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Sexual Politics in Margaret Atwood¡¦s Dystopian Novel The Handmaid¡¦s Tale: The Oppression and Resistance of WomenWang, Hui-ling 05 February 2004 (has links)
This thesis explores the oppression of women within the gender institution of patriarchy in Margaret Atwood¡¦s dystopian novel The Handmaid¡¦s Tale, and their resistance to this male-dominated society. As a feminist writer, Atwood is very much concerned about the issue of gender, which she foregrounds in The Handmaid¡¦s Tale. In my analysis, I apply some theories of radical feminists and the French feminist who devote themselves to the study of gender--Kate Millett, Adrienne Rich, Catherine MacKinnon, and Hélène Cixous. Millett focuses on women¡¦s subordinated position that leads to women¡¦s oppression in patriarchy. Rich and MacKinnon focus on how women are controlled and oppressed in maternity and sexuality within the patriarchal society of gender inequality. Cixous challenges the validity of gender by pointing out its characteristic fluidity through creating woman¡¦s own writing in order to redefine female selfhood for women¡¦s resistance.
The thesis is composed of five chapters. The Introduction presents the background materials about Atwood and The Handmaid¡¦s Tale, the motivation of the thesis, and the resonance between The Handmaid¡¦s Tale and certain feminists¡¦ theories. The first chapter analyzes the formation of the unbalanced power relations between the sexes in which women are subordinated to men through the socialization. Moreover, because of women¡¦s subordination, women are modulated as mothers through socially institutionalized motherhood such as the Wives and the Handmaids in Gilead. The second chapter further analyzes how women are formulated as sexual objects through the experience of sexual objectification within the institution of heterosexuality, such as the mistresses and the prostitutes of Gilead. The third chapter discusses how female orality empowers women to resist their patriarchal society in The Handmaid¡¦s Tale. The protagonist Offred, by ¡§writing her voice¡¨ through storytelling, resists patriarchal oppression, restores her body and self, and transforms herself from a victim in a claustrophobic world of male domination to a heroine of femininity. Moreover, her act of writing by her voice also reflects women¡¦s histories of repression, which should be reconstructed in a culture in which only males are literate. Offred¡¦s oral act of storytelling, to the reader, may also signify her resistance to reconstruct women¡¦s repressed histories. The concluding chapter reiterates the research of The Handmaid¡¦s Tale with a synthesis of Atwood¡¦s and some of the prominent feminists¡¦ points of view, namely Millett¡¦s, Rich¡¦s, MacKinnon¡¦s and Cixous¡¦s, toward the oppression and resistance of women within the institution of gender. This study hopes to explore and thus illuminate the nature, the functioning, the operation of socially constructed male domination, and then proceed to search the possible solution, or the ¡§voice;¡¨ however feeble it is, the author, or the protagonist conceives to defy the oppression imposed on women.
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The theological impact of the handmaid sisters on the community of Mpunde Mission, in Kabwe ZambiaSepeti, Theresa January 2008 (has links)
This dissertation shows the theological impact of Handmaid Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Mpunde community. Data was collected through structured interviews and questionnaires from Sisters and members of the community.
The dissertation covers Evangelisation in general beginning with the coming of the Roman Catholic Church through Missionary White Fathers and Jesuits in Zambia and thereafter the coming of Women international congregations offering education, pastoral and health services and later the birth of local congregations. Similarities in formation, collaboration and works between international and local congregations are highlighted.
The dissertation traces the history and establishment of Handmaid Sisters and its developments up to date focusing on the theology of Mary, who is their model and her influence, position in the church and in the Congregation itself.
Finally, the dissertation looks at the structure of Governance and Operations of the Congregation as it carries its Mission especially empowering girls and women. / (M. A. (Religious studies))
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The theological impact of the handmaid sisters on the community of Mpunde Mission, in Kabwe ZambiaSepeti, Theresa January 2008 (has links)
This dissertation shows the theological impact of Handmaid Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Mpunde community. Data was collected through structured interviews and questionnaires from Sisters and members of the community.
The dissertation covers Evangelisation in general beginning with the coming of the Roman Catholic Church through Missionary White Fathers and Jesuits in Zambia and thereafter the coming of Women international congregations offering education, pastoral and health services and later the birth of local congregations. Similarities in formation, collaboration and works between international and local congregations are highlighted.
The dissertation traces the history and establishment of Handmaid Sisters and its developments up to date focusing on the theology of Mary, who is their model and her influence, position in the church and in the Congregation itself.
Finally, the dissertation looks at the structure of Governance and Operations of the Congregation as it carries its Mission especially empowering girls and women. / (M. A. (Religious studies))
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