Social groups marginalized, excluded, or silenced within The Handmaid’s Tale Anonymous 11th Grade

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood discusses a dystopian society, which reversed the advancements in the feminist movement that came in the twentieth century. Gilead, an enclosed community under the rule of a totalitarian government, contains a hierarchy of citizens including the Commanders, Eyes, Handmaids, and many more. Each social group has a task that they must fulfill, and if one fails to comply with their duty in society, dark consequences await. For the handmaids, their job is to have children, as the population continues to shrink. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the frequent references to the handmaids’ limited freedom demonstrate how one’s identity can be stripped away by an oppressive government, ultimately constricting rebellion and individuality.

As power is held by the men of Gilead, the handmaids are deprived of any chance to record their history and express themselves through literature. When Offred remembers how the society of Gilead came to be, she reminisces about times with her mother, with whom Offred went to a fire to participate in the burning of books and magazines. Offred then seems to talk directly to the reader as she emphasizes the prominence of the restrictions on writing: “Tell,...