The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood offers a glimpse into a dystopian world of total male domination. Women have been completely deprived of their basic needs and are no longer able to live as individuals. During the decades before the creation of Gilead, women were considered subordinate to men. These inequalities often led women to believe that they were inferior and did not have the knowledge and power that men seemed to display. They did not have access to the right to vote, equal pay or employment opportunities. Over the years, women have fought for equal rights; however, these achievements were soon revoked with the United States' transition to a totalitarian region known as the Republic of Gilead. The regime of the new Republic led to its disappearance. As Offred begins to reminisce about the summer days she had previously enjoyed, she remembers the vacation that will soon take place over the next few months. Offred then fast forwards her thoughts to the first of September, known in the Republic of Gilead as Labor Day. Atwood then uses the allusion ironically, when Offred says, "The first of September will be Labor Day, they always have it." Although before, it had nothing to do with mothers” (Atwood 257). The original holiday celebrated on September 1 was an occasion to commemorate workers' rights, while the novel's new holiday celebrates childbirth – another meaning of the word labor. This speaks to the fact that working women are no longer allowed to commemorate and are therefore subject to holidays to support the one attribute that the Republic of Gilead admires in women. Without a stimulating occupation or a meaningful existence, a feeling of emptiness can occupy a woman's mind. Atwood uses this holiday to reflect what the Republic of Gilead sees as a woman's primary purpose, concluding that their lives are unsatisfying. But the Commander believes that men also suffer from a lack of sense. He observes: “The problem was not just with women… The main problem was with men. There was nothing left for them” (Atwood 272). The Commander's allusion to the days before Gilead constitutes an ironic response. In Offred's mind, men held all the power in the new Republic and therefore had no reason to think that life was futile. If what the Commander observes is true, then both men and women suffer when a group is oppressed. Another allusion to the oppression of women is the use of the name Jezebel for the nightclub in the novel. One night, when asked to have sex with Nick, the commander stealthily takes her to a forbidden club, where men of his rank go looking for