This 5 page paper uses two books, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to examine the way in which our hierarchical society allows men to treat women as objects instead of people. There are 2 sources listed in the bibliography.
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as objects. In order to prove this thesis statement we will consider two books, The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
THE HANDMAIDS TALE How and why men in our hierarchical society treat women as objects is clearly seen when one considers the writings by
both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Margaret Atwood. While both of these books can be considered of the science fiction genre, the irony is that these books are both symbolic
of the way our world actually is. Gilmans book, Herland, while written sixty-five years ago is still applicable today. The settings are of an other-world type timeframe in
both books, but the basic concept behind both make the same statement: that men treat women as objects in our society. Margaret Atwoods book, The Handmaids Tale is at once
satirical and horrifying. The entire novel is based on ironic allusions to contemporary feminism. The fact that this novel is written in a narrative style is meaningful as
well. The narrator is giving us a firsthand account of what is happening, as though the eyes and ears cannot lie to the reader. By using this narrative style,
the reader is actually living the life of Offred, seeing and making the same assumptions she is making. This style of approach to the content of the novel is
quite probably the strongest one that Atwood could have chosen; for if it had merely been a tale written in the third person, it would not have been nearly so
horrific in the events that take place. The way the men use women in this book is startling to say the least. Women are used either for reproduction or