Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margret Atwood
Date of Publication: 1985
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
Biographical Information about the Author that Pertains to the Novel
Margret Atwood was born on November 18th in Ottawa Canada in 1939 and as a little girl always found pleasure in writing and reading. She made the decision to be a writer when she was only 16 years old. She especially liked the dark romance stories of Edgar Allen Poe who potentially influenced her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, which has a darker tone to it. She also as a feminist herself usually makes the main character of her novels an urban, suburban heroine who “fights for survival” in her society. Atwood has many different types of public work including novels, poems, short and stories and is well recognized for her work.
Historical Information about the period of publication
- 1985 was a time where technology started to take shape and the first telephone call was made in Great Britain
- Boris Becker was a popular figure at the time.
- The Unabomber case had the country on edge.
- Other dystopian novels were popular like George Orwell’s novel 1984, which was written about a futuristic society that could take place at the time if humans never questioned authority and always kept a blind eye. (similar to Handmaid’s Tale).
Characteristics of the Genre
Dystopian Fiction uses futuristic and imagined society’s in which total control and the illusion of perfection are maintained through things like corporate, bureaucratic, moral, or totalitarian control.
Plot Summary
The novel is placed in a dystopian society. Offred (the narrator) is explaining what is going on around in the Republic of Gilead, which has replaced The United States of America. Offed is a Handmaid, whose only job is to reproduce with the given Commander. She has sex with him during a “ceremony” while the wife watches. Offred tells us about life she had before the society (her feminist mother, her husband, her kid, etc. ) and informs the reader of all her limited freedoms she has currently. She also explains how she was sent away after she got caught fleeing Gilead, and therefore was sent to be trained to be a handmaid by the strict Aunt Lydia at the Leah-Re-Education Center (Red Center).. She also does not know what has happened to her rebellious best friend, Moria, after she ran away from the Red Center. After she is assigned to her specific commander she is not getting pregnant by him and one day meets the commander’s chauffer, Nick who she kisses. One day Ofglen opens Offred’s eyes about a secret society made to overthrow Giled. Offred becomes closer with her commander, but still is not getting pregnant. The Commander’s wife suggests that she have sex with Nick in exchange for a picture of Ofred’s daughter. The same night, Offred goes to a club with a commander and sees Moria. She learns what happened to her after she escaped from the Red Center. The reader learns that that was the last time Offred sees Moria. When Offred returns, she has sex with Nick and they start having sex more frequently without anyone’s knowledge. The commander’s wife eventually finds out that the commander took her out to a club and gets very angry. While awaiting her punishment, Offred sees a van pull up and we, as the reader, do not know if the van takes her to freedom or imprisonment. The novel ends by flashing to the future after the fall of Giled in 2195, and a professor is talking about the story of Offred and whatever could have come of her.
Describe the author’s style
The author uses very descriptive language and incorporates the use of flashbacks. The Narrator is in first person with a very jaded view. One doesn’t know everything the narrator is thinking. it’s not all knowing.
The first page of the novel right away demonstrates Atwood’s use of very descriptive and detailed language- “A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like a place in a face where the eye has been taken out” (Atwood 7). The reader is able to really able to picture what the narrator is describing.
Memorable Quotes
Quotation / Significance
“My nakedness is strange to me already. […] Did I really wear bathing suits, at the beach? I did, without thought, among men, without caring that my legs, my arms, my thighs and back were on display, could be seen. Shameful, immodest. 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” (Atwood 63).
“Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary (Atwood 43).
“I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping” (Atwood 73).
This quote is significant because it shows us that Offred ,as a women, wants to view herself as more than just her body. She doesn’t want to be viewed as an object, however she lives in a society where that does.
This quote is significant because it touches upon one of the themes of the novel of generations being molded to whatever social norms are widely accepted at the time. Things now, as radical as they may seem, that continue to go on will become normal after a time.
This quote is significant because it once again represents the fact that
Offred now only an object to be used to reproduce. Before, she was a person, an individual worth more than just her body. However, society once aging has left her with a fragmented identity feeling not like a human.
Characters—only include the main characters
Name / Role in the Story—should be one word or phrase / Significance / Adjectives
- Offred
- Ofglen (the first one)
- Moira
- Commander’s wife (Serena Joy)
- Commander
- Nick
- Aunt Lydia
- Offred’s mother
Narrator
Handmaid and designated to walk with Offred
Offred’s previous best friend before the community
Commander over Offred
Offred is his handmaid
Chauffeur for commander
Teaches handmaids
Offred’s mother
The whole story is about her. The story is told in her writing
Opens Offred’s eyes to a “resistance” that in going on in the community (very secretive)
Shows an example of someone who wanted to escape the society and successfully did so (to a point)
Open’s a door for Offred to get pregnant and move out of the house (under the table.) Also gave her hope of knowing her daughter was alive
Exposes Offred to an outside world she never really knew about in the community
Tries to get Offred pregnant
Shapes the way Offred looks at the society and its rules
Example to Offred of what a women and exposed her to alternative views of womanhood
Compliant, curious, and hopeful
Defiant and cautious,
Resistant, sassy, unique
Jealous, shady, Very religious
Lonely, nonchalant, socially opposed
Sauvé, charming, rebellious
Religious, strict
Strong, leader, feminist
Setting and its Significance
Significance of opening scene
The novel takes place in a near futuristic society after the down fall of America in a walled in community. It shapes the plot by explaining why the characters act the way they do. It symbolizes a false security that the members of the community live in. It also represents the idea of keeping the citizens blind to what Is really going on.
The opening scene takes place in Offred’s room. The significance of this scene is that is sets the mood for how the society acts. The room is very plain and it mentions how they’ve taken away everything the is possible to aid in suicide. This reflects on the harshness of the society and the strong desire people have to end their lives over living in the society.
https://library.ursulineacademy.org91292
Significance of ending/closing scene
She is aware of Ofglen’s suicide, and has possibly made a mistake of exposing that she is a “member” of the resistance to the new Ofglen. So, when she hears a van pull up she is uncertain whether it will lead to her demise or freedom. The significance of this scene is it reflects that after everything Offreds done and learned, she will either receive the maximum punishment or relief from this community, thus proving the harshness of the community and its foundation on rules.
Symbols
- Eyes- they are like “spies” that represent the eyes of God that are always watching over Giled. They are a secret police of sorts.
- Color- shows social classes. Example: red is a very violent and harsh color and represents adultery and blood (childbirth).
Other Literary Techniques that you Noticed
- Imagery
- Diction
- Flashbacks
- Symbols
- Motifs