| Because of the importance of historical context in the dystopian genre, this thesis analyzes Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as a satirical extrapolation of the 1980s in the U.S. The first chapter explores the social surveillance being performed in the 1980s that encouraged women to take on traditional roles as wives and mothers as well as the rise of the post-feminist generation during this period. The second chapter analyzes the presence of patriarchal surveillance in The Handmaid's Tale, comparing it to Foucault's descriptions of surveillance in Discipline and Punish. The third chapter studies the main character, Offred, as a representative member of the post-feminist generation, and how that role involves her internalization of and complicity in the ideals of the dystopian society, Gilead. |
