Margaret Atwood'Un Damızlık Kızın Öyküsü Romanında Ataerkil Yapı

Abstract

Back in the old days, the hunting and gathering period shaped the division of labor between men and women, the former being hunters, and the latter gatherers. While men were engaged in battue, i.e. herd hunting, women mostly hunted small animals and gathered plants to share tasks in society. Considering that battue often ended in failure, this period was indeed a time when mostly women covered their family’s food supply. Since women took on the task of care as well as gathering, they essentially had the most critical tasks of society during this period. As a natural consequence of this situation, society had a matriarchal structure.
 With the transition to a sedentary life and the subsequent domestication of animals, men took over most of the farming and livestock work on themselves. Thus, the means of production came under the rule of men. This led women to take care of their family and home, and restricted women’s space. Therefore, society underwent a transformation from a matriarchal to a patriarchal structure.
 On the other hand, women started to take their place in production again with the effect of the Industrial Revolution. They endeavored to rebuild their identity in the patriarchal order, to create a change in the social structure and thinking of society, as well as to make room for themselves in working life. Yet, from the 18th century onwards, the patriarchal social structure has maintained its dominance. In this social order, women’s struggle for social, economic and legal rights has been continuing without interruption. In her dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood addresses women’s issues, gender and cultural dogmas in patriarchal social structure. The novel investigates the place of women in society in the Republic of Gilead, as well as the patriarchal structure in a critical manner. In this context, this study is designed to explore the type of role that patriarchy casts for women in Atwood’s work, The Handmaid’s Tale, and to elaborate on how women are pressured by cultural patterns in this patriarchal structure.