IO

Politics, power and justice

Men's impunity in the face of justice through well-thought-out texts and literary devices used by the authors to explain gender inequality in politics

Literary Work: The handmaid's tale by: Margaret Atwood

Gilead was formed in response to the crisis caused by dramatically decreased birthrates, the state’s entire structure, with its religious trappings and rigid political hierarchy, is built around a single goal: control of reproduction. The state tackles the problem head-on by assuming complete control of women’s bodies through their political subjugation. Women cannot vote, hold property or jobs, read, or do anything else that might allow them to become subversive or independent and thereby undermine their husbands or the state. Despite all of Gilead’s pro-women rhetoric, such subjugation creates a society in which women are treated as subhuman. They are reduced to their fertility, treated as nothing more than a set of ovaries and a womb

Non-literary body of work: TLC, 1992 , “His Story”, Album: Oooooooohhh… On the TLC tip

“His Story”, the eighth song on TLC’s debut album Oooooooooh...... On the TLC tip is about society believing men over women. Particularly, the 1987 rape allegations made by Tawana Brawley, then 15. None of the six men accused were prosecuted, so in here we se the men's impunity in politics, because this institutions did nothing in this rape allegations

Metaphore:

I know why there is no glass, in front of the watercolor of blue irises, and why the window only opens partly and why the glass in it is shatterproof. It isn’t running away they’re afraid of. We wouldn’t get far. It’s those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself, given a cutting edge. (Chapter 2)

Not all of you will make it through. Some of you will fall on dry ground or thorns. Some of you are shallow-rooted. . . think of yourselves as seeds. (Chapter 4)

Now that she’s the carrier of life, she is closer to death, and needs special security. Jealousy could get her, it’s happened before. (Chapter 5)

We are containers; it’s only the inside of our bodies that are important. The outside can become hard and wrinkled, for all they care.(Chapter 17)

Foreshadowing:

Ofglen’s suicide,

Tone:

The tone of The Handmaid’s Tale : Is dark and bleak

At times, the tone of The Handmaid’s Tale turns nostalgic for the world before Gilead

Style

Is introspective and nonlinear, weaving together narratives from Offred’s past and present.

Motifs:

Rape and sexual violence-Man usted for politic themes-

Similarities Between Reactionary And Feminist Ideologies

Allusion:

If I turn my head so that the white wings framing my face direct my vision towards it, I can see it as I go down the stairs, round, convex, a pier glass, like the eye of a fish, and myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairy-tale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment of carelessness that is the same as danger. (Chapter2)

As for my husband, she said, he’s just that. My husband. I want that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final(Chapter 3)

Alliteration:

His story (yeahee, yeahee, yeahee)

Hist story (ow)

They're gonna believe

His story

His story

Imagery:

Why does it have to be that we get labeled for what we do

It's hard enough for us to be ourselves without being used

Sometimes I feel like there is no reason for me to explain

No matter how much we complain

Simil:

His story over mine his story will be his story

And my story is a waste of time

Motif:

Sexual abuse-Man impunity in face of justice-Rape and sexual violence

Symbolismo:

how could you do this to us

They

're gonna believe

His story over mine

explores gender-based violence by looking at the historical roots of men's violence against women

-Man impunity not only intensifies the subordination and powerlessness of the targets of violence, but also sends a message to society that male violence,

-Violence is predominantly and overwhelmingly committed by males; yet, due to entrenched patriarchy, criticism is conveniently deflected towards weaker correlational factors such as race and religion.

--As we see both texts encompasses this problem through literary devices, and even the tone of it helps to understand the suffering, and how it affects a society.