Handmaids Tale Vs. Fire Dwellers

A detailed Summary of Handmaids Tale Vs. Fire Dwellers

In the two books Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Margaret Laurence's The Fire Dweller's, the protagonists are very different in character. However, both of these women lost their identity due to an outside influence. In each of the books we see the nature of the lost identity, the circumstances which led to this lost identity and the consequences which occurred as a result of this lost identity.

In the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood our main character (Offred) has had her whole world stolen away by the government of Gilead. This new society is sexually repressed, and is founded by religious extremists. Women are only used to produce children, and have no rights at all in the new world of Gilead.

In the book The Fire Dwellers by Margaret Laurence our main character Stacey MacAindra has been thrown into a life of responsibility. She has an uncommunicative husband who means well, but shows her no love. And four children who she feels are being ruined by her every action. She feels that life has much more to offer than the tediousness of every day routine.

The nature of Offred's lost identity is very drastic. Before the new religious group of Gilead took over the world she was a very normal eve

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The consequences of Stacey's lost identity drove her into a massive depressive state. She got no love from her husband and therefore, had to look elsewhere for it. She had an affair with a twenty-three year old man just to make herself feel wanted, " He liked it. He loved it. Oh my God, it was marvelous. I've got to see him again" (p.203). Stacey never saw that Mac really did love her, and only worked so hard to ensure that the family would be all right. She became very lonely as a result of this, and very self absorbed. All that she would think about was herself and how her every action was ruining her children's lives. She even goes so far as to call herself a "Kid-ruiner" (p.29). Her depression and loneliness finally lead her to almost be afraid of outside events; things that are not common in her household, and every day events. She waited to be told what to do with her life, knowing that things would never change, "Stacey, waiting to be told what life holds and withholds, the inalterable soul movements, stately as orchestral or bowel" (p.176). Her life became so tedious that to change it in the least bit would have been drastic.

In conclusion, these two books had main character's that were forced into a loss of identity by an outside influence. The initial changes may have varied, but they both shared in similar consequences. The deprivation of their identities, caused them both to lose contact with themselves; in meaning, contact with their former identity. And therefore, their initial being is lost forever.

The circumstances which led to Stacey's lost of identity were basically the formation of her family. She was married at the young age of twenty-three, and had so much to learn about life. She thought that at the time this was right thing to do. However, she had only known Mac for six months before he asked her to marry him, "Stacey went home for supper with Julie, to talk, and one of Buckle's friends was there. Clifford MacAindra. Six months later she thought how fortunate, to have her life settled once and for all, so ideally, at twenty-three"(p.53). She soon was a stay home mother of four children, and became very lonely. Mac was a man very caught up in his job, and rarely had time to help with the children, " By seven in the evening, Mac is closeted in his study, as he has been every evening this week" (p.74). Stress because of children and marriage began to severely eat away at Stacey's character. She slowly began to be very self conscious of her appearance and felt a lack of love from her family. She felt as though her whole life was falling apart in front of her eyes.

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Approximate Word count = 2111
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels