A Review of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

A little over a year ago, I fell in love with The Handmaid's Tale. It was hauntingly well written. It resonated within me like a scream waiting to be let out. A part of this piece is a review of the book that was originally written as an assignment.

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, was published in 1985. It is one of her best works to date. The book was adapted into an award-winning TV series in 2017 of the same name. It explores themes such as that of women subjugated in a patriarchal society, the loss of individuality for females, the stripping of women’s rights, and the various means by which women try to regain independence stolen from them by a theonomy. I personally would call it A Feminist Must Read.

The novel is set in a futuristic dystopian world, where the environment has been harmed by various nuclear plant catastrophes which led to stillbirths, miscarriages and genetic deformities. In the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian theonomic state, formerly known as The United States of America, women are not allowed to read. The only materials permitted to be read are from the Holy Word, and those which promote the ideologies of Gilead. Women are not allowed to speak. A new way of speaking is forced upon them, in a culture that makes them subservient to men. They are separated into classes based on their role in the Gilead society. Their attire is color coded, stripping them of their personal identity, and the freedom to choose how to dress. 

The Wives, wear light blue dresses. These are the spouses of the Commanders, the governors of the Republic of Gilead. The Marthas, wear green dresses. These are the ‘house help’ so to say. The Econowives are the wives of poorer men. They wear dresses of red and blue and green, striped, cheap and skimpy. Last but not the least, The Handmaids, who wear red dresses with white wings around the face, hiding most of their faces except for the chin and part of the mouth. These are the women who are vessels for a Commander and his Wife to have a baby, which would then be raised by them while the handmaid, having given birth and done her job is sent to the next household, the next posting, another Commander. And lastly, are the Aunts. They wear army brown dresses with big pockets. These women are the ones who train the handmaids to behave according to the requirements set by the state. The handmaids undergo physical and mental torture, and grooming so that they may completely accept and be subservient to their circumstances, without fight.

As said by an Aunt in the book, “Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary” (Page 39). The Aunts' role was to beat and brainwash the fertile women in the region into submission. The regime used these women to control other women because they knew that “the best and most cost-effective way to control women for their reproductive, and other purposes was through women themselves; after all no empire imposed by force has ever been without this feature: control of the Indigenous by members of their own group” (Page 316)

The story is seen through the eyes of one such Handmaid, Offred. Offred is a patronymic name, composed of the possessive preposition, and the first name of the Commander. Of Fred.

It follows her journey as a working woman and mother, having a family of her own, to being forced to become a Handmaid. Being raped in order to give birth for other people. The tale is about her mental fight to retain the free-thought she was used to. This ultimately leads her to escape her situation.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale can be regarded as an example of l’écriture feminine for it echoes this feminine style of writing in terms of not only content, which centres on the discussion of autonomy of female bodies, but also narrative style. Female writing is indirect and diverse, as in narration of Offred is often fragmented, teetering between the present and the past.’

There are a number of complex characters in the story, each given their own unique positions: the mother of the handmaid, who was a devout feminist and fought for change; Offred’s best friend, a spunky and brave girl who fought her way out of the Red Centre (The institution of the handmaids), The Sons of Jacob (the people who brought about the destruction of the congress and the formation of the Republic of Gilead), and many more. A stroke of thoughtful writing by the author, I think, is her way of describing a single item or situation in many different ways, which changes the meaning of the thing or event according to context and timeline. The book uses symbolism to show the importance of objects, which are commonplace, but in Gilead prove to be meaningful. The smallest things such as a pillow, or a chair trigger a stream of thoughts that become the handmaid’s tale.  

Atwood wrote this book in the 1900s as speculative fiction. The Handmaid’s Tale, I believe, is not just a futuristic novel but one that could easily fit in the horror genre. This is because the events happening in the book, as Margaret Atwood’s self-imposed rule for this book was not to use any event or practice that hadn’t already happened in human history, shows that the conditioning of society based on mass hysteria and religion is not very hard to achieve. Adding to the fact that currently in the USA, women are losing their right to abortion, no matter their age and medical complications, proves that we are in great threat of the book becoming a reality.

Roe v. Wade was a legal case in which the US Supreme Court on January 22, 1973, ruled that the unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional. On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade. This had dire implications for female healthcare. Several states adopted laws that drastically limited the availability of abortion. In the aftermath of this decision, a series of protests took place, both for and against abortion. By just broadly following all the debate, discussion and action that took place afterwards, one can see patterns of events comparable to what Atwood wrote, when she described how the Sons of Jacob overthrew the democratic government of the United States and established a theocratic government. This, was extremely frightening to me, as it is not just a specific demographic but all societies in this world, that need to educate themselves and pay attention to what is happening around us, or we might find ourselves becoming another Offred, another Wife, or worse, another Aunt.

Here goes nothing.

When I first thought of starting a blog, I did not mean for it to be a page where I shared my poetry, for at that time I seldom wrote it. But I think as time went on, I started writing verses more than prose. It was hard to write stories here, or even express my thoughts for several reasons, one of them being that although the thought of posting on a blog was amazing, I was extremely wary of the internet and what my online presence would mean for me. In addition to the fear of oversharing, I had the fear of being judged by people online. Somewhere in my heart I also felt that not everyone had the right to know what business I've got going on. 

As I have grown older, I have been exposed to various environments which have made me re-think my earlier doubts. It is too soon to have reached a final conclusion, but for now, I am unafraid to share what I feel. Because I know for a fact that, keeping myself safe on the internet will not always be possible. It is not just online that you are exposed to demotivating ideas and negative thinking. I do not overestimate the kind of reach my words have in the world out there. What matters is that I can articulate what I am thinking and feeling and be brave enough to put it out there. 

That is why I am going to start sharing titbits of my thoughts when I think they need to be shared here. I hope that other than you taking a glimpse of what kind of a person I am, they also make you introspect. If I am really lucky, one might be inspired and start writing for themselves, and there will be one more person in this world who writes.