Maddy+-+The+Handmaid's+Tale

__​ The Handmaid's Tale__

By: Margaret Atwood Genre: [|Speculative Fiction] media type="youtube" key="Z8q6u2oTJLk" height="385" width="480" align="right" First Publication: 1985 Awards: Govenor General's Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award

*Setting* **Gilead** is a **dystopia**. A **dystopia**, according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, is "an **imaginary** place which is depressingly wretched and whose people lead a fearful existence" ("Dystopia"). The wretched place exists in what was once the **United States of America**. After the President was **assassinated**, and Congress was **obliterated** with heavy machine gun fire, the Christian **theocracy** of **Gilead** was formed and enforced by an unfamiliar military. __The Handmaid's Tale__ Book Trailer ​ *Characters* Gileadean society looks like a rainbow from afar. Each level of the social hierarchy is **color** coded.

**Jezebel's Women** A **brothel** hidden in what //should// be an abandoned hotel, Jezebel's is full of prostitutes and other women that managed to avoid being sent to the Colonies by being smuggled into the pleasure palace of the Commanders. Though it doesn't exist officially under Gilead's theocracy, Jezebel's women receive **salvaged** outfits of lingerie, bikinis, cheerleader uniforms, and jogging shorts by government issue. The wives of lower ranking men wear **striped** dresses. Because her husband is at a **lower** rank, an Econowife must cook, clean, shop, socialize, and bear children. **Marthas** **Handmaids** The Handmaids, who are dressed from the neck down in **red**, hold the future for Gileadean society. They are only valuable because they have the highest chance at giving birth to healthy children. High-ranking men with a Wife who can no longer bear children are given a Handmaid, who is treated like property and serves no other purpose but being a **surrogate** mother. Artificial forms of baby-making are considered irreligious, so once a month there is a Ceremony between the three individuals to impregnate the Handmaid. **Aunts** Aunts are the exception from the Gileadean laws preventing women from **independence**. In exchange for being allowed to read and write (and not being shipped off to the Colonies), the **brown**-clad Aunts prepare and reeducate (i.e. brainwash) Handmaids for their upcoming life. Wives The Wives lead a **cold** life, mirrored in the **blue** color that they wear. Once a month, an infertile Wife must hold the Handmaid during the Ceremony and watch as her husband tries to sow his seed. The Wife's emotional torture is rewarded by taking the child that the Handmaid bears. Commanders' Wives mainly socialize, but if she or the Handmaid gives birth to a healthy baby, the Wife raises the child. Doctors In Gilead, Doctors are extremely **mistrusted** for their past, though they are still necessary. When the Constitution was suspended, Ex Post Facto no longer applied and many **white**-coated doctors are persecuted for past religious "atrocities" (Atwood 33). Guardians The Guardians **protect** people and provide **services** for the upper-class. Angels Angels make up Gilead's **military** force, which constantly **battles** uprisings against Gilead. **Commanders** Commanders wear **black** all of the time. They are the **leaders** in Gilead and hold the highest position in the social hierarchy. They are regal and formal with their own household. Most Commanders have a Wife, Marthas, Guardians, and a Handmaid. A Handmaid's name is derived from her Commander's. For example, a Commander named Warren would have a Handmaid called Ofwarren.
 * Colonies' Workers **
 * Grey** dresses make up the uniforms of workers in the Colonies. "'It's about a quarter men in the Colonies'", who are sent to the infamous place for being "Gender Traitors"; they are also **forced** to don the drab shifts (Atwood 248). Women sent to the Colonies are either lower-class women who can no longer reproduce or choose not to. Fertile, celibate, Christian nuns are considered heretics in a time of few conceptions and rare successful births.
 * E c o n o w i v e s **
 * Green** dresses swirl throughout the **kitchens** of high-ranking Gileadean households. The Marthas are infertile women that escape sure death in the Colonies by cooking and cleaning in the homes of the upper-class.



Offred is the main character, who is sometimes called the protagonist, or the dynamic character. A dynamic character is "a character who changes inside as a result of what happens" (Bokesch). In music, dynamics control the volume of the piece. A growth of the volume is a crescendo, and the piece decrescendoes when it becomes quieter. Most dynamic characters experience personal growth, but Offred goes through the opposite. Flashbacks reveal that she was once a strong, vibrant, independent woman who would sacrifice anything for her family. With her husband possibly dead and her daughter gone, Offred becomes more and more robotic throughout the story, and her survival instinct fills in the gaps that love left behind. "//Love//, said Aunt Lydia with distaste. Don't let me catch yout at it. No mooning and june-ing aroud here, girls. Wagging her finger at us. //Love// is not the point" (Atwood 220).

** *Plot Synopsis* **

The archaic meaning of the word handmaid was lady-in-waiting. Offred is now a Handmaid, and most of her new life is spent waiting. She waits, and waits, and waits. She prays to become pregnant. She yearns to become pregnant. She //has// to become pregnant. Being a Handmaid is a three strike process, and if she fails with this Commander, it won't be her first time. And it is always considered //her// failure, //her// fault. The unspoken truth is that the sterility factors that affected so many women also touched the male population. Unfortunately for Offred, Gilead is entirely patriarchal. To blame her Commander is blasphemy.

As she waits between Ceremonies, willing her menstrual cycle to be interrupted, Offred recalls her former self. She remembers her former life. Back then, she had a huband, Luke, and a darling daughter. Back then, she was allowed to read, write, and own things. In the Christian theocracy of Gilead, she isn't even allowed to read a bible. The frightening part is how much acceptance Offred has for her new, dystopian life. Ofglen, the foil character, is involved in a resistance. At one time, Offred would have been, too. Her mother was a radical, before she was shipped to the Colonies, so it is in her blood. This new, contained Offred is too bound to the rules, because the rules mean survival. Once, Offred put hope and love above this instinct, but not anymore. She can never even bring herself to commit the suicide that creeps into her thoughts, daily. Offred exists on the fringes of the resistance. She exists on the fringes of her own life. She is a frame, and the picture is nothing but a memory.

Offred's time is running out to produce a child. Eventually, the Commmander's Wife, Serena Joy, suggests to try conceiving with the Guardian Nick. With no other choice, Offred and Nick become lovers. She visits his bedroom more than Serena Joy suggested, but they are lovers in the hollowest sense of the world. The forbidden relationship is still more than what Offred has had in what seems like an eternity.

If Offred can give birth to a healthy baby, who Serena Joy will take anyway, she will be well-regarded in Gileadean society. She will have produced a miracle. In intense woman versus self and woman versus society conflicts, Offred must prevail. If she doesn't, death will leap closer.

Offred is pelted with crisis after crisis. Even in her former life, every escape is intercepted with a new problem.

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The Commander's Wife Makes A Suggestion to Offred

*Point of View* First Person *Tone* <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 178%; text-align: left;">Reflective: Offred's story is filled with flashbacks, reconstructions, and lamentations.

**What Worked/What Didn't** I really like the writing style that Atwood used in her novel. It makes it really interesting. I have no criticism other than the cliff-hanger ending, which drives me crazy.


 * Why was this book placed on the** [|"Outstanding Books for the College Bound"]**list** <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">__The Handmaid's Tale__ was placed on the list because of the philosophical ideas that it forces its readers to mull over. The politics between freedom and control cannot be ignored after reading this book. Liberty can no longer be taken for granted, either. The lack of control in current societies is also illuminated. The novel's government asserts tight control, but this does not seem to be a solution, either. Gilead is obviously a dystopia, but the reader is forced to ask themselves, "Why?" Anyone, college bound or not, would go through quite an eye-opening experience by reading this book.

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">**Would I recommend this book to someone else?** <span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Yes, I would definitely recommend __The Handmaid's Tale__ to someone else. As dark as it sounds, I like that this novel instilled fear inside of me. Fear is not a whimsical emotion, but it keeps humans (and humanity) away from danger. It is a good thing for someone to fear Gilead's situation.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Why is this book "outstanding?"** <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Atwood's different writing style, and her thorough presentation of how repressive society can be, makes this book "outstanding." The dystopia in her magnificent book is also another example of what happens when religion is used for malevolent purpo ses. <span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">

<span style="color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">__[|1984]__ by George Orwell __The Scarlet Letter__ by Nathaniel Hawthorne
 * Related Books **


 * [|Margaret Atwood]**

Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood has astounded many people with her works. Her 1961 poem //Double Persephone// trailblazed a path for many other interesting and entertaining literary works. Atwood received the Booker Prize for __The Blind Assassin__, which came out with the new millenium. Her fiction, essays, and poetry have been published worldwide. She lives in Canada.

Citatations "Dystopia." //Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary//. 8th ed.1973. Print. Atwood, Margaret. //The Handmaid's Tale//. New York: Anchor Books, 1998. Print. Bokesch, Laura. "Literary Elements." n.p. Web. n.d.