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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that discusses and analyzes what Aunt Lydia in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale means by "freedom to" and "freedom from" and relates this to contemporary society. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KL9_khfreatwhm.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Dont underrate it" (Atwood 33-34). Analysis of this statement, using Atwoods novel, and considering the nature of current society, indicates that
Aunt Lydias assessment of freedom is antithetical to conceptions of personal liberty and identity and while it can be granted that freedom does always equal complete safety, the so-called "freedom
from" offered by Atwoods fictional society of Gilead is equivalent to slavery. Throughout the novel, Atwood abbreviates phrases and names that are crucial to understanding the social relationships in
Gilead. For example, the names of handmaidens, such as "Offred," are shorthand that refers to which Commander consider her to be his property. In other words, Offred indicates that the
protagonist is the "property of Fred." In a similar manner, Aunt Lydias remark refers to the freedom to undertake personal actions, while freedom from refers to the principle societal rationalization
of Gilead, which is that its severe restrictions on women afford them freedom from the issues that characterized the society that Gilead replace, such as, freedom from rape, sexual harassment
or sexual abuse. However, this rationalization is erroneous as Gilead does not really offer women this advantage, as it has simply institutionalized rape and sexual abuse by defining women
purely in terms of their ability to create a child. Offred has been robbed of her identity and objectified because it is her societal role to bear her Commander and
his wife, Serena Joy, a child. Due to heavy levels of pollution, human fertility is down and, consequently, the Handmaids bear children for infertile elite couples. Offred refers to
the process of insemination as "fucking," rather than "making love, because is not what hes doing" (i.e., the Commander) (Atwood 110). Euphuistically referred to as the "Ceremony," copulation is very
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