PLANNING

Thesis: Control is used as a form of character oppression in Gilead as a warning for our society.

Control of sexuality oppressed Moira’s character

Control through fear oppressed Offred’s character

I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born. (12.25)

“I am Ofglen,” the woman says. Word perfect. And of course she is, the new one, and Ofglen, wherever she is, is no longer Ofglen. I never did know her real name. That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names. It wouldn’t be easy to find her, now. (44.15)

Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”? All this new woman has to do is say, “I am Ofglen” and she is. This transfer of identities echoes the one at the beginning of the book, when the Ofglen the narrator knew replaced another, initial Ofglen. Similarly, the narrator may be called Offred now, but there was another Offred before her and may be another one to follow.
She creates a monologue and directly addresses the reader, we connect with the narrator/ protagonist, she is reaching out to us. Highlights atwood’s purpose. When societies language is controlled you don’t really exist. So if you don’t think, the government is telling you to do, you don’t exist because you are not thinking for yourself, therefore are not yourself. Where is the truth in modern news and media? George bush, 9/11. Twisting of information by the government being payed by big corporations.

Control of women oppressed the Janine’s character

Controlled Puritan society oppressing their characters:

A form of church government, the church rules Gilead. Belief in predestination: in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. All features of salvation are determined by God’s sovereignty, including choosing those who will be saved and those who will receive God’s irresistible grace. All maids are female. Serena Joy doesn’t necessarily have a place/ an identity in the novel. Men run the household. Both had ceremonies.

As a women who lives in a western society…..