Persuasive Essay - First Draft

Daniel Riaño 10C

“To deny people their human rights are to challenge their very humanity.” – Nelson Mandela

Human rights have existed since the beginning of civilizations like Ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and
other historical civilizations that have existed during our entire history, these rights are inherent to
all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other
status. They include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of
opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to
these rights, without discrimination (UN, 2022). In the present persuasive essay, the objective is to
persuade the reader that the following statement is considered true “Respect for the rights of other
human beings is fundamental to the continuance of our society, civilization, and even species.”. In
other words, the purpose is to support the following thesis, Respect for the rights of other human
beings is important for the well-functioning of our society and to promote human dignity between
both men and women. For this reason, the book written by Margaret Atwood called The Handmaids
Tale is going to be used as a literal device to help support the formulated thesis. The Handmaid’s
Tale is a futuristic and dystopic novel published in 1985, it is set in New England where a Christian
fundamentalist theocratic regime overthrows the United States Government and establishes the
Republic of Gilead as a response to a fertility crisis.

The first argument will talk about Human Dignity, which is a fundamental topic that should be the
main reason to respect the human rights of other people. As it is said by Chapman “An imperative
implication of human dignity is that every human being should be regarded as a very invaluable
member of the community with a uniquely free expression of their right to life, integrated bodily
attributes and their spiritual nature” (Chapman, Audrey R, 2010). Human Dignity is a sense of Self-
worth, this feeling makes people think that they deserve respect and honor from the rest of our
society. If a human being is humiliated, it is considered a threat to human dignity. For this reason,
humans deserve dignity due to the fact they are already human beings. As a counterexample of this
argument, we can present The Handmaid’s Tale as a novel that makes clear that our bodies are not
our own. The main character, Offred, forcibly becomes a handmaid. Also, based on what happened
in the novel, a housemaid is basically a sex slave for married couples who can’t conceive. These
women aren’t the only ones who don’t have control over their bodies, all women lose their human
rights. For example, in chapter 13, Offred is taking a Bath completely naked and says the following
passage “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or
an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a
cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I
am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (Chapter 13). This citation que can see, it
compares how she used to think about her body with how she does today. Her body used to be an
instrument, an expression of herself; today, she is irrelevant, and her body is only valuable because
of its "central object," her uterus, which could carry a child. For this reason, it is important to respect
human rights, if we don’t respect them our civilization will work the same way as in the novel by
Margaret Atwood, a completely dystopic society.
The next topic will be about freedom of choice, which is another fundamental topic to describe
human rights and their importance in society. Freedom of choice refers to a person's ability to select
his own path of action and way of life, subject to the condition that he does not behave in a way
that infringes on the freedom of others. This is important because it gives the civilization a way to
express and decide on your decisions freely, no one is obligated to do something that they don’t
want to do. On the other side, the Handmaid’s Tale novel shows us Offred is a victim of government
repression. She had a life, independence, a husband, and a kid until the "Sons of Jacob" took over
the country and abolished the United States Constitution as well as women's rights. In this society,
Offred’s body is no longer her own, in the novel, women with the best health are exclusively chosen
for the task of reproduction, which in Handmaid’s Tale culture is essentially a "good" profession for
a woman. Other women with insufficient reproductive organs are forced to work hard labor or do
other household chores. In any case, each woman in this scenario has lost her human rights,
regardless of her position. A quote to show the lack of freedom in the novel is the following “Now
and again we vary the route; there’s nothing against it, as long as we stay within the barriers. A rat
in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.” (Chapter 27). In this quote we
can see that the women’s path is already destined to be by the government, they can move around
the city, but they can’t escape from the city, like a prison. This also works with the function they
accomplish in society. For women, there are going to be only three possible paths, and this will
depend on their body and fertility. If their body is fertile, it will be mandatory for them to turn into
the Handmaids of the society.

As a counterargument to our thesis, we will present the Novel The handmaids Tale. This is because,
during the text, we’ve supported that the good functioning of society is based on how human rights
are reflected in that society. As we can see in the Margaret Atwood novel, the presented society is
completely dystopic, and one of the main topics is the lack of human rights women have. Atwood
makes it clear that women are more affected than males in times of crisis. For Gilead's advantage,
the female characters are transformed into child carriers and laborers. While males have positions
of authority in the government, security, and other areas, women do not. There are some women
in this novel who hold positions of power, but their influence is limited. In this dystopic novel were
shown, the repercussions of power-hungry. It also demonstrates how religion is used to control the
weak and demonstrates how few rights women have in a patriarchal society. All these topics have
been combined by Atwood to highlight that, in fact, even if we have laws in place to protect women,
they will not be adequate at some time. In a culture that solely elevates white guys, individuals don't
have human rights. This leads us to conclude that a society that elevates or respects only one race,
sex, etc. will turn into a dystopic and bad-functioning society.

To conclude this essay, first, it is important to restate the thesis supported and proven, which is
Respect for the rights of others is essential for the well-being of our society and the promotion of
human dignity among men and women. To support this thesis, we reviewed three main points, the
first one was human dignity, then freedom of choice, and finally the novel is an example of a dystopic
society with no human rights. As a wrap up we arrived at the conclusion which is Human rights are
significant because they represent the bare requirements for individuals to live with dignity. People
have the right to choose how they want to live, how they want to express themselves, and what
sort of government they want to support, among other things, under human rights. They also ensure
that individuals have the resources to satisfy their fundamental requirements, such as food,
housing, and education, and that opportunities are open to everyone. As well as it ensures people's
lives, equality, freedom, and security, as well as protects them against abuses perpetrated by those
in positions of authority. In the ties that exist between individuals and the government that has
authority over them, human rights are essential. People are under the government's control. But
Human rights determine that the authorities’ power is limitless, which doesn’t happen in The
Handmaid’s Tale. In the novel, the government wants to exert power on everything and everyone.

Bibliography:

- Freedom of Choice | Arthur Kemp. (2022). Retrieved 27 May 2022, from

- (Conciliar Post, 2022). Retrieved 27 May 2022, from https://conciliarpost.com/culture/the-

- (2022). Retrieved 27 May 2022, from https://www.betheclassroomseries.com/post/the-handmaid-s-

- Atwood, M. (2022). The Handmaids Tale [Ebook]. OceanoPDF.com.