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Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the theoretical challenges and the approach through which The Handmaid's Tale and The Children of Men describe a world which is destroying itself in a society where human rights do not matter. The main objective is to discuss the role of women in these narrative universes. A space will also be created to consider how the female condition is perceived as a threat to a totalitarian society. In doing so, we will undertake this research with a multidisciplinary approach which takes into consideration the novels and the on-screen adaptations of these two stories. The end of the world is described and portrayed with a peculiar research of details that can convey this general idea of hopelessness. This paper wants to explore and create a detailed socio-cultural perspective on these two novels and movies with the support of a series of academic references to gender and dystopian studies.
Keywords: dystopia, feminism, adaptation, The Handmaid's Tale, The Children of Men.
The common ground that exists between P.D James and Margaret Atwood is their shared purpose of creating awareness of a possible dystopian future. My essay will create a comparative analysis of Atwood's and James's novels and on-screen adaptations The Handmaid's Tale and The Children of Men with the purpose of highlighting and discussing how these two stories share and explore themes of justice, politics, feminism, gender, hope, infertility, human rights and dignity in dystopian fiction. I will begin this analysis by defining dystopia as a "futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control" (Read Write Think). This specific narrative form enables writers to depict a scenario where the new norm is represented by an oppressive and extremist new reality. Dystopic scenarios are commonly used to criticize current trends, societal norms, or political systems. In their novels, Atwood and P.D. James managed to describe literary universes in which people are stripped of their basic human rights. If The Handmaid's Tale is defined as a dystopian novel, what also has to be taken into consideration is Atwood's vision of her own literary work. In an interview, she clearly stated her narrative objective:...