New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale
Using Butler's theory of gender performativity and her analysis of the psychic form of power, this paper attempts to show how the modification of gender by power in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has resulted in an identity crisis in the female protagonist, Offred. One signif...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/1/20490-71907-1-PB.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848813122222030848 |
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| author | Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim Yousefi, Tayyebeh Behvand |
| author_facet | Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim Yousefi, Tayyebeh Behvand |
| author_sort | Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Using Butler's theory of gender performativity and her analysis of the psychic form of power, this paper
attempts to show how the modification of gender by power in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has
resulted in an identity crisis in the female protagonist, Offred. One significant aspect of the totalitarian regime
of Gilead is its gender hierarchy that is further consolidated through sex discourse. Sex in Gilead turns into a
privilege granted only to men of high social status. Men are presented as normal sexual beings, whereas women
are entirely excluded from this discourse. Femininity in Gilead translates into invisibility, modesty and silence.
Women are regarded as being sexually neutral and are reduced to means of reproduction. Offred, who has lost
her voice and agency in this society, attempts to create her own narrative through which she can exercise her
resistance. However, the lack of consistency and her inability to adjust herself to the new values and norms
result in an identity crisis, which is represented through her sense of melancholia and the obvious
inconsistencies in her values. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:13:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:12881 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:13:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:128812019-05-09T11:05:04Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/ New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim Yousefi, Tayyebeh Behvand Using Butler's theory of gender performativity and her analysis of the psychic form of power, this paper attempts to show how the modification of gender by power in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale has resulted in an identity crisis in the female protagonist, Offred. One significant aspect of the totalitarian regime of Gilead is its gender hierarchy that is further consolidated through sex discourse. Sex in Gilead turns into a privilege granted only to men of high social status. Men are presented as normal sexual beings, whereas women are entirely excluded from this discourse. Femininity in Gilead translates into invisibility, modesty and silence. Women are regarded as being sexually neutral and are reduced to means of reproduction. Offred, who has lost her voice and agency in this society, attempts to create her own narrative through which she can exercise her resistance. However, the lack of consistency and her inability to adjust herself to the new values and norms result in an identity crisis, which is represented through her sense of melancholia and the obvious inconsistencies in her values. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/1/20490-71907-1-PB.pdf Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim and Yousefi, Tayyebeh Behvand (2018) New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 24 (1). pp. 162-174. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1076 |
| spellingShingle | Moosavinia, Sayyed Rahim Yousefi, Tayyebeh Behvand New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title | New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title_full | New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title_fullStr | New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title_full_unstemmed | New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title_short | New norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale |
| title_sort | new norms of gender and emergence of identity crisis in
margaret atwood’s the handmaid's tale |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/12881/1/20490-71907-1-PB.pdf |