Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale

'The Handmaid's Tale'

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, first published in 1985. A firm favourite of high school curriculums, the book is set in the near future and tells the story of the totalitarian Republic of Gilead, a militant theocracy which lies within the borders of what was once The United States. Gilead's laws are inspired by the old-testament and see society divided up into a strict, compulsory hierarchy with women as domestic second-class citizens.

In this world, women are colour coded to denote their social status; Wives wear blue, like the Virgin Mary, Daughters are in White, Handmaids - fertile women who provide babies to the childless elite - dress all in Red, and Marthas - household maids and cooks - wear Green.

The story's protagonist is Offred, a Handmaid assigned to a Commander of The Sons of Jacob, Gilead's ruling class, though, of course, this is not her real name. Instead it denotes the name of the Commander she is assigned to, literally meaning 'Of Fred'. Our narrator describes her life as a Handmaid, detailing her day-to-day duties which include mass prayer meetings, public births and 'The Ceremony', where she lies between the legs of the Wife, as if they were one person, whilst the Commander attempts to impregnate her.

Throughout the novel, Offred struggles to reconcile her past with her current existence, and the narrative is interspersed with memories of her college years with her friend Moira and her life with husband Luke and their young daughter. His having been married before, Luke and Offred's marriage was considered adulterous under the new regime, and Luke is now missing, presumed dead, and their daughter has been seized and placed with a childless couple.

The beginning of the book is quite slow with much of the action taking place in Offred's mind. The narrative jumps back and forth into Offred's memories, similar to a stream of consciousness, and initially I found it quite hard going. However, this is purposeful; the narrative is intentionally sluggish and introspective in order for the reader to get a sense of the monotony of Offred's life. But, once context has been established and the present-day story gets going, the book really builds in to something great.

The book is extremely well written, though the literary style can take a little while to get used to due to the marked lack of quotation marks in Offred's memories. There are a lot of theories floating around as to why this is, my personal favourite being that the pre-revolutionary past is no longer considered legitimate or quotable in the new society. Atwood's narrative is also extremely blunt in places; she doesn't waste time on filler text. Everything has a purpose and much of the prose has a depth to it you don't expect from such a brusque writing style. Again, this was arresting to begin with, but it's ultimately one of the best features of the book.

But what really holds the reader's attention is the terrifyingly bleak yet utterly recognisable world Margaret Atwood has created; it is perversely fascinating. Atwood has long maintained that The Handmaid's Tale is not science fiction, rather 'speculative literature', and I have to agree with her. Nothing in the book is futuristic or seems a long way off, especially when contemporary news is flooded with stories of religious militants and female subjugation. It still feels inherently relevant, even 30 years after it's release.

This is not the book to read if you want easy entertainment, and though it is a brilliant book, it would be wrong to say I enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. Rather, it affected me deeply, and it is an experience I would definitely recommend to others. 

9/10.