ThesisThroughout the novel The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood makes many connections to the destruction of individuality; The names of the characters, living in a futuristic theocratic society, refer to the way an individual is stripped of the things that define them as they are. Atwood's focus on these connections is intended to enhance readers' understanding of the novel and reveal more……………………..Context In the novel The Handmaid's Tale, even the powerful live unsatisfying lives. However, it was the handmaids who suffered the worst, confined to a house and only allowed out on various occasions, for example grocery shopping, ceremonies when they were about to engage in sex, and executions. It's safe to say that handmaids have it worse than most. Trapped by their low social status and fertile bodies, these poor women cannot live the happy life that most aspire to. Having a fertile body forces them to give to "commanders" so they can bear children for other families, which ultimately confines them and deprives them of their freedom. When the handmaid becomes pregnant, if she does, her reward is not to be executed. But since they have the gift of being fertile, there is really no reward as they have to stay in the house with the commander and are forced to give birth. was overthrown and replaced by a totalitarian regime. A futuristic state now alternative. What makes the city of Gilead so terrifying to people is that it looks the same. Remind them of the past when freedom was not taken away from them. However, this new futuristic society seems to permeate the psyche of most people: "T...... middle of paper...beautiful as a flower cannot always hide the horror of certain things." For Offred, stuck in this terrible place where almost everything has been taken away from her, it would almost be an additional insult to hide the horrible place she now lives in and the emptiness she now feels: "I wish this story is different. I wish it was more civilized. I wish he would show me in a better light” (267). It seems almost impossible for Offred to come up with positive images, she tells the story as it is, without sugar coating. Conclusion Dystopian societies can create horrific and unexpected roles for people who become enslaved in them. Women may serve different masters, and those masters may direct them differently than if they were in full possession of their free will. These women have hopes and desires that are subjugated by the constructs of an environment beyond their control..