Surrogacy In The Handmaids Tale By Margaret Atwood

Throughout The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood there begins to become a clear difference in the personal attitudes the Handmaids have towards surrogacy compared to attitudes of modern day surrogates. In modern day society, Americans are very proud of the free will they have, giving them the ability to choose endless possibilities of who and what they want to be. Becoming a surrogate is a choice made 100% by women, offering their wombs to couples who may be experiencing fertility complications. With not only the willingness to be extreamly helpful, these women are also being compensated for this choice. According to Growing Generations, a suggocasy website, women are making anywhere from $42,000 - $75,000 per child. Having the ability†¦show more content†¦Explaining how because the birth is not natural people view it as unbibical or unnatural. Also how during this procedure could but the mothers health at risk as well as the unborn child. While either side is not deemed rig ht or wrong there is defenity a split on viewpoints. However throughout The Handmaids Tail there is a consistant opinion how soceity views surrgacy. Handmaids are viewed as merely an object. Being stripped of everything that humanises them; from their names, ability to read and write, freedom, and much more. Authoritative figures like the Commander try to remind Handmaids of their â€Å"duty† of surrogacy throughout the book by manipulating them using Bible verses, one of them being, â€Å"Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah. She shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her† (Atwood 88). As the government is based on religion, there is an expectation these authoritative figures are trying to create. Not only do the Commanders and wives have the expectation of the Handmaids to bear children but God as well. Finally, there is a clear differences between how the wives in The Handmaids Tale respond to surrogacy vs. how modern day wives respond. In modern day society, women who choose to use a surrogate have a bittersweet experience. As obvious emotions of sorrow and sadness are correlated with not being able to conceive a child of their own but there isShow MoreRelatedOrwell s 1984 And Huxley s Brave New World1821 Words   |  8 Pagesreflected in the tale of persecution presented by Margaret Atwood in The Handmaids Tale and the dystopian society of Gilead. Unlike other dystopian novels and actual historical events, however, Atwood introduces a new persecuted group in The Handmaids Tale: not Jews, Muslims, witches or political radicals, but Women. Atwood also introduces a novel form of persecution that includes both pre and post-inception. The oppression of women is present in both periods demarcated in Handmaid’s Tale, the pre-Gilead