Author Study: Margaret Atwood Curated by Samuel Yang '18
Praises for The Handmaid's Tale
"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
Quotes:
“ 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 ”
Book:
-
The Handmaid's Tale by ISBN: 038549081XPublication Date: 1998-03-16In this seminal work of speculative fiction, the Booker Prize-winning author asks: In the world of the near future, who will control women's bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now.... Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid's Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and literary tour de force.
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?