The Handmaids Tale

The Handmaid's Tale Paper

The town of Gilead is fictional town created in the book The Handmaid's Tale. Even though Gilead is a make believe town, there are a lot of recognizable things in the town. For instance there are hints in the book that Gilead is somewhere in what used to be Massachusetts. The fact that Gilead is in Massachusetts is a very frightening thought, it makes what is happening in the story seem as if it could really happen. Also the fact that they use many historical facts in the story makes it so much more plausible.

In The Handmaid's Tale the main character, Offred was in a very peculiar situation. She is pretty much being used for her ovaries and nothing else. Gilead, the town where Offred was living was under the control of some very powerful men, these men made rules that the women had to follow and if they did not follow the rules they would be killed or punished harshly. The people in power make sure the laws are being followed by placing "spies" among the people and then taSome of the rules include wearing very conservative outfits, the handmaids where long red dresses that cover almost every inch of their bodies and head coverings with wings so they cannot see a lot of what is going on around them.

The people in power have found the perfect way of justifying the treatment of the women. They say that they are giving them freedom from all of the mistreatment they received from men in the past. "I remember the rules, rules that were never spelled out but that every woman knew: ... Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it (Atwood 24)." The women don't have to worry about getting cat called on the streets or being ogled at by men as they walk down the streets, but they do have to worry about not being able to give birth to a child and being declared an unwoman. If you're declared an unwoman you are sent to the colonies and once there you must do the dirty work. In chapter 38 Moira tells Offred that she was captured and The Eyes tortured her and made her watch a video about the colonies. In the video Moira saw women moving the dead bodies from the war zones and they were cleaning up toxic waste.

In Gilead, the people in charge do not stand for any type of descent and