The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, is a futuristic novel told from a point of view of a Handmaid called Offred. In this world fertility is not common among women, therefore Handmaids are assigned to the wives who cannot have children. Offred is a Handmaid, and although there are strict rules in this society, she breaks many of them. She begins to meet with her Commander to play scrabble with him, and eventually they go to a club and have sex. She also begins meeting with one of the Guardians of the house, Nick, in a sexual way. Throughout this book, Offred is telling the reader her back story as well. Although I enjoyed reading this book, I often felt very disturbed by the strictness of this society. I was also shocked with the Handmaid’s role in this society. By the end of the book I found myself wanting more, because I did not realize there was a second book.
This story was very interesting to read, and while reading it I couldn’t help but think, ‘what if this were to actually happen to our world?’. With this in mind, the strictness of this society was extremely disturbing. One of the most disturbing aspects of this new society was the wall, which is described here, “We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn’t matter if we look. We’re supposed to look this is what they are there for, hanging on the Wall. Sometimes they’ll be there for days, until there’s a new batch, so as many people as possible will have a chance to see them” (32). For me, what makes this so disturbing was not just the fact that people get hung here on a regular basis, but that they remain hanging on the wall for people to see. This act is the government using fear to keep the people loyal. The people are “supposed” to look at the bodies, so that they know what would happen to them if they were to break the rules. This is a terrifying and disturbing concept read while imagining if this were to happen to our society.
The most shocking aspect of this story for me was the role of the Handmaids in this society, along with how detailed Atwood is about their role. An extremely hard scene to read was the ceremony; in particular the sex scene told from Offred’s point of view, “My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body… This is not recreation, even for the Commander. This is serious business. The Commander, too, is doing his duty” (94-95). What made this scene so shocking to read was Atwood’s use of harsh language, like “fucking”. This added a harshness that made the scene more difficult to read, and almost cringy. This role that Offred has been placed into, seems to dehumanize her, and now she is just an object used to create children. This was the most shocking and harsh aspect of this book for me.
The whole time reading this story I was coming up with different possible ways for it to end, because I thought there was no sequel to it. This is why I was so shocked by the ending. The ending did not tie anything up, instead it created more questions. Although there are more questions to be answered, the ending excited me because it seemed to end with a lot of hope for Offred. The lines that make me feel hopeful for Offred are, “Whether this is my end, or a new beginning I have no way of knowing: I have given myself over into the hands of strangers, because it can’t be helped. And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light” (295). Before I realized there was a sequel, this ending really upset me because it meant the reader would never know what happened to Offred. But now this ending is exciting because there is a chance that she is going to be brought to a better place, with Mayday. This leaves me very anxious to read the next book of this series.
Although this story was over all disturbing and terrifying, I really enjoyed reading it. The plot was complex and interesting to read. The society within the story was disturbing, but also extremely interesting. And even though the Handmaid’s role in the society is terrible Atwood did a good job of using harsh language in order to make the reader see how terrible it is for them. All together I really liked this story and am super excited to see what will happen next in the sequel.
Work Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. 1956. Edited by First Anchor Books,19
These two pictures I found on pinterest. I chose these pictures because they are different depictions on the Wall. The first photo is very bright, which I find interesting, given what the Wall is. The second picture is darker, and more what I imagine when I think of the Wall.