This master’s thesis explores the role of language as a key mechanism of power in the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Simultaneously, it examines the transmedia transition of literary language into digital culture and its subversion into a commentary on sociopolitical phenomena. It proceeds from the premise that dystopian fiction serves as a reflexive medium for revealing naturalized social hierarchies and hidden mechanisms of power. The aim of the research is to analyze how power in the fictional totalitarian republic of Gilead is established and legitimized through specific discursive strategies, and how it constructs and controls subjects. It also determines how this same language is appropriated in the contemporary digital sphere for the purposes of symbolic resistance. The methodological approach is based on a critical discourse analysis for the analysis of the novel, while the second part employs multimodal analysis of internet memes. Key findings show that the regime in Gilead legitimizes its order by transforming norms and values into a moral necessity through language. However, the analysis of internet memes confirms that in participatory digital culture, totalitarian fictional language is transformed through humor and recontextualization into a tool of symbolic resistance. The work thus illuminates the dynamics between fiction and reality, where literary language transcends its boundaries and becomes an active social tool in contemporary discourse.
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