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August 19, 2026Open Access

Under His Eye: Politics of Survival through Complicity and Resistance - The Women of Gilead

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Authors

CGChristy Michelle Gonzalez

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Overview

Literary analysis reveals nuanced survival strategies among Gilead's female castes, demonstrating that complicity does not preclude active resistance or agency.

Key Points

  • Examine how female characters navigate systemic oppression within Gilead's theocratic patriarchal society through the interconnected dynamics of complicity and resistance.
  • Conducted a close reading of Margaret Atwood's novels The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments.
  • Applied theoretical frameworks of intersectional feminism and deconstruction, integrating perspectives from Michel Foucault, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Judith Butler.
  • Gilead's power structure divides women into weaponized caste roles—including Handmaids, Wives, and Aunts—using religious piety and biblical precedent to enforce subjugation.
  • Complicity functions as a nuanced mechanism of survival rather than passive acceptance or the complete absence of resistance.
  • Women retain agency within oppressive structural environments even when outwardly adopting compliant survival behaviors.

Cite This Study

Christy Michelle Gonzalez (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8563fe03308d306e2d773chttps://doi.org/10.82267/tind.519375
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