Intra Gender and Inter Gender Discrimination in Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Abstract

This research work aims to depict the inter gender discrimination in Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale. in this novel, Atwood presents an increasingly common concept of patriarchy in which a woman is constrained by tradition to be dependent on men, crippled to realize her own strength. She presents her women struggling side by side because the patriarchal assumption makes them suffer a lot. Almost all the women in the novel go through extreme suffering and exploitation from psychological/social to physical violence. Behind the suffering of these women patriarchal gender discrimination plays major roles. At the end of the novel, Atwood has given them a gesture of defiance against patriarchy. Her women have been portrayed as intelligent, questioning women who are not contented with the injustice against them. So, Atwood’s women raise the question of their way of life consolidated by patriarchy, and look it not only as the site of their oppression at home and in society but also make it a field of battle to vanquish their oppressors. In this sense, The Handmaid’s Tale belongs to a feminist writing which depicts the suffering due to the gender discrimination as well as gives the sense of awareness against this discrimination.