rummy power trip." - page 228 The Commander's Wife also takes advantage of the power she has over Offred's life. In return for performing the illegal act of having sex with a man other than the Commander, the Wife will produce a picture of Offred's long-lost child. This form of blackmail cruelly introduces hope to Offred, a notion which has been foreign to her for many years. She suddenly envisions hope of regaining her previous life, along with all of the rights she once took for granted. The day which began this horrible nightmare, is one she will never forget. In this one day, Offred lost her job, access to her life savings, and any say regarding her future. This is a frighteningly similar situation to an article written in the July '97 issue of Homemaker's Magazine. A ragtag band of bandits called the Taliban ... thundered into the capital city of Kabul on September 27 of last year, and overnight the lives of women and girls were catapulted back to the dark ages. After hanging the government leaders in the public square, the Taliban announced their draconian decrees on the radio: schools for girls were immediately closed. Women could no longer work. They had to be completely covered ... because "a woman's face corrupts men."1 (Global Issues) Muslim scholars all over the world say this is a "grab for power and control in a country that's been struggling with unrest for 18 years. It is also misogyny, a contempt for women that goes hand in hand with the disturbing rise in extremism in Muslim countires."2 (Global Issues) Men who abuse their power, for whatever reason, pose a serious problem to society's advancement. As Atwood presents this issue in her book, the connection to the situation in Afghanistan establishes an alarming insight into a conceivable future. Besides the issue of women being manipulated, the government of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale abuses its power in other ways. Public hangings, or Salvagings, are another example. This method to deter subversive activity is taken to the extreme; "the criminals of society" are first drugged, and then hung in an absurd setting, where the whole town is forced to witness an act that present Western civilization considers private. Yet in Atwood's future world, dead bodies hanging on the Wall are a common sight. We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn't matter if we look. We're supposed to look: this is what they are there for, hanging on the Wall. Sometimes they'll be there for days, until there's a new batch, so as many people as possible will have

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1723
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)