The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel set in a totalitarian regime called the Republic of Gilead, which emerges after a violent coup by Protestant fundamentalists. In this society, women are severely oppressed and stripped of their rights; they cannot work, own property, or even read and write. The protagonist, Offred, is forced into the role of a Handmaid, a concubine for elite men, as a means of addressing widespread infertility caused by pollution and nuclear fallout. The narrative explores Offred's struggle for identity and freedom, as she reflects on her past life with her husband and daughter, who have been taken from her.
The story portrays the harsh realities of Gilead, where Handmaids endure ritualized sexual encounters in the hope of conceiving children. Offred’s relationships with the Commander and his wife, as well as her clandestine meetings with Nick, an employee in the household, reveal the complexities of survival and rebellion within a repressive system. The novel also highlights themes of resistance, as Offred interacts with fellow Handmaid Ofglen, who is involved in an underground movement. The narrative culminates in ambiguity about Offred's fate, leaving readers to ponder the possibilities of freedom and the consequences of resistance in a brutal regime.
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
First published: 1985
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: The future
Locale: Republic of Gilead
Principal Characters
Offred , a Handmaid, or legal concubineThe Commander , Offred’s masterSerena Joy , the Commander’s wifeNick , Offred’s lover, the Commander’s chauffeurLuke , Offred’s husband (present in flashbacks)Moira , Offred’s best friendOfglen , another Handmaid
The Story
Sometime in the past, Protestant fundamentalists assassinate the US president and the Congress and set up a theocratic regime called the Republic of Gilead. In this totalitarian state, women are under the domination of men. They cannot hold jobs, own property, or have bank accounts in their own names. Nor are they allowed to read or write. Forced into the role of Handmaid, Offred is stripped of her own name and called by her master’s name, Fred, preceded by “of.”
Pollution and nuclear accidents make sterility a problem in Gilead (though officially only women could be sterile). Fertile women who are political dissidents or who are in marriages considered outside the law of the church, such as second marriages after divorce, are conscripted to serve as concubines to the political leaders of Gilead, whose wives are often sterile or past the age of childbearing.
Offred is obliged to endure an act of copulation with the Commander once a month in the hope that she will have a child. During the act, she rests between the legs of the Commander’s wife in a ritual believed to be sanctioned by biblical precedent. In the Old Testament, Rachel commands Jacob to sleep with her maid Billah: “Go in unto her, and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may have children by her.” Offred hopes to conceive because it is her only safeguard against being sent to the “colonies,” where women viewed as expendable are sent to clean up battlefields or nuclear waste sites.
Besides her monthly sexual obligations to the Commander, Offred’s only duty is to walk out once a day to do the shopping for the household. She has to wear a prescribed costume consisting of a bright red ankle-length dress that conceals her body and a white headdress with wide wings that constricts her vision. In her shopping excursions, Offred has a partner, another Handmaid named Ofglen. After making their purchases, Ofglen and Offred almost always walk to the “the wall.” On the wall, the hooded bodies of recently executed traitors to the regime are displayed. On these occasions, Offred looks for the body of her husband, Luke. Although Offred hopes that Luke is still alive, the likeliest possibility is that he had been killed when the family made an escape attempt to Canada. It was during this attempt that Offred had been captured, along with her daughter, who was taken from her and given to a family with high connections in Gilead.
In her daily life, Offred has little to do, but she has ample time for reminiscence and reflection on her past and present life. She thinks about her upbringing by her mother, a single parent by choice and a feminist of the 1970s, and her friendship with Moira, a strong individual who has the courage to defy authority. She thinks about her life with Luke and her daughter and wishes she could bring back the freedom she took for granted.
Although the Commander is not supposed to have any personal relationship with his Handmaid, he sends a message to her to arrange a clandestine meeting in his study. In a series of subsequent visits, Offred and the Commander play Scrabble and talk, and the Commander allows her to read books and magazines officially forbidden in Gilead. The Commander wants Offred to like him because he feels misunderstood by his wife, and on several occasions he asks Offred to kiss him.
The Commander’s wife, Serena Joy, dislikes Offred because she feels that Offred is encroaching on her role. In spite of her jealousy, however, Serena Joy wants Offred to have a child, whom she could raise. Because she fears that her husband might be sterile, Serena Joy arranges secret meetings between Offred and Nick, an employee of the household. Offred cooperates in this scheme, in spite of the danger involved in unsanctioned sexual acts, because she needs to have a child to save her own life. As time passes, however, Offred becomes deeply attracted to Nick and their meetings become the central focus of her life.
On their walks, Offred and Ofglen reveal to each other their hatred of the regime. Ofglen is a member of an underground organization working to overthrow the regime. Offred and Ofglen are required to take part in a public ritual called a Salvaging, in which several women are hanged as traitors. On this same occasion, they are expected to participate in a Particicution, in which a rapist is torn limb from limb by Handmaids. Ofglen recognizes the man as a member of the underground and strikes him on the head with her shoe to render him unconscious and spare him more pain. Knowing that she has been observed and is about to be arrested, Ofglen kills herself so that she cannot be forced under torture to confess and name others in the underground.
Because of her association with Ofglen, Offred expects to be arrested. However, Nick, acting on behalf of the underground resistance, arranges for a mock arrest, which he tells her will ensure her safety. Unsure of the truth of the matter, she feels she has no choice but to trust Nick. An epilogue set almost two hundred years in the future reveals that tapes are discovered containing the narrative just read. Offred must certainly have made it to freedom, but it is unclear whether she lives her subsequent life in freedom or is recaptured.
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