LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 6 June 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Sexual Overtones and Explicit Sexuality in Margaret Attwood’s
A Handmaid’s Tale

K. S. Thirunavukkarasu, Ph.D.
R. Saravanan, M.A., M.Phil.

A Novel for a Sexually Explicit Society and Times

A Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood presents a sexually explicit society of decadence where a hand maid is exclusively hired for the sake of only breeding children. A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood is a favourite feminist horror novel projecting the sexual predicament and desperateness of the science-ridden society. The author describes a society in which women become the legal property of men. This happens after a Right-wing Christian extremist coup in the United States.

The Setting of the Novel

The novel is a horror story aimed at white middle-class women. The horror derives largely from the setting of the novel. The setting reflects a theocratic society formed with the tenets of the Old Testament of the Bible. The society of the novel and their definition of freedom are described by Atwood in these words: "There is more than one kind of freedom... Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it." (24).

A Different Patriarchal Society

The society is portrayed by the author to as a ‘Patriarchy’, which literally means the rule of the father. The individuals of this society in which the novel takes place have little or no control over their own lives, and do not seem to benefit from the regime in any manner. The only men who have any authority are the ‘Commanders’, an elite group of elderly rich men, who constitute only a tiny proportion of the male population. They have to share some of their authority with their wives, as evidenced by the fact that wives are always present while the Commanders have sex with their handmaids. The Handmaid system was intended for the Commanders’ sexual gratification and for biological procreation on the other.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

K.S. Thirunavukarasu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Government Arts College
Thiruvannamalai 606603
Tamilnadu
India
ksthiru_37@yahoo.com

Saravanan, R., M.A., M.Phil.
Assistant Professor of English
Vivekanandha Business School for Women
Tiruchengode 637 211
Tamilnadu
India
tcsarav81@gmail.com


 


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