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Conflict in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale: A Critical Discourse Approach

Conflict is a common but complicated phenomenon. It has been extensively researched in many domains, including philosophy, sociology, psychology, and linguistics. Using the Critical Discourse Approach, this study examines the issue of self-society conflict in The Handmaid’s Tale. The significance of this work lies in the identification and explanation of the discursive strategies that force the ideological polarization of the positively portrayed self versus the negatively portrayed other. The purpose of this study is to answer two questions: what are the discursive strategies used in The Handmaid’s Tale to create a positive or negative representation, and how are these strategies implemented? Five extracts from The Handmaid’s Tale were examined using eight of Van Dijk’s discursive strategies (2006). The findings show the pervasiveness of the discursive strategies in The Handmaid’s Tale, which attempt to transmit the ideological polarization of a positive portrayal of the self against a negative presentation of the other. Students of critical discourse analysis, communications studies, and of English, in particular, may find the findings useful.