Follow us on Twitter!The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
![[del.icio.us]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Mixx]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/mixx.png)
![[Reddit]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Twitter]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://oedb.org/learning-by-the-book/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
January 13th, 2012
What makes The Handmaid's Tale such an eerie read is how timely it seems despite its 1985 publication date. Better Book Titles perfectly (not to mention hilariously) summed up the book's contemporary relevance here, and part of me feels like all I need to do is just drop a link to it and let that speak for me. However, OEDB.org isn't paying me to just drop links and run, so I actually have to publish something of substance. My mortgage isn't going to take care of itself, no matter how many puny humans I drop into the depths of R'lyeh.
Narrated by Offred, the titular handmaid, the story reflects the dystopian aftermath of a violent coup by Christian extremists known as the Sons of Jacob. Following their gunning down of the President and Congress, they establish the Republic of Gilead, ripping money and property from the women, denying them education, and making it illegal for them to read. Feminists and others deemed to wild and radical wind up banished to toxic colonies or a hedonistic brothel meant to break their spirits. More obedient types choose between working as house servants or handmaids. Like the central character, whose name comes directly from the man who now owns her, the handmaids must serve as surrogate mothers for politician's wives. They must experience clinical, ritualized sex monthly with the hopes of conceiving at a time when birth rates have all but completely collapsed. Because, of course, making babies is more or less exactly the only reason why women exist in the first place.
As an added nugget of nausea fuel, Offred remembers the freedom she enjoyed with her husband and daughter before everything went straight to hell. With fundamentalism and extremism a continuous issue around the world, The Handmaid's Tale will always, tragically, remain relevant. However – in the same vein as most great literature – at least one component remains rooted in the time of publication. In a brilliant little bit of faking out, flashbacks to Offred's mother see her torching pornography in the park. In the beginning, Atwood hints that perhaps she participated in the Sons of Jacob uprising as well. Over time, it comes to light that she actually lived as a leftover from the previous decade's feminist movement. In an attempt to eradicate all things pornographic, Offred's mom teams up with the fundamentalist Christians…who wind up completely undermining all her efforts once they assassinate all members of the American government.
Chilling, to say the least, though relevant to the theme of hypocrisy. As thoroughly shocking as the book may be to contemporary audiences, its explicit social commentary earns a laudable spot in literature and sociology classrooms alike.
Especially THAT ENDING. As much as I want to go all English major up in here and dissect, dissect, dissect for FIVE MILLION PAGES, I can't. Mostly because anything and everything I say will veer off into major spoiler territory. Granted, to ruin the conclusion of a book published in the same year I was born might be like revealing that Rosebud was TOTALLY CHARLES FOSTER KANE'S SLED, YOU GUYS. But I'm a nice, nice girl and I love you and I won't. All I'll say beyond how I damn near keeled over after it is how deftly, subtly it peels back the institutionalized misogyny that allowed the Sons of Jacob to succeed and reveals how even more equitable societies still casually dismiss the remaining smudges. As long as the little societal granules stick around, women run the risk of falling prey to even more squelching marginalization once again.
Bibliographic Information
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York, NY: Anchor, 1986.
If you have any suggestions for future book reviews, feel free to contact me at mnudo (at) oedb (dot) org! I'm emphasizing reads about education, so try to stick with those particular themes. Thanks!
