defiant female like Moira, Offred’s mother and Ofglen, or a brainwashed Page | 2 female of the Gileadean society like Serena Joy, we as readers find it hard to say if Offred functions more as a femisnt or as an anti-feminist. Page | 3