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The Handmaid's Tale
Genre Reading
Science Fiction
The Handmaid’s Tale inverts the science fiction genre; therefore studying the science fiction conventions in the novel influences the meaning we make of it. Features of the science fiction genre include a world set in the future, with significant changes which would render any present-day person uncomfortable in the text’s setting. The Handmaid’s Tale certainly adheres to this guideline, because the Republic of Gilead is set in the future in relation to the novel’s context and societal values and attitudes are very different. Specifically, however, this novel is a part of the ‘speculative fiction’ subgenre of science fiction. Speculative fiction is science fiction which extrapolates current trends and patterns in society to present a view of the future, generally to shock the audience. The novel does this because Atwood is presenting a view of future America and extrapolating the presence of the misogynist Christian Right to become future rulers of the country by means of revolution. Because she is using the Christian Right as a background for this setting Atwood is adhering to the genre of speculative fiction. And because we know this we are able to find strong links between the views of the Christian Right and the views of the Republic of Gilead. Offred, the main character of the novel, is a “handmaid”; a woman used by Commanders for reproduction, because their own wives have become impotent through the nuclear radiation that now plagues the continent of North America. Handmaids are justified in this novel through interpretation of the bible, where, in Genesis 30, Jacob impregnates her wife’s maid when his own wife cannot have children: “And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her”. This shows how the Republic of Gilead is taking the bible very literally. Atwood intentionally creates such links to the Christian Right, who are also rather literal in their interpretation of the bible, although not as literal. But through the genre of speculative fiction we understand that Atwood is providing a window into the future where the Christian Right becomes more literal, to the point where they begin a revolution and upturn American society completely. Through this we understand Atwood is attacking the views of the movement and with this specific example the misogynistic traits of its followers. As a result Atwood’s use of science fiction, especially speculative fiction, is crucial to the meaning we make from the novel.
Romance
The Handmaid’s Tale conforms to various conventions of the romantic genre, but inverts others in such a way that leaves us questioning the relationship between Offred and the Commander. The novel has glimpses of romance between Offred and her Commander when he secretly invites her into her room late at night, somewhere no woman is allowed to enter. This subplot of the story sounds romantic from the outside, and seems even more romantic given the fact that the Commander is married. In these ways there is a sense of romance because in a way this does seem like an affair. But, with further reading, there is no romance involved; in fact, all that the Commander wanted was for Offred “to play Scrabble with him”. Later, he gives her taboo objects: lotion, magazines, and books; there is very little romance. This could be because Atwood intentionally subverts the tradition sense of the genre, by creating ‘The Ceremony’; where the Commander has sex with Offred for the purposes of impregnation. This ceremony has all romantic elements taken from it; indeed, Offred says the ceremony “has nothing to do with passion or love or romance”. So by creating a usually erotic scene and making it anything but, Atwood is inverting the traditional sense of romance between Offred and the Commander. This leaves us to question why the Commander allows Offred into his room, forbidden, at night time. Because of this clash between expectation and reality Atwood is contrasting the views of Gilead and contemporary society. And because Gilead is generally expected to be a symbol for the Christian Right, we see that Atwood is attacking the suppressive views of the fundamentalist group.
A similar romance is seen between Nick and Offred in the latter stages of the novel, reinforcing the claim that this genre has much to offer to the reader. Offred’s age, and the fact that she has not had a child yet under the Gilead scheme of impregnation, makes her vulnerable to being sent to the colonies, which is seen as assured death from radiation. To combat this, she begins having sex with Nick in order to get herself every chance of becoming pregnant. Similar to the Commander’s sex scene, Nicks is manipulated to be visceral, rather than erotic. So what should play out to be erotic for the reader turns out to be uncomfortable and disturbing, and through this Atwood inverts the reader’s expectations of the usually romantic scene. Nick tells Offred himself, “No romance” and she only explains the act as “And so it goes. And so” removing any sort of romantic atmosphere to the scene. This reinforces the idea in the previous paragraph – that Atwood is attacking the suppressive views of the Christian Right – by subverting our expectations in the same way as before.
Dystopian Novel
The genre of a dystopia is used by Atwood to condemn the views of the Christian Right, of who the Republic of Gilead is based upon. The dystopian genre focuses on a society which either does not function or does so in an imperfect way; in this novel the Republic of Gilead does the latter because it neglects the human dignity and rights of the handmaids, including Offred. And because Gilead is based on the Christian Right Atwood is claiming that the views of this group are hypocritical and flawed. The republic of Gilead takes the literal interpretation of the Bible to justify its use of handmaids, however neglects other teachings of the Church and Christianity, including respecting the rights (often called dignity) of all people. This is a flaw in the setup of the society and is discovered by reading the novel and paying attention to conventions of the dystopian genre, of which this is one. Obviously by forcing the handmaids in sex for reproduction Gilead is abandoning this teaching, and proving itself to be hypocritical. And as Gilead is a symbol for the views of the Christian Right Atwood is questioning the biblical evidence which supports the groups’ claim.
Gilead’s corruption of Church teaching also reveals its hypocrisy and reinforces the notion it is a dystopian society. As from the previous paragraph, Gilead uses Christian teaching to underline the rules and regulations of the society. However, in chapter 14, the tape reading of the beatitudes says “blessed are the silent”, despite the fact that this is not a beatitude of Jesus. The republic of Gilead is perverting the teachings of Jesus to fit their regime and as a result the society which was supposed to be built around the bible is flawed and incorrect, and is attempting to cover its own tracks. To add to this, in chapter 20, Offred reads a slogan of the society: “From each, says the slogan, according to her ability; to each according to his needs”. This is a perversion of Karl Marx’s teachings, the perversion being the addition of a gender to the phrase, to reflect the views of Gilead. The major problem with this is that the Church is inherently against the views of Marx and communism, and because Gilead is shown as supporting these views through this phrase they are portrayed as hypocritical and flawed, similar to a dystopian society. And as with the previous paragraph, because Gilead is a symbol for the Christian Right Atwood is using the dystopian genre to attack the hypocrisy and flawed views of the group.
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Context
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on November 18, 1939. She published her first book of poetry in 1961 while attending the University of Toronto. She later received degrees from both Radcliffe College and Harvard University, and pursued a career in teaching at the university level. Her first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969 to wide acclaim. Atwood continued teaching as her literary career blossomed. She has lectured widely and has served as a writer-in--residence at colleges ranging from the University of Toronto to Macquarie University in Australia.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights. In the novel’s nightmare world of Gilead, a group of conservative religious extremists has taken power and turned the sexual revolution on its head. Feminists argued for liberation from traditional gender roles, but Gilead is a society founded on a “return to traditional values” and gender roles, and on the subjugation of women by men. What feminists considered the great triumphs of the 1970s—namely, widespread access to contraception, the legalization of abortion, and the increasing political influence of female voters—have all been undone. Women in Gilead are not only forbidden to vote, they are forbidden to read or write. Atwood’s novel also paints a picture of a world undone by pollution and infertility, reflecting 1980s fears about declining birthrates, the dangers of nuclear power, and -environmental degradation.
Some of the novel’s concerns seem dated today, and its implicit condemnation of the political goals of America’s religious conservatives has been criticized as unfair and overly paranoid. Nonetheless, The Handmaid’s Tale remains one of the most powerful recent portrayals of a totalitarian society, and one of the few dystopian novels to examine in detail the intersection of politics and sexuality. The novel’s exploration of the controversial politics of reproduction seems likely to guarantee Atwood’s novel a readership well into the twenty-first century.
Plot Overview
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state that has replaced the United States of America. Because of dangerously low reproduction rates, Handmaids are assigned to bear children for elite couples that have trouble conceiving. Offred serves the Commander and his wife, Serena Joy, a former gospel singer and advocate for “traditional values.” Offred is not the narrator’s real name—Handmaid names consist of the word “of” followed by the name of the Handmaid’s Commander. Every month, when Offred is at the right point in her menstrual cycle, she must have impersonal, wordless sex with the Commander while Serena sits behind her, holding her hands. Offred’s freedom, like the freedom of all women, is completely restricted. She can leave the house only on shopping trips, the door to her room cannot be completely shut, and the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police force, watch her every public move.
As Offred tells the story of her daily life, she frequently slips into flashbacks, from which the reader can reconstruct the events leading up to the beginning of the novel. In the old world, before Gilead, Offred had an affair with Luke, a married man. He divorced his wife and married Offred, and they had a child together. Offred’s mother was a single mother and feminist activist. Offred’s best friend, Moira, was fiercely independent. The architects of Gilead began their rise to power in an age of readily available pornography, prostitution, and violence against women—when pollution and chemical spills led to declining fertility rates. Using the military, they assassinated the president and members of Congress and launched a coup, claiming that they were taking power temporarily. They cracked down on women’s rights, forbidding women to hold property or jobs. Offred and Luke took their daughter and attempted to flee across the border into Canada, but they were caught and separated from one another, and Offred has seen neither her husband nor her daughter since.
After her capture, Offred’s marriage was voided (because Luke had been divorced), and she was sent to the Rachel and Leah Re-education Center, called the Red Center by its inhabitants. At the center, women were indoctrinated into Gilead’s ideology in preparation for becoming Handmaids. Aunt Lydia supervised the women, giving speeches extolling Gilead’s beliefs that women should be subservient to men and solely concerned with bearing children. Aunt Lydia also argued that such a social order ultimately offers women more respect and safety than the old, pre-Gilead society offered them. Moira is brought to the Red Center, but she escapes, and Offred does not know what becomes of her.
Once assigned to the Commander’s house, Offred’s life settles into a restrictive routine. She takes shopping trips with Ofglen, another Handmaid, and they visit the Wall outside what used to be Harvard University, where the bodies of rebels hang. She must visit the doctor frequently to be checked for disease and other complications, and she must endure the “Ceremony,” in which the Commander reads to the household from the Bible, then goes to the bedroom, where his Wife and Offred wait for him, and has sex with Offred. The first break from her routine occurs when she visits the doctor and he offers to have sex with her to get her pregnant, suggesting that her Commander is probably infertile. She refuses. The doctor makes her uneasy, but his proposition is too risky—she could be sent away if caught. After a Ceremony, the Commander sends his gardener and chauffeur, Nick, to ask Offred to come see him in his study the following night. She begins visiting him regularly. They play Scrabble (which is forbidden, since women are not allowed to read), and he lets her look at old magazines like Vogue. At the end of these secret meetings, he asks her to kiss him.
During one of their shopping trips, Ofglen reveals to Offred that she is a member of “Mayday,” an underground organization dedicated to overthrowing Gilead. Meanwhile, Offred begins to find that the Ceremony feels different and less impersonal now that she knows the Commander. Their nighttime conversations begin to touch on the new order that the Commander and his fellow leaders have created in Gilead. When Offred admits how unhappy she is, the Commander remarks, “[Y]ou can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.”
After some time has gone by without Offred becoming pregnant, Serena suggests that Offred have sex with Nick secretly and pass the child off as the Commander’s. Serena promises to bring Offred a picture of her daughter if she sleeps with Nick, and Offred realizes that Serena has always known the whereabouts of Offred’s daughter. The same night that Offred is to sleep with Nick, the Commander secretly takes her out to a club called Jezebel’s, where the Commanders mingle with prostitutes. Offred sees Moira working there. The two women meet in a bathroom, and Offred learns that Moira was captured just before she crossed the border. She chose life in Jezebel’s over being sent to the Colonies, where most political prisoners and dangerous people are sent. After that night at Jezebel’s, Offred says, she never sees Moira again. The Commander takes Offred upstairs after a few hours, and they have sex in what used to be a hotel room. She tries to feign passion.
Shortly thereafter, Offred goes out shopping, and a new Ofglen meets her. This new woman is not part of Mayday, and she tells Offred that the old Ofglen hanged herself when she saw the secret police coming for her. At home, Serena has found out about Offred’s trip to Jezebel’s, and she sends her to her room, promising punishment. Offred waits there, and she sees a black van from the Eyes approach. Then Nick comes in and tells her that the Eyes are really Mayday members who have come to save her. Offred leaves with them, over the Commander’s futile objections, on her way either to prison or to freedom—she does not know which.
The novel closes with an epilogue from 2195, after Gilead has fallen, written in the form of a lecture given by Professor Pieixoto. He explains the formation and customs of Gilead in objective, analytical language. He discusses the significance of Offred’s story, which has turned up on cassette tapes in Bangor, Maine. He suggests that Nick arranged Offred’s escape but that her fate after that is unknown. She could have escaped to Canada or England, or she could have been recaptured.
This image of Superman and Lois Lane points to society’s view on women needed protection by men, and, although Margaret Atwood agrees in The Handmaid’s Tale that this is the way society is presenting women, she doesn’t agree that this is right, and attacks this patriarchal idea in the text. The novel’s setting is the Republic of Gilead, a fictitious society built on extrapolated patriarchal ideas from the 1980’s (the novel’s context) by Christian Right fundamentalists. The society is built around protecting women, however not in the same way as superman above. Instead, women are sheltered from the gazes of men, to protect them from man’s perversities. In other words, the women in Gilead are clothed heavily so men do not see them as sex objects, as some men still do today. Aunt Lydia explains: “To be seen – to be ‘seen’ – is to be – her voice trembled – penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable”. So, by being invisible to man, the Republic of Gilead is protecting women from the “penetrat(ing)” gaze of men, which is built on perversion and lust. Atwood attacks this form of protection in the fictitious society, which in itself is an attack on Western society’s patriarchal views and attitudes. She characterises Offred to dislike looking at her body, “I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely”, and this points to Atwood’s criticism that women are not allowed to choose to be protected, but rather are forced to. It is as though their gender determines for them whether or not they have that option, and, being female in a patriarchal society, that option is not theirs. 
This image shows women protesting for equality, and Atwood’s novel supports the claim that women should have more influence on society, particularly from a governing level. The fictitious Republic of Gilead is a society run by men, and women are given no say in government. They are left with the priority of breeding as nuclear radiation has left many infertile. This society is presented to the reader as one of oppression. When reading, we wonder how such a society was created, because it has many relations to Nazi Germany, including a secret police (the eyes) and a concentration camp-like place (the colonies). Atwood makes such connections purposely, and because we know the story is an extrapolation of the novel’s context, we can see that she is critiquing the oppressive nature of patriarchal governments on women. Thus she agrees with the image that women should have more say in society, particularly on a governing level.
The Handmaid’s Tale – Context of Production
The Handmaid’s Tale is constructed as an attack on the contemporary beliefs and views of the time, so naturally its context was incredibly important to the novel’s construction. The author of the novel, Margaret Atwood, subscribes to the Feminist ideology, believing that women are marginsalised in Western patriarchal society because of gender assumptions which privilege men; the novel and the meaning it produces is a reflection of this. This novel was produced in the 1980’s, a time of the Christian Right Movement, a wave of Republicanism and women’s empowerment over their own bodies. As a result the novel displays themes which reflect Feminist views towards these events. Overall, Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale condemns the context of its production because of the increase in popularity for the anti-Feminist Republican Christian Right Movement.
The novel’s fictional setting, the Republic of Gilead, is an extrapolation of the novel’s contemporary viewpoints to attack the Christian Right Movement. The setting of the novel is the oppressive, manipulative, misogynist Republic of Gilead, which, facing a shortage in birth rates uses handmaids as sex partners for men with impotent wives. This polygamist relationship is justified in Gilead with the story of Rachel and Jacob in Genesis, the first chapter of the Bible. Rachel cannot provide children for her husband, Jacob, and instead offers her handmaid to Jacob for impregnation: “Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her” (Gen 30:3). Atwood uses this reference to comment on the fundamentalist traits of the Christian Right Movement, offering a future world where this fundamentalism dominates society. This Christian Right Movement was supported by the Republican party of America, which had been in power at the time with Ronald Reagan since 1979. As a result Atwood’s extrapolation of prevalent fundamentalist themes in the Christian Right Movement shows the novel relies on its own context for meaning.
By continuing to focus on the Christian Right and its presence in the novel, we can see Atwood attacks the misogynist views of the movement by claiming it is marginalising women’s freedoms. The movement is characterised by its views on issues such as abortion and ‘the pill’, of which on both accounts they strongly argue against. By doing so the Christian Right are arguing the claim that women do not have the right to decide when to have children, and whether or not to have unprotected sex, meaning they believe women should not have the freedom to choose either. This ‘freedom to’ is also prevalent in the novel, “In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it”. Because Gilead is a symbol for the Christian Right, Atwood is claiming that the movement is advocating a freedom from, not a freedom to. This ‘freedom from’ is actually a measure of marginalisation, a way of controlling women, in the novel, because by stripping away their ‘freedom to’ the Republic of Gilead is controlling what they can and cannot do; in fact the term ‘freedom from’ seems to be a measure of justification for this practice. As a result Atwood is attacking the Christian Right’s suppressive views towards women in the novel, and therefore the context of the Christian Right is important in deciphering the novel’s meaning.
The Handmaid’s Tale is deeply influenced by its context because it continually attacks the views and beliefs of the Christian Right Movement, which was a major feature in the context of the novel’s production. Author Atwood’s Feminist ideology is the cause of this; it is her staunchly anti-Christian Right view that leads her to condemn the increasingly popular movement in her novel.
The Handmaid’s Tale – Close Reading
The opening chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale uses inferential language to orient the reader to the novel’s post apocalyptic setting. Atwood has manipulated the opening chapter of the novel to prompt the reader to infer the setting of the novel through diction and similar language use. The novel opens to Offred, the lead character, in a school gymnasium with numerous other women seemingly imprisoned. Although this is known through the literal interpretation of the chapter, there is still much to be deciphered with Atwood’s inferential language. In the opening paragraph Offred says, “Dances would’ve been held here”, in relation to school dances held in gymnasiums. The past tense used here – “would’ve been held” – indicates that this is no longer the case, and points to the fact that the school is no longer used as such. This is reinforced when Offred later states, “There was old sex in the room”, as though teens no longer visited the place. However with this we are also able to deduce that this was occurring fairly recently, as Offred has first-hand experience of it, “I remember that yearning”. Further in the chapter, Offred discusses the present situation, bringing up “army cots that had been set up in rows, with spaces between us so we could not talk”. She then talks about “army-issue blankets, the old ones that still said U.S.”. These quotes offer the suggestion that not only is Offred held against her will, but also there has been an emergency that has called for army-issue equipment. However she points to a larger theme in the chapter when saying the blankets where “the old ones that still said U.S.” because it makes the reader think that the US no longer exists in this world, as though the country has been dissolved. In a latter section of the chapter there are references to Aunts and Angels, words foreign in this context for the reader because they relate to people in power. The connation for the word ‘angel’ is majestic, peaceful and loving, as they are from heaven. However in this novel they seem to be more sinister, as Offred puts it, “objects of fear to us”. Aunts too are fear-inducing in the chapter, despite their name. According to Offred, “they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts”. This indicates the novel is set in a completely different society to reality, because there is nothing equivalent to this is the USA, and yet it appears the novel is set there (the blankets point to this). Through this and the science fiction genre we can conclude then that the novel is post-apocalyptic. Overall from this page and a half we are able to deduce, with inferential language, that the novel is set in post-apocalyptic USA, and that a recent and major social upheaval has led to women being imprisoned for something we are not yet sure of.
Reading Practices as an Ideological Argument
Reading practices are seen as ideological arguments because they comment on the dominant ideologies and often attack them. The Handmaid’s Tale is an example of a text which does this, because a feminist reading of the text (as this novel invokes) truly attacks Western Patriarchal attitudes in the 1980’s, the decade in which author Margaret Atwood wrote the allegory. Atwood, a feminist herself (which lends to the reading), is using speculative fiction to extrapolate the effects of 1980’s attitudes towards women, by creating a world where a Christian fundamentalist regime controls women through fierce indoctrination and a manipulation of everyday discourse. For example, in the indoctrination (“Red”) centre, Aunt Lydia, a leader of proceedings, teaches: “To be seen – to be seen – is to be – her voice trembled – penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable”. This reveals how the indoctrination is reshaping the values and attitudes in the society to make women cover up, and make them believe it is the way they should be. As an allegory, this story, and this passage, comments on Western patriarchal society by exaggerating the way power marginalises women. Instead of indoctrination telling women to cover up, in the modern world they are bombarded by images of models dressing provocatively, revealing more. Of course, as with the fictitious society in the novel, this reshapes society’s values and attitudes as to what is acceptable for women to wear, and the fact that they have little power over this manipulation, is what Atwood is attacking. Overall, Atwood’s feminist voice in the novel attacks Western patriarchal society in the 1980’s (and indeed now) and this shows how reading practices can be ideological arguments.
A Treat for your Ears!
There's no substitute for reading the novel. of course, but there is a really good audio dramatisation of it which sticks like glue to the original text. In fact, much of the dialogue and narration is lifted directly from the book. Give it a whirl.
The 6 episodes below are in order: