The Role of Women in Modern Society in Comparison To Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"

Margaret Atwood's controversial dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, leaves the reader with the lingering question of "what if?". Set in the near future, what is known to be the United States, is overtaken by puritan conservative Christians, creating the Republic of Gilead. Assasinating the President and congress, this religious extremist movement suspended the constitution and took complete control over the government. Women in Gilead lost their rights, and served only one purpose; for reproduction. A …

…no longer evident in Canada and the United States, such practices are still held across our ocean, in third world countries. Such laws have survived centuries, from our past to our present, and most likely into our far future. But no matter how many restrictions are applied to the female, they will never be able to be eliminated. A society cannot function without a woman, for a woman is the only one who propogates it.