2020 IB Extended Essays

5.0 Conclusion Both novelists used their writing as a means to express their opinions on their own terms, critiquing and exposing the treatment of women in 2 very different oppressive societies. They use storytelling and narrative voice as tools to foreground unaddressed cultural issues that concern the mistreatment of women to the attention of a wider readership. However, due to the cultural disparity between El-Saadawi and Atwood, the function of their novels as agents of change diverges. Atwood, being of a privileged, western background, uses her futuristic and visionary work as a commentary on the direction in which she believes her society is heading. The Handmaid’s Tale incorporates dystopia and insurgence into a speculative dystopia to warn readers against the actualisation of a despotic society. Atwood avoids being too aggressive in her writing as she does not want to be written off as over-dramatic or outlandish because at this time, Gilead is only fictional. The Handmaid’s Tale is a tale of caution against the consequence of oppression and eradication of individual identity and expression. Comparably God Dies by the Nile paints a very blunt and realistic picture of modern life in Egypt. El-Saadawi leaves nothing to the imagination and uses an uncensored perspective into the violence and fear imbedded in a current patriarchal society. This shockingly brutal set of truths is needed as, villages like Kafr-El-Teen are very real and the cruelty that the female characters experience is the current reality for many Egyptian women, has been for centuries and will be in the future. By revealing the maltreatment of these victims, El- Saadawi shocks and distresses the reader so her novel can work as a catalyst for change and new hope. The oppression of women and the toxicity of the patriarchy can often be disregarded as a dated issue in the modern world, due to the large strides toward gender equality in the last century. The art of storytelling is vital in reminding readers of the plethora of issues both local and global that are still imbedded in society and highlighting that in some regions, female oppression is still horrifically significant. By reading narratives and stories of

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