Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale is narrated by Offred, a woman who is being kept as a "handmaid," or a class of females used for reproduction. This occurs in a world that has been revolutionized by the Sons of Jacob, a Christian Deconstructionist movement who have suspended the Constitution, stripped women of their rights, and supported the new Republic of Gilead, which follows a militarized, hierarchical model of the Old Testament to form social classes. 

Azar Nafisi's memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran describes Azar's experience living and teaching at the University of Tehran in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Zara refuses to wear her veil, is expelled from university, becomes a teacher at the University of Allalmeh Tabatabei (from which she eventually resigns), and forms a book club of seven female students to discuss Western literature, including Vladimir Nabokov's iconic work Lolita. 

In both works, we see how oppressive governmental infrastructures enforce the oppression of women, the destruction of human rights, and the victimization of those not in political or social power. 

In Reading Lolita in Tehran in particular, the concept of what a hero and what a villain is in literature is particularly addressed; as each section of the book addresses the heroes and villains of the books which are being read, so too are the acts of heroism and villainy of real life individuals are addressed. A particular point of emphasis within this book is that of the concept of blindness (political and otherwise) and how that blindness can further contribute to and enforce oppression. It is that distinction that is significant in outlining the difference in point of view between oppressors and victims. From Azar's perspective, oppressors are blind and ignorant to their oppression (much like Humbert Humbert is blind to how his pedophilia is harmful, thinking only of his obsession with Lolita); victims, on the other hand, are cognizant of the ways in which they are being hurt but do not possess the power or tools to escape this oppression. Thus, education and knowledge serve as agents of this escape; it is through their exposure to Western literature that the woman (or victims of the Islamic Republic's oppression) can become empowered.

In The Handmaid's Tale, an interesting point is that the government (the oppressor) appears to be in control and strong but that "no one in Gilead seems to be a true believer in its revolution." This is interesting given the role that "choice" plays in the book. Whereas the women in Azar's memoir have no say, Offred is provided a "choice" to become a handmaid, albeit one which was skewed; her other options were to die or be sent to the Colonies of Unwomen. It is interesting that her oppressors are interested in sustaining this illusion of choice, despite the fact that it is not true choice—that she is indeed still a victim of the religious and political values which have overtaken the country. Thus, internalized oppression (the victim as "participant" in her own oppression) becomes thematically important here; we see it in the way that the Handmaids begin to accept themselves as vessels for reproduction and as "two-legged wombs." While Offred, like the women in Reading Lolita, resists by reading, she is  continuously fighting off the part of herself that stays complicit with the oppressors' intent in order to survive.