| The Handmaid's Tale is one of the masterpieces of Margaret Atwood,the Queen of Canadian Literature.The Handmaid's Tale describes a woman who becomes a handmaid unfortunately in Gilead and escapes from it at last.It tells the readers about the story that takes place in Gilead through the voice recorded on the tape.The novel shows a creepy future world by constructing a virtual country,Gilead.In the novel people are deeply oppressed by the totalitarian society,especially women.The rulers of Gilead pursue religion based on the Bible,and they try to save all humanity through God.The role of the handmaid is based on the story in the Bible.In Gilead because of nuclear war and ecological damage,the fertility rate dropped sharply.In this context,the handmaids are forced to become a fertility machine under the rule of the authoritarian regime.Michael Foucault is one of the most famous philosophers in France in the 20 th century.Power theory is the essence of Foucault's thoughts,which runs through out of Foucault's research fields.In power theory,Foucault mainly discusses the relationship between power and discourse,power and discipline,power and sex.Based on the relation of power and discourse,this paper mainly analyzes the oppression of power and discourse and the results that it brings about as well as people's rebellion to such kind of power and discourse.Power produces discourse and it is achieved through discourse.Discourse is the expression of power.Power exercises through the production mode of discourse.In the novel,the totalitarian government gradually disintegrates people's discourse by the exclusion principle of discourse,which leads to people's loss of power.In The Handmaid's Tale,discourse has always been the target in power's battlefield.This paper consists of three parts.The first part is the introduction,in which Margaret Atwood and her literary achievements are introduced.Then the storyline and literature review of The Handmaid's Tale are briefly summarized.Finally the writing purpose and its practical significance are introduced.The second part is the main body of the thesis,which is divided into four chapters.Chapter one is the theoretical foundation.It contains a brief introduction to Foucault'spower theory,followed by an analysis of the dialectical relationship between power and discourse.In chapter two,the operation mode of totalitarian power on discourse is analyzed.They are social system and ideology.The strict hierarchy of Gilead and the ubiquitous surveillance are ways of power operation.By prohibiting free speaking,prohibiting contact with literature,and the clear division between female and male,people's discourse is dispelled.The ideological field is an important area of discourse operation.The series of educational places in the novel and the absolute interpretation of the Bible also keep the truth in the hand of power.All anti-Bible ideas are prohibited.In chapter three,people's loss of identity,discourse and knowledge caused by the oppressive power are analyzed.Under the control of totalitarian power,the handmaids are forced to separate from their loved ones and lost their identity as a mother and wife.In chapter four,people's' resistance is analyzed.As Foucault's view of power,where there is oppression there is rebellion.The oppression and resistance of power complement each other.The ubiquitous power determines that the main body of resistance not only comes from the people at the bottom but also from the upper class.The third part is the summary of the thesis,summarizing the research results and explaining its practical significance as well as limitations of this paper.Foucault's power theory provides possibility for the study of power and discourse in this novel,which highlights the theme that Atwood explains in her work,showing its great warning and enlightenment.The thesis aims to reveal the harm of totalitarianism and evoke people to cherish freedom life,which can improve readers' awareness of power and encourage people to defend their discourse. |
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