Moira Donegan and Margaret Atwood are both very critical women. They have well established views and make their voices heard through they’re chosen form of writing. In The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood makes various issues very clear to the reader. Same goes for Donegan. Most of the issues raised in both of these works are related to one global issue: politics, power and justice. However, some issues that are raised, particularly in The Handmaid’s Tale, relate closer to the global issue of beliefs, values and education.
When it comes to politics, power and justice there is a clear sense of inequality within both texts. Donegans articles show the gap between men and women mostly within the justice system, while Atwood shows the severe oppression of women in a society with antiquated beliefs that strongly favour men in every domain of life. Although there are difference in the way these issues are portrayed and the way in which the stories are told the underlaying fact is the same; women are seen as inferior to men even where they should hold equal rights, such as the judiciary system.
Both women also reiterate the global issue of beliefs, values and education, for different but similar reasons. Atwood shows this through the Aunts who have the function of educating and passing down knowledge through the Handmaids. The beliefs and ideas being passed down to the Handmaids are somewhat outdated and very different from the ones they previously had coming from a “modern” society. This shows the influence people in power, the Aunts, have over the rest of society. The ideals the aunts present to the Handmaids relates somewhat closely to the ideals of members of the Republican party. As the man in power has such archaic beliefs and moral, people below him are influenced as they are “loyal” to their leader. Hence, some women still vote Republican even with all the disadvantages that come with it.
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