INSTRUMENTAL FEAR IN MARGARET ATWOOD’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND BANDI’S THE ACCUSATION: THE FORBIDDEN STORIES FROM INSIDE NORTH KOREA

This paper examines the ways in which governments have exploited fear to maintain control, as seen in Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale and Bandi's The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from inside North Korea.The two novels take place in two very different worlds-the West and the East-but they share similarities in the ways that the governments instill fear to foster a culture that is losing ground to ideas like individualism, love, and family values.This thesis demonstrates the role of fear, the causes of it, and the results of it in controlling people by drawing on Michel Foucault's theories of pain and punishment of the People.Despite the fact that Atwood's books have been the subject of numerous studies, the significance of fear in The Handmaid's Tale has not received enough attention.Additionally, Bandi's work has not received enough critical examination.It is hoped that this study will add to our current understanding of these works and throw new light on them .