Date of Award
Spring 5-2020
Degree Type
Thesis-Restricted
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
English
Department
English
Major Professor
Nancy Easterlin
Second Advisor
Anne Boyd Rioux
Third Advisor
Ellen Shelby Richardson Lovell
Abstract
Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale presents a dystopian world in which women have lost all individualism and have been reduced to breeding machines. This paper analyzes the patriarchal characteristics of The Handmaid’s Tale by using a Darwinian feminist theory to understand the evolutionary psychological root of male control of women in the narrative. Additionally, this in-depth reading relies on David Geary’s analysis of male and female mating dynamics and Barbara Smuts’ study of the evolution of patriarchy in humans to further give evidence to the evolutionary root of Gilead’s patriarchy. The men of Gilead control women through creating a fundamentalist biblical society, eliminating economic and educational resources for women, forcing women into becoming surrogates, implementing uniforms, and instilling social isolation; each of these cultural changes can be further explained through Darwinian feminism.
Recommended Citation
Petersen, Morgan N., "A Darwinian Feminist Analysis of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale" (2020). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2760.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2760
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.