@article{Kamble_2025, title={The Normalization of Female Subservience in the Handmaid’s Tale: A Critical Study}, volume={5}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijllc.5.2.7}, DOI={10.22161/ijllc.5.2.7}, abstractNote={<jats:p>Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale presents a dystopian world where female subservience is not just enforced through physical oppression but is deeply embedded in societal norms, making resistance nearly impossible. This paper examines how the Republic of Gilead normalises female subjugation through three key mechanisms: language and renaming, religious indoctrination, and social surveillance. The novel demonstrates how erasing personal identities, manipulating faith to justify oppression, and encouraging women to police each other reinforce patriarchal control. Through a close reading of the text and insights from feminist criticism, this study highlights how oppression becomes most dangerous when it is internalised as normal. Atwood’s portrayal of Gilead serves as a stark warning about the power of systemic conditioning, making The Handmaid’s Tale a relevant critique of historical and contemporary gender dynamics.</jats:p>}, number={2}, journal={International Journal of Language, Literature and Culture}, publisher={AI Publications}, author={Kamble, Srushti}, year={2025}, pages={51–54} }