"Atwood takes many trends which exist today and stretches them to their logical and chilling conclusions . . . An excellent novel about the directions our lives are taking . . . Read it while it's still allowed" - Houston Chronicle
"A novel that brilliantly illuminates some of the darker interconnections between politics and sex . . . Just as the world of Orwell's 1984 gripped our imaginations, so will the world of Atwood's handmaid!" - Washington Book Post World
“ There is more than one kind of freedom... Freedom to and freedom from. in the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale ”
“ Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale ”
“ But who can remember pain, once it's over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale ”
The theme of gender inequality is most obvious in The Handmaid’s Tale, which is known as the most popular book of Margaret Atwood and the most powerful. When Houston Chronicle reviewed the book, they said, “The Handmaid’s Tale is an excellent novel about the directions our lives are taking . . . Read it while it's still allowed”. In a future society, a tyrannical sect rules the United States and uses religious imagery and quotations to support the oppression of women. In this state of toxic waste and nuclear radiation, few women can bear children. So those who can are enslaved to become handmaids, breeders of the country. Handmaids are told very little and are barely allowed to speak. They are giving only two opportunities to leave the house, which is to buy food for the family she stays at. Each handmaid will be paired with another handmaid to walk to the market side by side, and speak only in religious terms. For example, this is how a handmaid would great another:
"Blessed be the fruit," she said to me, the accepted greeting among us.
"May the lord open," I replied, the accepted response.
Handmaids are limited to do only a number of things and while they are a ‘scare resource’ they are treated with despise. What better way to portray gender inequality of females than enslaving women in a tyrannical society?