The Handmaid’s Tale Review
What does a book expert think: Get a comprehensive overview of the reception and review of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Article written by Emma Baldwin
B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is set in the Republic of Gilead after a military coup has destroyed the United States government and put in its place a totalitarian theocracy. The protagonist, Offred, is one of many still-fertile women who have been captured by the military and forced into sexual slavery. Offred is a Handmaid whose only purpose in Gilead is to have children for a wealthy, elite couple. Offred tells the story of her life in The Handmaid’s Tale, speaking brutally of what the world has become, her desire to find her daughter again, and somehow achieve freedom.
Key Facts about The Handmaid’s Tale
- Title: The Handmaid’s Tale
- When/where written: Early 1980s in West Berlin, British Columbia, and Alabama
- Published: 1985
- Literary Period: Feminist
- Genre: Dystopian / Speculative Fiction
- Point-of-View: First-person limited
- Setting: Massachusetts, the Republic of Gilead (in what used to be the United States).
- Climax: The final scene of the novel when Offred is either taken to her death or rescued
- Antagonist: The Republic of Gilead
Margaret Atwood and The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is undeniably Atwood’s most famous novel. It is one of many that she has written, and far from the only dystopian novel, in her lifetime. When asked to speak about the process of writing about Offred, Gilead, the Aunts, Marthas, and more, she cited her research on 17th-century Ameican Puritans who used to Bible to create a similar type of theocracy based around a selective reading of the Bible. But, the novel was not only based in the past. As any reader will notice, and Atwood has herself said, the novel is standing firmly in the present moment. Atwood studied Victorian literature at Radcliffe College and has referenced that period in her life as an influence on how her novels are written. She explained that the Victorian period taught her that novels should not focus on one person but on society, something one could certainly say about The Handmaid’s Tale.
Books Related to The Handmaid’s Tale
Lovers of literature will immediately recognize a reference of another famous literary work in the title, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. There are many differences between Chaucer’s work and Atwood’s, but they are both concerned with storytelling and revealing the strange, often hypocritical, lives that religious people lead.
Most obviously, The Handmaid’s Tale is tied to fellow dystopian novels such as 1984 and A Clockwork Orange. The worlds of these novels, as well as others like We and Brave New World, seem impossible when one first encounters them but are in truth disturbingly possible and incredibly frightening.
More recently, the novel should be considered alongside books such as The Power by Naomi Alderman and Future Home of the Living God by Louis Erdrich. Both of these novels have women at the center of their plots and detail some event that overthrow’s everyone’s perceptions of society.
The Lasting Impact of The Handmaid’s Tale
Although The Handmaid’s Tale has never been out of print since it was first published in 1985, the novel has had a resurgence in popularity over the last several years. Its rise in fame comes alongside a growing backlash against the 2016 election in the United States and the election of leaders with fascist leanings around the world. The book has recently been made into an incredibly popular television series, exposing more people than ever to Offred’s story.
Those who keep an eye on the news may also have noticed women dressing up like Handmaids in the United States, and around the world, in order to protest against gender restrictive policies.
The novel has itself inspired a new generation of speculative and dystopian fiction as more and more writers to find themselves wondering what the future of the United States is going to be.
The Handmaid’s Tale Themes and Analysis
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The Handmaid’s Tale Historical Context
Setting the scene for The Handmaid’s Tale: Understand the time and place that inspired its creation and relevance.
The Handmaid’s Tale Quotes
The words that resonate: Find memorable quotes from The Handmaid’s Tale that capture its essence of the book.
The Handmaid’s Tale Character List
Get to know the characters: Understand the characters in The Handmaid’s Tale.
The Handmaid’s Tale Summary
The Handmaid’s Tale in a nutshell: A quick overview of the essential plot points, characters, and ideas.
About Emma Baldwin
B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.