In Margaret Atwood's 1985 book, The Handmaid's Tale, she uses flashbacks, appeals to pathos, and references to religion to show how important feminism is to America and how we should don't do it We let our future offspring become complacent and forget the struggles faced by their ancestors. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Atwood's book, she uses myriad flashbacks to show how the world has changed in the last 4 years or so since the Republic of Gilead was founded and how Offred went from being a woman who moved library books to computer disks, to a glorified womb with legs. Throughout the book we find out that her mother was a very active feminist throughout her life and participated in many demonstrations in the 1970s, notably in the book a "Take Back the Night" demonstration - "I forgot my mother once it was so cute and serious like that… The camera pans and we see the writing, in paint, on what must have been a bed sheet: TAKE BACK THE NIGHT This is especially noteworthy as one of the main themes of the movement, as well to keep the parks safe for women after dark, was for women to have autonomy over their bodies and have the freedom to choose whether or not to have children, also seen on page 122 and again mentioned by her mother when speaking to Offred as a teenager saying, “You were a wanted child.” These flashbacks send a very strong message as Offred only thinks of her mother in reference to her rights as an almost non-existent woman. In fact, she often complains about her past self for being like this he is harsh with his mother and wishes he had listened to her more when he was younger and sometimes talks to his mother in his head to show her the irony of certain situations. On the way back to the Commander's house after giving birth to Janine, one of her fellow handmaids, talks about how her mother always dreamed of a feminine culture, and now as they all ride in the back of a van lamenting that they haven't given They already have a baby, they do. Through it all, Atwood shows that Offred finds powerful women awe-inspiring now that she is a handmaid, not in the sense of powerful but of status as we see how little she cares for Serena-Joy, the Commander's wife, but for women like Moira and the first Ofglen who are actively trying to leave or destroy Gilead. Both women become close to her, Moira is her friend from the pre-Gileadean era and Ofglen is the first member of the Mayday movement; a movement of people seeking to overthrow the theocracy of Gilead. Offred having friends throughout the novel is one of the few examples of female solidarity we see other than that of Martha and the Commander's wives. Solidarity is the backbone of any movement, and the Gilead government has created an ingenious way to shut it down before it begins with their secret police: The Eye. The citizens of Gilead are trained to be suspicious of each other, which makes rebellions easy to stop since they rarely start. Fear of torture and death has prevented many women in Gileadean society from creating groups and movements to abandon their lives as extreme second-class citizens, which makes her idolization of these women make a lot of sense. Attwood makes many appeals to pathos when showing the solidarity of women helping women and women supporting women. One of the greatest displays of female solidarity in The Handmaid's Tale is the friendship between Moira and Offred, during the pre-Gileadean era and during it. When Offred loses her job and her bank account in the few weeks before Gilead takes over.