Comparing the Rights of the Individual in Handmaids Tale and Invisible Man :: comparison compare contrast essays

Rights of the Individual in Handmaid's Tale  and Invisible Man    The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, are two novels which use an essentially "invisible" central character to comment on the manipulative power society holds over people, destroying the individual. Offred, the protagonist of The Handmaid's Tale, and the narrator of Invisible Man are both invisible as individuals and are manipulated by society to become a dehumanized natural resource. The authors of these two works use the protagonist to criticize society's use of certain groups of people only as resources to reach a goal, ignoring the individuality of these people. The very names, or lack thereof, of the main characters indicate their invisibility in the eyes of society. Offred is named after her commander; she is Fred's possession and therefore of Fred. Her original name is never mentioned. Likewise, the name of the narrator of Invisible Man is never mentioned. When he joins the Brotherhood, he is given a new name. Both Offred and the narrator of Invisible Man see their real names as a source of self-identification, yet society refuses to use their real names. Offred is a natural resource to Gilead because she is one of few women who still have viable ovaries. She describes the existence of the handmaids: "We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices. We are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important. What we prayed for was emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with self-denial, with semen and babies." (pg. 176, 124, 251) The narrator of Invisible Man is a resource is a similar way. The Brotherhood uses him as a speaker to advance their efforts to take power over the blacks. He says"What was 1, a man or a natural resource?" (pg. 303) Offred is seen not as an individual, but as one of a group of women who must serve the Republic of Gilead. When Offred asks the Commander for skin lotion, she says, "Our hands get very dry. For some reason I said our instead of my." (pg. 203) Here she sees herself as one of many handmaids, as she was taught to see at the Red Center. The narrator of Invisible Man, like Offred, finds himself identifying with a group and not with himself. He says, "they usually think in terms of "we" while I have always tended to think in terms of "me.