Alec Ohanian
Marc Lepson
The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, takes place in the dystopian society of Gilead. In Gilead, the rights and
accomplishments of women have been completely reversed. When a religious group takes power they revoke all sense of identity for the women. The protagonist of the novel, Offered is a Handmaid. The Handmaids’ responsibility is to bare children to populate Gilead. Offred’s recollection of her past is extremely vague. Offred has numerous flashbacks of her life but none of which are clear. The reader can infer certain things by piecing together these vague memories. Atwood has a very unique approach to telling this tale. Her use of sophisticated langue helps to create a a complicated foreground. Within Gilead we meet the different levels of the hierarchy such as the Marthas and the wives. All of which are coordinated by the color of their garments. The first couple of chapters of the book are solely dedicated toward developing the physical characteristics of the characters and environments in which the book takes place. These pages are vital for the visually driven reader. After the religious group which runs the republic of Gilead took power Offred, her husband and their child attempted to escape but were caught. They never saw one another again. Before one becomes a handmaid they are sent to the “red center” to study what the role entails and what is expected of them. Offred’s love interest in the book is Nick, also the righthand man of her commander, Fred. As Nick and Offered relationship grows one of the commanders wives, Serena urges Nick and Offred to attempt to bare a child after failure between offred and the commander. The shopping trips of the handmaids are where much of the stories momentum is created. For example, during one outing Ofglen, a friend of Offred tell her that she belongs to a group called Mayday which plan to overthrow the corrupt leaders Gilead. Ofglen asks Offred to collect information on her commander and his wife but she fails to do so after her relationship with Nick distracts her. Through all of the chaotic moments of the storyline Atwood does a remarkable job at organizing the concepts in order to further tell the story. Perhaps one of the most unsettling parts about the book is that the issues which face Gilead can be identified within our own society, today. Reading this book during such a unique and important moment in history was extremely beneficial and eye-opening for me. I now see and approach situations differently then I have before due to the clarity this story instilled in me.
