Contemporary writing Essay Example

Contemporary writing Essay Example Contemporary writing Essay Contemporary writing Essay Essay Topic: Like Water for Chocolate The Handmaids Tale Giving voices to suppressed groups or individuals is recognized as a preoccupation of contemporary writing. Discuss contemporary works which you have studied with this preoccupation in view; say how successful the attempt is and how you respond to it in each case. Two transcendental novels set in different countries first written in two dissimilar languages, yet both depicted the oppression of individuals as a preoccupation of contemporary writing. In Margaret Atwoods superlative novel The Handmaids Tale the protagonist is confined in the puritanical system of the rigid Republic of Gilead. In contrast, Tita from the periodical novel Like Water for Chocolate is restrained by her tyrannical mothers pronouncement to conform to tradition. One of the social concerns dealt with in Laura Esquivels novel was the restriction of marriage of women if born the youngest daughter of the family. In Like Water for Chocolate, the protagonist, in falling in love with Pedro and born as the youngest child of the De La Garza family, was destined to live a miserable life. Her flood of tears that had cascaded down when she was born symbolized a sorrowful life. The birth room-the kitchen, foreshadowed the strong ties that Titas life were to have with the kitchen and food, it [kitchen] is a source of knowledge and understanding that generates life and pleasure. -Laura Esquivel1 Tita struggled to appease Mama Elenas propriety that was revealed through the symptoms and illnesses caused by Titas food in her attempt (if not purposefully) to ruin her sister Rosauras wedding. Everyone there, every last person, fell under this spell that seized the guests [of Rosauras wedding] and scattered them across the patio and the grounds and into the bathrooms collectively vomiting wailing over lost love. 2 It is natural to think that a birth mother would have her childs best interest in mind. On the contrary, however, Mama Elena treated tradition as a far more important issue than her daughters welfare. There was no love present in Tita and Mama Elenas relationship. In one of Titas outbursts, she screamed at Mama Elena, I know who I am! I am a person who has a perfect right to live her life as she pleases. Once and for all, leave me alone; I wont put up with you! I hate you! I hate you, Ive always hated you! 3 and with these words Tita disintegrated Mama Elenas ghost. These also successfully expressed Titas anger and hatred toward this authoritarian character that she has despised for her entire life. It is evident that Esquivel intended to emphasis Titas resentment through the deployment of the repeated I hate you and the punctuation: ! . Likewise in The Handmaids Tale, the hypocritical Gileadian government officials inhibited individuality and enforced conformity upon the handmaids. Gilead provided its women with freedom from the unpleasant nature of Western society but at the same time it has taken away all their rights. This society was based on the fundamentals of the Bible where religious and sexual violations were punished heavily. Women in the novel were classified according to their specific functions Wives, Handmaids, Marthas, Econowives, Aunts. Women became mere breeding objects identical, replaceable, silent objects5 to help Gileads quest in achieving higher birth rates. Offreds flashbacks played an important role in expressing the theme of loss, in which all her recollections were buries, including her freedom to love. In the beginning of the novel, Offred was portrayed as a blank figure with no identity. Throughout the plot, she continued to reconstruct her past. She found herself a new place, her own space. There was to be some space, finally that I [Offred] claim as mine, even in this time 6 Offred eventually escaped her past because of Nick, and felt that life in Gilead may be tolerable. Being here with him [Nick] is safety and how have I come to trust him [Nick] like this I tell him [Nick] things I shouldnt. Atwood skillfully manipulated the structure and time sequence that demonstrated the sharp contrast between the once creative and lively world yet not perfect to the now alienated and suffering framework of Gilead. The novel revealed dystopia through a series of glimpses, similar to that of a detective story until the climax was disclosed, unveiling the extreme extent of the Republics cruelty and corruption. The readers experienced the events in Gilead as vividly as Offred did. The narrator, Offred possessed a satire humour that made the horrible affairs in Gilead bearable. Through her revelations of the confinements of her fellow women, Offred revealed yet another flaw in Gilead; patriarchy, a form of sexism. Gilead controlled women, controlled sexuality not about romance, passion or desire; only a matter of duty. 8 But the pinnacle power that Gilead had over its people was the control of thought. The Republic of Gilead knows no bounds. Gilead in within you. 9 The ideologies of all flesh in weak10, men are sex machines11 were drilled into all those who went through the women-subjugating Red center. Offred resisted Gilead inwardly; once an attempt to escape from the regime failed she resigned to fate. Though the two novels were very different in terms of time and setting, both Like Water for Chocolate and The Handmaids Tale demonstrated giving voice to oppressed individuals or groups through the apt vehicle of structure and time sequence. Esquivel verified that tradition still played an important role in the general Mexican society and the impact it has on those affected- Tita. The Canadian author, Atwood, used this novel as predictions of the future if its warning were ignored.