The Handmaid's Tale

Rating:
Summary: "EYES" on America
Review: The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale, By Margaret Atwood, focuses on the life of the handmaid, Offred. Offred lives in a futuristic, male-dominated, religious society (reminiscent of Orwell's 1984) where sterility is common. The handmaids are women with healthy ovaries who are rotated through wealthy households, with the goal being a child for the wealthy couple to raise. Offred tells her story directly to the reader focusing on her life in the past, with her husband and child, and her life in the present, in the household with her "Commander" and his wife. This book explores many themes, including religion, totalitarian government, gender roles and sexuality. Overall this book very effectively conveys these themes and I found it very well written.

Margaret Atwood uses many techniques to achieve the ultimate message found in this book. First, Atwood draws the reader into the life of the main character Offred. Offred is a character that most women can relate to. Before the revolution that toppled government as we know it, Offred was a young mother who had recently married. She was an average American woman. When the government is overthrown by the religious group known as the "Eyes," she loses the freedoms she had always taken for granted. Atwood this novel in the style of a recorded diary, the reader is pulled into the story because of the sense of urgency created. "I must be telling it to someone. You don't tell a story only to yourself. There's always someone else" (40).
Another way the Atwood makes this book exciting is through her writing style. The author uses short chapters and mixes memories in with the current action, creating a present plot and a past plot. This shows that the main character was denied any personal time in which she could have made a formal diary. Some of the writing is also a stream-of-conscious style that helps to show the pain that Offred goes through to recount some of her horrible memories. "In Hope. Why did they put that above a dead person? Was it the corpse hoping, or those still alive?" (106). The writing style effectively captures the emotions of a person deprived of all freedom. The characterization of Offred overall conveys Atwood's themes of male-domination and the effect it has on the victims.
Secondly, the author effectively draws parallels between the society Offred lives in and the society of modern America. Americans gained rights during the twentieth century through the civil rights movement and through the efforts of feminist activists. The society in the book represents a backlash on those ideas. The men who run the government (called the "Eyes") are against everything gained in these movements. "It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned Congess and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on Islamic fanatics, at the time" (174). The "Eyes" can also be seen as a representation of the "religious right" which is currently gaining support in modern America. There are many people in this country, who, like the government in this book, believe that morals should be enforced through law.
Thirdly, Atwood also uses these societal parallels to attack certain aspects of American society that could ultimately lead to the type of backlash that occurred in the book. One of the problems that the author identifies is credit. Offred describes that in the time before the overthrow of the American government, everyone had stopped using paper money. Everything was paid for on credit. "I guess that's how they were able to do it, in the way they did, all at once, without anyone knowing beforehand. If there had still been portable money, it would have been more difficult" (174). By identifying problems that the reader can relate to, this book stays engaging and conveys the themes of religion and government (and their connections).
Although this book is written very realistically, there are a couple of points that Atwood has glossed over. For example, when she describes the takeover of the government, Atwood does not go into the detail that is expected when compared to the other subjects that she covers in detail. The reason may be that how the government was overthrown is not really the issue; it is what happens afterward that is vital to the book. Still, including the description of the takeover in more detail could have brought up more points supporting her themes including the government and the religious fanatics who end up in power.
Altogether, this book achieves the ultimate goal in literature. It effectively conveys the author's opinions on the themes that she chose to include and keeps the reader's interest at the same time. Atwood does this through her use of characters and the fictional society that she creates. This society is an extreme backlash to the freedoms we enjoy today. This book leaves the reader feeling scared for their own future.

Rating:
Summary: Oppression of the Self
Review: In the novel The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, the main character, Offred, struggles for independence as a woman, sexually and socially. She lives in a world in which the basic rights of women are taken away, and a power struggle over their sexuality quickly develops. Women have become objects of fertility whose worth is determined by the number of children they bare. It is a captivating story of not only the frightening possibilities of the future, but the feministic opinion about society.
The book begins in the near future, when the world is in the midst of a war. The constitution has been suspended and women have become the property of their husbands. The book begins several years afterwards, when a handmaid named Offred moves into a new Commander's home to have his children. In the novel, handmaids are young, fertile women used solely for the purpose of having children for those wives who cannot. Confused in an asexual, male dominating world, Offred tells the reader two stories, one of her current situation, and one of her past. Atwood uses flashbacks and allusions from her past to emphasize the extreme division in Offred's two lives. The fact that Offred's real name from her past life remains a mystery is a constant reminder of how much of her true self she has lost because of her personal oppression. Offred lives for only one purpose, to procreate. "Each month I watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes it means failure. I have failed to once again fulfill the expectations of others, which have become my own" (95). In a life without enjoyment, she yearns for her past, and begins breaking rules to live as herself. Regardless of the consequences, her goal is to break free and become the woman she once was again.
Margaret Atwood's distopian story is a tale of the dehumanizing of women and sexuality. It provides commentary on the possibilities of the future, and the importance of standing up for one's rights. It makes one appreciate his or her personal freedoms and also makes one realize how quickly these freedoms could disappear. While the novel is enjoyable, it leaves the reader with several unanswered questions. Atwood does not directly tell the reader how and by whom the rights of women were taken away. It leaves us wondering whom Offred's frustrations are directed at. Perhaps Atwood purposely left out this information to prove the point that it is possible for anyone to take away a woman's rights.

The story also leaves the reader questioning the characterization and motivation of men in the story. Their opinions on the situation are hardly recognized; the men seem to have no ideas of their own at all. Atwood portrays the Commander as a sleazy, sexually driven man who abuses his position and Nick as a sexual object for Offred. The reasoning behind the lack of the male characters' development is perhaps to illustrate the minimal amount of personality their society allows. Or possibly to emphasize the idea that men have become mere objects for Offred. None of them have much depth behind the outside façade, and we can only guess at the motivations for each.
While Offred keeps the reader hoping she will overcome, it is apparent that she will never be able to totally stand up against authority. There are too many obstacles in her way and there seems to be no way out. "Ever night when I go to bed I think, in the morning I will wake up in my own house and things will be back the way they were. It hasn't happened this morning, either" (257). It is possible Atwood uses this hopeless pessimism to emphasize the fact that society's rules sometimes have no escape, except death. Or for instance the idea that it takes more than one person to challenge a system.
The solemn yet minutely optimistic tone has any reader on the edge of their seat as he or she waits for Offred to break free as an individual and challenge the system in which she is a victim of. The two stories told at the same time, one of Offred's past life leading up to her "career" as a handmaid and the other of her present life is very effective. They convince the reader of the situation's injustice, especially since past her life and rights were taken away. Similar to George Orwell's 1984, The Handmaid's Tale takes us on a nerve-wracking, authority challenging journey in search of liberty from the social standards and rules the government imposes. Both stories use the idea that as hard as the authority figures try to eliminate the past, it will never go away. Any woman will be able to put herself in Offred's shoes and appreciate what they have, while at the same time sympathizing for Offred's situation. Atwood does an incredible job of making the reader feel frustrated and oppressed right along with Offred. If the story were told in a point of view other than first person through Offred, it would lose its personal nature and we may not be able to relate as well.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a fascinating story of sexuality, feminism, and individuality. Her writing captivates us as we follow Offred, the handmaid, through her current life as an object of procreation. Atwood clearly makes a pointed statement about women's rights and sexuality as she fascinates us with the characterization of Offred. However, regardless of how enjoyable the read may be, the reader is left with unanswered questions. We can only guess at Atwood's purposes in her tale. The story, told through the combination of Offred's two lives, one in current day and one in memories, is effective to relate the story to the audience. Overall The Handmaid's Tale is a novel highly recommended to any reader willing to place themselves in Offred's shoes for a captivating journey toward independence.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: The Handmaids Tale should serve as a warning to future generations.

Rating:
Summary: Army of the LORD militiaman reviews "The Handmaid's Tale"
Review: This book tells the way it's gonna be when we take over! I don't know who Margaret Atwood is, but she must be one of us, cause she explains real well how our forces will run the country once we take power. This is a pretty good description of our program to establish a government for decent Bible-believing folks, to flush away all the filth that has polluted our society. Time to go back to the laws of the LORD and put people in their right place. Women will be protected and cared for properly, as this book tells, and not left to run loose and get into trouble the way they do now. I don't know how Margaret Atwood got ahold of the top echelon's plans, but maybe it's things she overheard in the training camp. We already have some righteous believers in place, like John Ashcroft, but there is still so much more to do. I hope more folks will read this book and join up with us, to restore righteousness to the nation and strike fear into the hearts of the unbelievers. This book is an important recruitment tool, like the Turner Diaries, to let everybody know there is a movement to restore decency to this land. We're on the move. We're getting close to success. The Bible promises that we will triumph. It won't be long now. Read this book to help get ready and inspire you what we're fighting for. Then get your gun and join us.

Rating:
Summary: A tale worth being told
Review: Rather than accomplish anything I spent a few hours last night and most of the afternoon reading Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale. In accordance with my previous policy of time-wastage, I thought I would write a review of said book.
Overall, A Handmaid's Tale is beautifully written. Atwood does not stay with a strictly temporal storyline: the main character Offred had flashbacks to her previous life. However, Atwood ensures that the narrative is not confusing by having fairly regular earmarks for each part of the story. The prose is not in a particularly high style, which I must admit is nice: rather than struggling through the sort of dense writing that characterizes most "classics," Handmaid's Tale is very readable.
Atwood tends to chose compelling subjects for her novels. I have only read one other book by her, Oryx and Crake, but both novels deal with epic changes in our society. Essentially, AHT addresses the idea of Biblical Literalism and how it would play out in a totalitarian government. The novel itself is a bit dated: it was written 1986, and I tend to find her scenario a bit hard to accept. However, this could simply be my own prejudice: Oryx and Crake dealt with bio-engineered life-forms and bio-terrorism, which I found much more believable.
Ultimately, AHT was interesting and not too difficult to read. I think Atwood addresses pertinent issues in our society, and I actually have an interest in what happens to the characters. (Note: I really hated The Great Gatsby and Tess of the Durbervilles because I had no concern for any character in the books). So yes, it is worth reading, which is more than I can say for most drivel printed.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: I wasn't sure what to think of this book before reading it. I had heard and read this and that, good, bad, and decided to formulate my own opinion.

Excellent, real, sad, amazing, and scary as can be. Scary because it is a story that could (and has, in part--think Afghanistan and the now infamous buhrka) happen in our world, given just the right combination of leaders and events.

I am not generally a fan of "feminist" fiction....I simply read whatever I like. This, I liked. Any book that could seem so real as to give nightmares after finishing (yes, it did) gets four stars from me.

Spook out! I'll read it again.

Rating:
Summary: A dystopia where women are second-rate
Review: Started this late last year during banned books week, but gave it away before I finished reading it for BBW. A fellow bookcrosser sent me another copy.

This is the story of a future dystopia where women are treated as second-rate citizens with no rights and a choosen few, the handmaids, are only valued because of their ability to conceive children. The women are separated into classes, but still the women in this story have been robbed of their voices and their rights.

Women no longer have sovereignty over their bodies. They are no longer allowed to read, own property, money, anything. The story is told through the eyes of Offred, a handmaid, who can still remember the time before.

The handmaid's job is to bear children for the Commanders and their Wives. They're seen as "valued assests" of their country, but it's obvious that most of the other women in the society, especially the wives see them as nothing more than whores.

These women are brainwashed, led to believe that many things we see as an assault on women, such as rape, is really the women's fault. They wanted it. They deserved what they got. It's horrifying reading about these women being treated like animals.

While the story is largely about the handmaids, Offred's observations of the other women in the society show you that they're really all trapped, regardless of status. They're all treated second-rate, yet instead of banding together, they buy into the propaganda that women should be seen and not heard.

Offred doesn't just tell the story of the handmaids. She tells the story of her life before becoming a handmaid, how she became a handmaid, people she remembered in her life before, the way life was before. It's all intricately woven together in one tale.

I haven't read a story in a long time that's haunted and chilled me like this story. I'm an avid horror reader, but the story of this society really disturbed me. It left me with a lot to think about, and the ending itself was haunting.

Rating:
Summary: "When will it end...when will it end?" - Ian Curtis, sage.
Review: In this novel Atwood seems to want to tell us lots of earth-shattering things about gender, repression and the social climate of 1980s America. She may well have succeeded - but for me any such message was occluded by her embarassing, cringeworthy prose. She suffers from the same malady that riddles DeLillo's prose: one very long sentence, lots of clauses, usually lacking conjunctives, unusual punctuation; then the surprising fragmentary sentence which really makes everyone think.
Thus.
(Both writers seem to have a proclivity for indenting these little asides.)
So we get such bellyflops as:

How I wasted them, those rooms, that freedom from being seen.
Rented licence.

and

What I feel towards them is blankess. What I feel is that I must not feel. What I feel is partly relief, because none of these men is Luke. Luke wasn't a doctor. Isn't.

To me this lacks elegance; and the harder she pushes the poetry, the pithier it appears: viz.:

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 translucence.

or -

You've killed her, I said. She looked like an angel, solemn, compact, made of air.

or -

Still, it must be hell, to be a man, like that.
It must be just fine.
It must be hell.
It must be very silent.

or even -
The sitting room is subdued, symmetrical; it's one of the shapes money takes when it freezes.

If that kind of prose is your bag, I hope you enjoy it; personally I found it unbearable. I have heard Atwood speak on the radio and she was very eloquent...maybe I should try another of her novels.

Rating:
Summary: Precious Freedoms
Review: In Response to the November 2003 Review of the Handmaid's Tale, while I thoroughly disagree with the reviewer's opinions, it would be nice if the facts of the book had been stated correctly.

Offred (OF-FRED) is living in what was once Boston, Massachusetts; Cambridge more specifically. She in detail describes working at the Harvard University Library before the United States was taken over.

Offred's story is not supposed to make perfect sense, because it is a survival narrative thereby many of its details are sketchy at times either because of severe trama, or as she intimates because of being drugged.

The Radical Christian Fundamentalist Government has completely stripped people of the dignity, freedom, and often times their feelings--all things that had made them American, more importantly human.

I strongly reccomend this book, because it, like nothing else, allows you to see the human aspect of the effects of a totalitarian regime, and how quickly one can lose their basic rights, when life and death become the only options.

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Summary: SPOILER ALERTS
Review: I had to submit a review here for my English class, be forewarned that there are spoilers.

The 'Handmaid's Tale' was written by Margaret Atwood. It deals with themes of Dystopia's that were so popular in books such as '1984' and 'Fahrenheit 51'. It is labeled as science fiction, which surprised me as I read the novel. It is not at all like most Sci-Fi's you would read, with robots, time travel, aliens, or other such things. This book was labeled thusly because Sci-fi can also deal with social change, not just technological change. This book deals with what kind of occurrences could happen if the pollution problem sped completely out of control, and the human race became unsterile, with many birth defects as well. At the same time as this, an anti-feminism religious group takes over the government in a coup d'etat, and not only prevents the tide of feminist movements, but turns it back. Traditional attitudes about the status of women are enforced on penalty of death. Set slightly in the future (from the time the book was written) we are invited into a world where women are oppressed and degraded into mere objects to fulfill set purposes. To control other women, to clean and cook, and to breed. If unable to do any of these three things, they are labeled as "unwoman" and sent to the moon base to meet certain death while cleaning radioactive materials.

The main character in this book is called Offred. It literally means "Of Fred". In this society she exists as a handmaid. Handmaids have one purpose in life, and that is to breed children for their 'Commanders'. Fred is the name of the man who holds her as property. Handmaids are only given to the ones known as 'Commanders', technically, they are the elite of this new society, the republic of Gilead. The Gilead is a totalitarian theocratic state, and has overthrown what was once known as the United States of America. The Commanders are the elite, so thus they are allowed Handmaids if their wives are unable to bear children for them. Since reproduction rates are very low due to radioactive levels, this practice was implemented. Once a month, when a handmaid is at the peak of their cycle (to have children) they must have intercourse with their commanders. During this time, the Commander's wife is also present, holding hands with the Handmaid while the Commander attempts to impregnate them. This sex is without feeling or love... in fact, passion is frowned upon, and intercourse is looked on as only a means to continue the species.

I felt rather disgusted by this fact. That women could be used as mere things for reproduction was appalling. Margaret Atwood shows us what could happen if traditional views upon women are taken to extremes. The women are not only repressed in this way, but they are also under constant surveillance. In a subtle way, I believe that Margaret is trying to tell us with this fact that even though women could possibly be suppressed this way, they're spirits wouldn't die down for the need of freedom, thus they have to be watched constantly.

The story is told through the eyes of Offred. She frequently slips into flashbacks, telling us of her past life and how events have led up to the point they are at the beginning of the novel. Offred used to be living with a man named Luke, and had a child with him. When their child was still young, the radicals who enforced traditional values took over America. Women were unable to work jobs, and slowly but surely all their rights were taken away from them. Those couples living together who were not married, or who had been divorced were separated. The Republic of Gilead saw such couples as immoral, and punished them accordingly.

I felt rather sad, and found myself sympathizing with Offred as she told her story in a series of flashbacks throughout the novel. That she could be separated from the man she loved, and her darling daughter is cruel. Then to be subjected into the role of a Handmaid, I cannot fathom how she withstood such treatment. I feel that most women would have been like Moira (Offred's best friend, a feminist lesbian who escapes her role as a Handmaid). They would have at least attempted to escape. Perhaps I place overconfidence in the female sex, but I doubt truly that we would go down without a fight such as Atwood depicts in this novel. She describes how the women at her work were confused and scared when they were relieved of their jobs.
The women of today give me the impression to be fighters. Surely, at least half the woman in the US would violently object to such treatment, and overthrow their would be suppressors, even with fear of punishment and death. Then again, this book was written when the feminist movement was just getting revved up. Perhaps Atwood feared that the Republic of Gilead could be Men and Traditionalists answer to women's calls for freedom.
The Women in this novel deal with constant surveillance. They are always under the steady eye of a male, and even that of other females. Fear of punishment may drive women against one another if they show overt signs of being rebellious. Offred is constantly paranoid that someone may see suspicious behavior from her. She fears being declared an Unwoman, and being sent to certain death.

Handmaids wear red clothing. I believe that this color was chosen for the Handmaids as it can symbolize fertility. Being Fertile is all that is important to this new state, as reproduction rates are very low. Also the color of red can be said to symbolize blood, or evil. Blood for the menstrual cycle, evil for the stigma attached to sexual relations by religious fanatics. The color on them immediately identifies them to the entire world, and their status in it. This is just another form of the oppression thrown upon women in this novel, as in fact they are sanctioned whores. Surely this makes each of them feel ashamed, as wearing the red habit reminds them everyday of something they assuredly wish to forget.

All in all, I found this a very compelling novel. To think that such a thing is possible sends shivers of fright and disgust down my spine. Most likely, this is what Atwood was aiming for. She most likely feared that radical measures could be taken against females, and wrote a novel to voice her fears to the general public. I would recommend this book to all those interested in Dystopia and society's values on a whole. It makes you think and question "what if...". Is such a way of life preferable to the one we live now? Is society in such a sorry state that only a Republic such as Gilead could rectify the moral degradation we as humans have allowed ourselves to sink into? Frightening enough, there are people who think this, both men and women... Luckily, I believe that such a thing would never happen. First off, traditional values are slowly but surely going down the drain. As new generations come, their thinking changes. Years upon years ago, same sex marriages were not even thought of. In these days, states are passing laws even through much debate over the wrongness and how it is against all religious beliefs. In time, I feel that people won't even blink when they hear something like "Oh did you know, John got married to Fred". My belief is supported by the fact that sex is so freely thrown about now. Decades ago you were considered a wanton sinful person if you engaged in sexual intercourse before marriage. Now times, it is almost a given a girl or boy will lose their virginity long before they marry. As time goes on, beliefs change. That which was outrageous yesterday becomes commonplace today. Soon humans will have very little morals, but no one will remember the old ways and how wrong it is because of the subtle change in acceptance of these things over the years. And then again, women these days would never allow themselves to be treated thusly. Women each day are growing stronger as a sex and doing things which used to be classified as male only. We are on the front lines, defending our country... and beating a path to every job imaginable. Women have grown stronger over time, and we will continue to do so. I thank Margaret Atwood for making such a fine novel, and making me think.