Comparing and contrasting two characters from The Handmaids Tale

Sexual slavery and feminism are devil of the main themes in Atwoods dystopian book The Handmaids Tale (1986), in which she portrays a participation called Gilead in which women are deprived of their civil liberties. In Atwoods dystopian society most(prenominal) women consent become infertile and the few ones who can still bear infantren are turned into handmaids, i. e. versed servants who are brainwashed for the mere purpose of breeding healthy children for the elite. This novel is an account of Offreds musings and her fragmentize perception of reality.It is Offred who introduces two antithetical characters rebellious Moira and submissive Janine. Although these characters employ different strategies to either escape or accommodate respectively, they end up being subdued by Gileads regime, metaphorically losing control everyw here their own body. I will out line of merchandise both characters personalities, their subjugation to Gilead and the loss of connection with their own bodies. Moira is a rebellious lesbian who is admired by the Handmaids, but as the story unfolds, she subdues to Gilead.Moiras boisterous behaviour is displayed by her actions and speech, which is highly colloquial, as when she states, Im borrowing five bucks off you, okay? (Atwood, THT, p. 32) and when she refers to the ablaze(p) Center1 as a Loony Bin (THT, p. 61). She ceaselessly defies the Gilead system and even tries to escape twice come through on her second attempt and as a result of this Moira never becomes a proper handmaid. steady when Moira has disappeared from the scene, she makes a dramatic impact on the Handmaids, who admire her Moira was our fantasy () she was with us in secret, a express joy (THT p. 17). But her power over Offred seems to cease when Moira appears in scene at Jezebels, a place in which improper Handmaids such as Moira are forced into prostitution I am shocked by them (the women in Jezebels) I recognize them as truant. The official creed denies t hem, denies their very existence, yet they are here (THT p. 213).There, Moira lets herself be used by men once and again in order to accommodate to this young reality, even minimizing the gravity of the situation its not so bad, theres lots of women around. dyke paradise, you might call it (THT p. 28). Thus, her once rebellious identity fades as she loses control of her body. In this way, it can be deduced that even the most rebellious personality subdues to Gilead. Unlike Moira, Janine is seen as a straight-laced, submissive character who is constantly trying to accommodate to Gilead, but in the end, she gets subdued as well. Her submissive behaviour is clearly displayed when, at the Red Center, she blames herself for having been gang-raped in the pre-Gilead society, as a strategy for accommodation It was my fault, she says. It was my own fault.I led them on. I deserved the pain (THT p. 62). Soon, the aunts consider Janine an example (THT p. 62) for the rest of the Handmaids. But whereas Moira is admired for her courage, Janine is depicted by the handmaids in a derogatory sense, calling her a whiny bitch (THT p. 98), and even sucky (THT p. 98). Their hatred for Janine grows when she becomes a snoop for the Aunts We (the handmaids) avoided her when we could () She was a danger to us. Similar to Moira, Janine ends up working for Gilead, although Janine does it legally.She is able to bear a child for her Commanders wife, but soon later on the birth the baby dies (The baby) was a shredded after all () My God, () to go through all that, for nothing. Worse than nothing (THT p. 192). As a result, Janine becomes insane as she cannot tolerate the loss shes (Janine) let go, totally now, shes in free fall, shes in withdrawal (THT p. 252). But her insanity is also due to the loss of connection with her body she gets legally raped, which comes as a revival of her pre-Gileads traumatic experience.For her, losing the relationship with her body implies losing her mind as well. In conclusion, Janine had do everything to accommodate to this society she pleased the Aunts, she became a spy, and she even bore a child but she never accomplished her purpose of becoming accepted and, as compared to Moira, she is subjugated to Gilead, metaphorically losing both mind and body. As I have already stated, Moira and Janine present both differences and similarities. The boldest differences between them are their personalities and their strategies to either escape or accommodate to Gilead.But even these antithetical characters have a similar destiny their subjugation to the society and the metaphorical loss of connection with their own bodies. The implication that arises from this comparison is that were a society like this be established, women would not only be morally affected, but they would also lose their own identity. Another line of research worth pursuing further is to study the effect that a society like this could have on todays world.