Margaret Atwood's the Handmaid's Tale (Bloom's Guides)

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous read!!! Even better than "1984" in my opinion. A+
Review: This was my 1st experience w/Atwood, and I absolutely loved it! She is a fabulous writer and I highly recommend this book. This was one of those books you just sit down and devour. :-)

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Summary: Handmaids Tale Review
Review: Todd Leveillee
English 12, 2004
The Handmaids Tale
Book Review

After assassinating the President and the members of Congress the Gilead continued to crack down on laws. They took away most of the rights for women, like being able to have property or the ability to hold a job. Knowing this Offred and Luke fled with their daughter and attempted to cross the border into Canada. Stopped there, Offred never saw Luke or their daughter again. From there she would no longer be a person with feelings, just an object of pleasure, and the duty of a handmaid.
The main character Offred meets Luke by having an affair with him. Luke divorces his wife and produces a child with Offred. They are caught trying to flee the country and separated. After being captured she was sent to the Re-education Center or the Red Center. This is where the women would be taught about the routine and duties of becoming a handmaid. When Offred finishes her training she is sent to the Commander's house. Weekly checkups are endured to make sure there are no diseases and after each checkup the handmaids go to the Ceremony. At the Ceremony the Commander reads to everyone from the bible. After this Offred and the Commander's wife, Serena go to the Commander's room. Offred has sex with the Commander while Serena sits up behind her and holds her hands. Offred is told by Nick, the Commander's gardener and chauffeur that the Commander wants to meet with her. They meet and Offred finds out that the Commander just wants to play scrabble with her. Time goes by and Offred has still not become pregnant. Serena wants Offred to have sex with Nick and just say that the baby is the Commander's. Offred and Nick begin to have sex on a regular basis. Offred travels secretly to a club called Jezebel's with the Commander. Serena finds out about this and she says she is going to punish her. Offred is waiting in her room when she sees a black van approaching the house. Nick comes into Offred's room and tells her that it is really Mayday members coming to save her. Mayday is a group that is trying to overthrow the Gilead. Offred leaves with the men and will never see the Commander again. At the close of the novel Offred says, "And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light." Meaning, she does not know where her life will lead her from here.
At the beginning of this novel this book seemed like it was just going to be about a woman that gave herself up for sex and continued to have flashbacks. It turned out to be about a woman that was transformed from a woman to an object fighting for survival. When I say she was transformed from a woman to an object I mean that she cared about life and Luke until she was turned to a handmaid. Since becoming a handmaid her life changes drastically. She now has a set routine of where she stays, what she eats and the tasks she is asked to perform. When Offred begins to develop a relationship with the Commander she is taking a huge risk. If she is caught by anyone, including Serena she could possibly be killed. Knowing this she still continues to go back. She is really in a predicament where she has no choice. If she goes and gets caught she is done for. If she doesn't go and goes against the Commander's request she will be punished. Either way it's a lose, lose situation. As the novel continues it seems like Serena senses that Offred is close with the Commander and tries to get her to sleep with Nick. Offred who has been longing to sleep with Nick abides by Serena's request. I call Offred an object because she has no say in anything she does. She must do as she is told or face the penalty. Just like a real life object she goes wherever she is taken does whatever she is told. This novel really keeps the reader interested because you find yourself always wondering, "What will happen next?"

Rating:
Summary: My Review
Review: When a woman is not given the choice to create a human. She will become a person not even herself can come to know. For sex is the art of governing. The Handmaids Tale is a malicious story told in a way only one can feel sympathetic for Offred, a handmaid living in the Republic of Gilead. She is to be obedient and is considered petty to all that are not handmaids. This is a place that has continued without interference of the past. For Gilead's future does not consist of love anymore but arranged child births and marriages. Offred is a woman that only exists in this community for her ability to produce children.

This cause for the existence of a child is so the future can reek of children molded into what this nation believes they should be. My opinion, which I hope is obvious, is that no child's future should be chosen by anyone but themselves. A person should not be able to just sit back and marvel at the sexual suggestions being spewed out. These are innocent babies being torn away from ever being able to say a phrase like "I love you, I really do." Offred's body is not the only one of its kind being tortured numerous times. This is only a story told by one handmaid. I just don't see how anyone can be self-assured when a woman is being provided by another like property. And let this happen to these woman when they have never been subjected to these "ways" before. These people should get paid for being generally annoying and irritating. How can you expect one to be sociable and efficient. When they are treated as if they are only this set of names and faces given away with instructions. I am not only furious with the ways of Gilead but disappointed. I know theoretically women are smarter. But I did not think they would go this far to control us. These things should stay in the privacy of your own home. I demand these people to stop humiliating themselves. You think you're the future of "birth" just because you manipulate women. One word for you "Wrong." Because no matter what happens there will always be that no passion, boredom, emptiness, need, laughter, and energy to communicate in this terrifying picture of the world. Some will not be able to tolerate, for example me. There is no real principal behind it because Gilead's expectations are unrealistically high.

But some unrealistic things can be capable of existing. That's why I recommend this book. Because it helps you appreciate the way our government is now. I am personally against a lot the government does today. But after read this tale I have come to appreciate it much more. I know most of you are saying something on line of "This would never happen, so what's your purpose." Well I do have a purpose because anything could happen. Its not like we would have agreed with a person ten years ago when they said "Two planes will crash into the twin towers." Our government is not perfect and neither are the people trying live by it. I guess the biggest problem in our mind's today is time. Because we have come to accept this life we live. But ,maybe some day you should try thinking out of the box.