O TOTALITARISMO EM O CONTO DA AIA

Abstract

In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood narrates experiences of oppression and deprivation of rights amid the rise and establishment of a Christian theocracy, in the 20th century, which inaugurates a disruptive and violent system, especially in relation to women. What does this work of literature teach us about totalitarianism? This questioning leads to the interpretation of O Conto da Aia in the light of Hannah Arendt's thought, who in her main works presents us with an analysis of totalitarianism, its elements and methods of domination. An analysis is intended through the theoretical-methodological approach of Law in Literature, through which a discipline serves as an instrument for understanding the other. It is hypothesized that the fictional scenario illustrated in O Conto da Aia has characteristics of a totalitarian regime and finds an explanation in Arendt's political thought. In the end, it is concluded that Atwood's novel has the potential to make more accessible the understanding of the mechanisms of rise, establishment and functioning of totalitarian regimes and about the fragility of human rights and the difficulties for their effectiveness in conjunctures of helplessness or deliberate annulment of certain subjects by the State.