Disciplining the Body: Power and Language in Margaret Atwood’s Dystopian Novel The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

This article explores the effect of power and language in dystopian society. I attempt to show that a novel may be classified as dystopian if it fulfills certain factors that posit language and discourse as fundamental devices of power. These three main factors are as follows: the establishment of an official, totalitarian language, evidence of opposing discourses, and the representation of the characters as a figure who deconstruct social reality.