Biopolitics In The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood（1939-）has been entitled as queen of Canadian literature for her marked achievements in literature.Her works include novels,poems,literary criticism and so on.The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel that she finished in 1985.Since the day it was published,it has attracted much attention from academic circles.Many scholars interrupt it from perspective of eco-criticism,dystopia,feminism,and so on.However,there is not many studies made on the novel from biopolitics perspective to interpret the survival predicament of the Gileadean people.With the help of thoughts on biopolitics proposed by Giorgio Agamben（1942-）,this thesis discusses the hidden biopolitics in the novel from three parts,the process of transferring Gilead into a space of exception,the living dilemma of Gileadean people under the Gileadean regime,and the resistance of Gileadean people.This thesis is expected to give people some inspiration on the living of life.The main part of the thesis is composed of three parts.Firstly,the thesis analyses the construction of basic logic that is constructed by Gileadean regime through technic of government,the state of exception.Based on the logic bare life is produced and Gilead is transferred into a space of exception.Gileadean regime claims the country is in the state of exception by which the Constitution is suspended,and controls the transportation system and media tools.Then,Gileadean regime constructs spectacles that the country is in the state of danger through media tools.Therefore,the state of exception in Gilead is extended indefinitely.In the name of the state of exception,with a series of law’s change Gileadean regime transfers Gilead into a fundamentalist country where religion and law is indistinguishable.Secondly,the thesis discusses the plight of bare life in the novel.Obeying to Gileadean regime is the precondition on which bare life keeps its biological life.Life that contradicts the will of Gileadean regime or fails to satisfy the value expectation comes from Gileadean regime will be expelled form the community and becomes bare life who can be killed arbitrarily.Life who obeys Gileadean regime and take the obligation that is given by Gileadean regime become bare life with bios（which indicated the form or way of living proper to an individual or a group）deprived.At last,the thesis quests the resistance of bare life to fight biopower.Radical rebels make their resistance with body as the carrier.The obedient violate laws to regain the unity of bios and zoe（which expressed the simple fact of living common to all living beings）.To conclude,through discussing the normalization of state of exception and bare life under biopower,this thesis reveals the survival crisis behind the state of exception,a technique of government.The suspending of law in the state of exception is the omen that people may be reduced into bare lives.The manipulation on media tools helps to normalize the state of exception which pushes life into the predicament of bare life.However,bare life gets its own way to fight back the biopower.The biopolitics in The Handmaid’s Tale shows Atwood’s worries on the survival situation of humans in the future.