Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Trisha Singh
Mrs. Mann
AP Literature block 2
8 November 2017
The Scarlet Letter, 1984, Animal Farm, The Odyssey, and Brave New World, and the
famous Shakespearean works Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and The Twelfth Nightall these
famous works of literature are famous for a reasonthey are the classic novels of the literary
canon. To qualify as a classic novel, the novel must be relatable to cultures, must exist beyond
the generation in which it was written, must be analyzed through multiple literary perspectives,
must inspire other novels of the same genre, and of course, must provoke an emotional response
from the reader. The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood certainly coerces readers to become
aware of their political surroundings and to take preventative measures from their society to
create an oppressive dystopian world; all the female characters in the novel have no political
power whatsoever, so this storyline provides readers with an example of how a futuristic
dystopian novel can look like. While The Handmaids Tale is a good read, the novel lacks certain
qualitiesits message can really only be focused on the feminist and marxist literary
perspectives, its content is not groundbreaking as it is based off other novels in the dystopian
genre, and its extreme, heavy-handed symbolism makes the theme of womens oppression too
repetitive and too simple for readers to understandthat dont allow it to be amongst classic
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood takes place in the Republic of Gilead, where
women are either Wives or Handmaids; Wives are simply wives of the male Commanders and
nothing more, while the Handmaids exist solely to bear children to their Commandersthe
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protagonist Offred being a Handmaid herself and having to overcome these issues. Despite the
dystopian feeling of the novel, The Handmaids Tale certainly evokes an emotional response
from the reader, making them feel disgustedthis emotional aspect being one of the few things
in The Handmaids Tale that can truly be attributed as a characteristic of a classic novelas
though such a thing could never happen in our own modern society, because the society of
Gilead centers on the oppression of women. According to multiple reader responses, Beauchamp
noticed that in Canada, they said could it happen here? In the United States, they said how
long have we got? Such were the reactions. . . But it is in America, where the tale is set, that
reaction has been the most intense, most alarmed (1). Of course, readers will be very shocked at
what goes on in the novel, as Atwood intended the novel to be a warning for the modern world
today to be careful and aware of their political surroundings. This is an ironic reaction, however,
because America is the international face of democracy, even though it is America where there
are womens rights movements, especially those revolving around the topic of abortion. America
is also a hypocritical nation, since as it advocates for democracy, but it still doesnt really care
when other people under an oppressive regime and cannot live in a democratic atmosphere; for
an example, Americans ostracize Islamic individuals easily, but when American-born people
commit unspeakable crimes, no one is willing to take any immediate political action.With this
ironic future portrait Atwood suggest that we are also Gileadians, constantly under scrutiny by
the plethora of institutions with which we must have contact with from the IRS audit to the
university examination. And we are also the auditors and examiners who scrutinize others
(Hammer 46). Stephanie Hammer brings up a good point; we are always cynical of the
government, and we get riled up over the smallest things, but nothing can really be stopped when
it comes to issues that really matterbut we still continue to turn everything to politics, and our
social problems are based off of those political controversies. Whether this brings up feelings of
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anger towards political moves or any appreciation of political activities, The Handmaids Tale
still does evoke an emotional appeal to readers, and that fact renders it as a classic only in that
The Handmaids Tale has some aspects of a classic novel in that it can be applied to
history and is even relevant in modern-day politics. In the Historical Notes at the end of the
novel, it is revealed that Offreds narrations were really a recording of tapes that retold her story
after she had escaped from the Republic of Gilead; these recordings were presented in a lecture
hall by professors in 2195, who were still doubtful that Gilead had even existed, since they had
no factual information to prove that Offreds tapes were accurate historical recordingsmuch
less the consideration that Offred herself was an actual person who didnt make up the other
characters of her life. This goes to imply that even in the future, we can very likely continue to
Gileadare discontinued. After all, the purpose of a dystopian novel is to warn readers against
an exaggerated, currently destructive thing, that destroys our modern society. Dominick Grace
has various advances degrees, which include an Honors BA in English and Theatre, as well as a
masters and PhD. concludes that Pieixoto, the man narrating the Historical Notes, reveals how
humans are eager to have the factual information and the concrete evidence of political
occurrences (487). This tendency for humans desiring factual information shows that even in
the face of scientific issues, they can still become political, if the data is not used correctly.
Indeed, Professor Pieixoto still doubts the accuracy of her recordings, rather than focusing on the
social and political tensions of the Gilead era. Even with social media, the news, and all the
information we get today, everything is biased and may not actually be correct, but we still
watches news, regarding the war, with the rest of the women in the household, she questions its
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content, asking who knows if any of it is true? It could be old clips, it could be faked. But I
watch it anyway, hoping to be able to read beneath it. Any news, now, is better than none
(Atwood 82). In this regard, The Handmaids Tale obviously warns against the oppression of
women, and may even resemble the political propaganda that influences our modern world
today. Gorman Beauchamp, a professor who teaches humanities at the University of Michigan
with a PhD, explains that by now a canonical text. . . a work particularly revered by pessimists,
The Handmaids Tale has been widely viewed as a serious commentary on the socio-political
conditions of the day (1). Indeed, The Handmaids Tale is absolutely Margaret Atwoods view
on how political oppression can easily come to rise, and how a humanitarian viewpoint can
examine this process of the making of an authoritarian society. The oppressed women also
parallel historical events where a group of individuals were persecutedthe Jews in the hands of
Hitler. As Stephanie Hammer relates, the grim realities of Offreds actual existence resemble
those of a concentration camp inmate, far more than those of a gothic heroine (41). These
incidents certainly parallel each other, but The Handmaids Tale seems more unrealistic because
the oppression is against half of the population (females), which is unlike the smaller
demographic of the Jewish population in Germany. In fact, when Offred narrates her experience
of remembering her mother participating in the Take Back the Night Marches documentary,
these marches were still common when Atwood began her work on the novel, probably in
1983 (Templin 1), and may even be the source of inspiration for Atwoods novel to demoralize
abortionists and the pro-choice side of the abortion issue. When Offred mentions how she sits
with Wife Serena Joy in the parlor, she explains that possibly shell put a hand on my shoulder,
to steady herself, as if Im a piece of furniture. Shes done it before (Atwood 79). As a further
continuation of abortion issue, we continue to see women themselves being treated as objects
that dont have the same political or social rights as men. This adds to the novels credibility
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because it is able to connect to other similar historical events that have occurred, in the same way
Margaret Atwood spins a contradictory twist on the foundation of the society of the
Republic of Gileadthat women are immensely valued for fertility, and yet these women are
only as helpless as the babies they bear. As the oppression of women (and the lack of resistance,
except Offred) is the base of the plot, readers focus solely on the feminist and marxist literary
perspectives. Women in todays world take it for granted that they have their rights, but The
Handmaids Tale revisits the feeling of women being oppressed. In the novel, women arent
even permitted to go out unless they are in the company of someone, that person being either a
guard or another Handmaid; the Handmaids have to be extremely vigilant in their behavior as
they go anywhere, especially when they are pregnant. Offred goes on walks often with her fellow
Handmaid companion, Ofglen, in the beginning of the novel. When narrating her view on her
walking company, Offred says, her name is Ofglen, and thats all I know about her. She walks
demurely. . . with short little steps like a trained pigs on its hind legs (Atwood 19). As Ofglen
is described, women cant even walk confidently, only walking timidly as they are looked down
upon by the whole society, despite the fact that they are the sole bearers of future offspring of the
Republic of Gilead. However, the power struggle that the women experience goes to even more
extremes, due to the fact that women are split up to face off against each other. Through this
marxist literary perspective, women have even less power since they cant all band together
against the men; in the case that they did all support each other, women could very likely have
had more power and couldve even caused Gilead to collapse earlier. Moreover, the Handmaids
dont even have real names and are only called as of and the name of their Commander
Offreds Commanders name is Fred, so the name Offred is really read as of Fred, which
Atwood purposefully intended to be read in this meaningful way, to show exactly how powerless
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women became under menmere sexually objects that socially, werent accepted as sexually
desirable in public, yet were coveted in secrecy. Offreds name itself literally symbolizes that she
is of Fred, but this name can be also read in a more subtle way; her name can be read as off
red, which symbolizes how Offred doubts the society (because she goes off the mainstream
red color, which is meant solely for the Handmaids) and even foreshadows that Offred will
eventually start to rebel against the society by breaking the taboos of Gilead. For instance, Offred
secretly meets the Commander and plays Scrabble with him, even though these individual
meetings are not allowed because women arent supposed to be sexually desired, but rather
valued only for their child-bearing capability. Aunt Lydia, one of the older women who keeps
the younger Handmaids in check, criticizes how women dressed freely before. Modesty is
invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. . . What you must be, girls, is impenetrable. She called us girls
(Atwood 28). As Aunt Lydia cruelly encouraged, modesty is the only acceptable thing for
Handmaids, and she degrades them by calling them girls. Indeed, women are not considered as
mens equals in the novel, and they are only useful to produce offspring. When Offspring goes
out of the house, she sees a pregnant Handmaid who she had seen in her pre-Gilead lifea
woman who was gang raped, but was ridiculed by other women when Aunt Lydia explained that
it was really the womans fault for appearing in such a way that led her to be rapedand now,
all the other women are envious of her fertility. In fact, at this moment, Offred remembers
hearing about pregnant Handmaids who were stabbed out of pure jealousy by some other
Handmaids. The pregnant womans belly is like a huge fruit. Her hands rest on it as if to defend
it, or as if theyre gathering something from it, warmth and strength (Atwood 26). Atwoods
purpose for including this scene with the pregnant women is to compared her belly to a ripened
fruit, which represents a symbol of fertility. Ironically, even though women are weakened in The
Handmaids Tale because of their ability to give birth to children. Because they have no power
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against men, this child-bearing capacity is a womans way of gaining power and strengthening
themselves more, compared to other Handmaids; simply by giving birth, one Handmaid will
become much more prestigious, and even this sliver of power over the others is precious by each
individual Handmaid. The portrayal of an oppressed women differs vastly from what most
and capable of many things. The majority of readers will definitely not be able to fathom how
their own modern societies can turn into something so destructive and so tyrannical. Offreds
narration reveals the answer to this exact question in the novel: women did not lose their rights
immediately, but rather lost their rights individually, in a slow process, that made it more likely
for these certain political limitations to be taken into effect. If a single political legislation were
to limit the rights of women in a single go, that would never be able to run (whereas smaller
legislation would be more likely to pass, simply because they are on a smaller scale and therefore
less controversial). In the novel, women lose their independence, after first losing their jobs, then
their money, and is then followed by their lack of electronic communication that is unsupervised
by males. Madonne Miner, who has a PhD in English and is the Dean at Weber State University,
explains this process of women losing their freedom. Women depend on men intellectually,
immediately after she learns that all women have lost their jobs and that their credit accounts
have been transferred to their nearest male relatives (Miner 157). This further emphasizes the
fact that The Handmaids Tale is heavy on the feminist perspective, since it revolves around the
struggles of a woman, and it is also heavy on the marxist perspective, which shows how there is
not only a power struggle between men and women, but also amongst the women themselves
this lack of readers being able to look at The Handmaids Tale through several literary
Classic novels inspire other novels in the same genre, but The Handmaids Tale itself was
inspired by other dystopian novels (such as 1984) during Margaret Atwoods early years of
writing the novel and therefore does not contain any groundbreaking content. Miner discusses
how the novel is a dystopian novel, as it is a futuristic novel centered on the tyrannical society of
the Republic of Gilead. Most readings of The Handmaids Tale approach the text, quite rightly,
as a dystopian novel, a cautionary vision of what might happen if certain attitudes are carried to
the extremes (Miner 149). So naturally, the novel does have many aspects of a traditional
dystopian novel. However, Stephanie Hammer points out that unlike most common dystopian
novels, such as 1984, Brave New World, or Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaids Tale lacks. . .
futuristic technological trappings, meaning that its warning isnt based on any type of scientific
women. By lacking one of the critical elements of a dystopian novel, this is the one of the very
few aspects of The Handmaids Tale that contributes to its uniqueness and its own style of
originality. In spite of this, the fact that the more common elements of the novel, especially at the
plot level, shows exactly how strikingly similar it is to other novels of the dystopian genre.
The theme of The Handmaids Tale warns against societal oppression, especially that of
women, but this is reiterated too often, making it too simple for readers to be able to understand
Atwoods important messageall of this not allowing it be in the literary canon. When Offred
walks past the chauffeur Nick into the house, she notices that the tulips along the border are are
redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cup but chalices; thrusting themselves up, to what
end? They are, after all, empty. When they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode
slowly, the petals thrown like shards (Atwood 45). As in every novel, flowers and fruit
symbolize femininity and the birth of children. The red of the tulips parallels to the red dresses of
the Handmaids, which in turn symbolizes period blood as a sign of womanhood. The petals
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thrown out like shards shed light on the fact that women are no longer delicate, fragile creatures
and are instead burdened with the task of becoming impregnated and giving birthrather than
living freely as Offred did in her past life before Gilead was formed. This reinforces the ideology
that women in the Republic of Gilead are solely to produce children for Commanders and
nothing more.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale has an important purposeto reveal that the
consequences of oppression after losing our rights will be the formation of a dystopian world.
The novel does provide implications for our future and has referenced the political oppression of
historical events and provides a story of personal experiences in the midst of a tyrannical
oppression, to show the reader what can potentially happen if we do not take care to insure that
our rights are not infringed upon and urges us to become aware of our surroundingsto not
succumbing to an ignorance that tolerates any kind of unjust behavior, including political and
social oppression of certain demographics. In spite of this, though, The Handmaids Tale is too
simplistic and really only allows readers to focus on two literary perspectives (rather than
several), and is too similar to other dystopian novels, and therefore cannot be considered a
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. Margaret Atwood on What The Handmaids Tale Means in the
Age of Trump. The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Mar. 2017. Accessed 7
Nov. 2017.
Beauchamp, Gorman. The Politics of The Handmaids Tale. Midwest Quarterly, vol.
Subversion. Science Fiction Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, 1998, pp. 481-494. Accessed 17 Oct.
2017.
Hammer, Stephanie Barb. The World as It will Be? Female Satire and the Technology
of Power in The Handmaids Tale. Modern Language Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, 1990, pp.
Miner, Madonne. Trust Me: Reading the Romance Plot in Margaret Atwood's The
Handmaids Tale. Twentieth Century Literature, vol. 37, no. 2, 1991, pp. 148-168.
Templin, Charlotte. Atwoods The Handmaids Tale. Explicator, vol. 49, no. 4, 1991, p