THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AS AN APPARATUS OF CONTROL AND AS A CENTRIFUGAL FORCE OF RESISTANCE IN THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND THE TESTAMENTS BY MARGARET ATWOOD

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Abstract

The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and The Testaments (2019) by Margaret Atwood depict the Republic of Gilead, a regime that rigidly controls the population, mainly women. The restriction of language, both spoken and written, is used as an apparatus of control. However, the respective protagonists – Offred and Aunt Lydia – employ language as a centrifugal force of resistance by documenting the violence they endured. This study aims to comparatively analyze the narratives to understand how language functions as both an apparatus of control and a centrifugal force of resistance. We also aim to reflect on the social roles of Handmaids and Aunts and the range and/ or lack of power granted to them. The study is supported by Mikhail Bakhtin’s concepts, such as centripetal and centrifugal forces in discourse and Michel Foucault’s concept of apparatus.

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Author Biographies

Yohana Gonçalves Bonfim

Licenciada em Letras Português/ Inglês e respectivas Literaturas pela Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG). Mestre em Estudos da Linguagem pela mesma universidade. E-mail: yohanabonfimg@gmail.com.

Evanir Pavloski, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa

Doutor em Estudos Literários pela Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) e Pós-Doutor em Teoria Literária pela Universidade de Campinas (UNICAMP). Professor do Departamento de Estudos da Linguagem, da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG), Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brasil. E-mail: evanir.pv@gmail.com      

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Published

2025-07-28

Issue

Vol. 47 (2025)

Section

Artigos Tema Livre

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