Handmaids and Streetcar - Conflict

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  • Created by: notbartt
  • Created on: 28-11-18 17:02

Handmaids and Streetcar - Conflict

Similarities

  • *Conflict with the self*. We see this put into literal words by Blanche as she says out loud to herself that she must "keep a hold of myself" after stealing some alchohol from her sister's kitchen. Blanche is repeatedly putting on a facade toward other people and playing the 'bluff' in the 'poker game' but she also has form on lying to herself and the polka combined with the gun-shot is great evidence of this. On the other hand, Offred also has to conflict with herself, especially with how she actually defines herself. Offred hates her new identity as a Handmaid, she won't associate herself with her body : "I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it's shameful or immodest but because I don't want to see it. I don't want to look at something that determines me so completely."
  • *Conflict with Society* Blanche is upset because she can't play the male game. She sees herself as unlucky and sinned for attempting to be like Stanley. She tries to play the game of poker by conflicting against what society tells her she must do to behave as a woman- but is told repeatedly that she cannot do this! It's a man's world, one that she does not fit into. Stella entirely understands this concept and so decides to fit into what society tells her, she does not conflict. Moira very clearly conflicts with society, even from the flashbacks, Moira behaves to rebel from society by behaving sexual and outlandish as a teenager. Therefore her escape from the Red centre stems from this. She must be the rebel type. However, as is evident from both these societies, the expectations and constraints of such a super power as society will always overpower the individual. Always.

Differences

  • *Person vs Person conflict*. As Blanche and Stanley's narrative against one another is symbolised by the concept of a poker match between the two of them. "Who do you think you are? A pair of queens?" conceptualised by each of their power struggles within the household; Atwood does not show any intricate person vs person conflicts because of how constructed the Gileadean society actually is. The strongest example of person vs person conflict is between Offred and Serena Joy, but even then there is no sense of direct retaliation from Offred other than her meeting with the commander outside of the walls of the ceremony. In the end, we see the two working together as they realise their conflict was based upon the fact that the two are from different societal classes. Offred doesn't want to be having sex with The Commander's wife and she doesn't want her husband to be having sex with a Handmaid - it is the system that they are conflicting with, not eachother.

Overall comparison

Whilst both texts display clear elements of conflict. In all type of conflict there is always one distinct winner- and that is society. Both Gilead and the 1940s USA are/were oppressive and restrictive constructs, especially for women- and both writers must agree that for a woman it is almost impossible to win in any sense of conflict. Conflict is a result of disagreeing with how one is being oppressed or restricted by any other person or body. 

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