The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
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Book Reviews of The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: Handmaids Tale Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Todd Leveillee
English 12, 2004
The Handmaids Tale
Book Review
After assassinating the President and the members of Congress the Gilead continued to crack down on laws. They took away most of the rights for women, like being able to have property or the ability to hold a job. Knowing this Offred and Luke fled with their daughter and attempted to cross the border into Canada. Stopped there, Offred never saw Luke or their daughter again. From there she would no longer be a person with feelings, just an object of pleasure, and the duty of a handmaid.
The main character Offred meets Luke by having an affair with him. Luke divorces his wife and produces a child with Offred. They are caught trying to flee the country and separated. After being captured she was sent to the Re-education Center or the Red Center. This is where the women would be taught about the routine and duties of becoming a handmaid. When Offred finishes her training she is sent to the Commander's house. Weekly checkups are endured to make sure there are no diseases and after each checkup the handmaids go to the Ceremony. At the Ceremony the Commander reads to everyone from the bible. After this Offred and the Commander's wife, Serena go to the Commander's room. Offred has sex with the Commander while Serena sits up behind her and holds her hands. Offred is told by Nick, the Commander's gardener and chauffeur that the Commander wants to meet with her. They meet and Offred finds out that the Commander just wants to play scrabble with her. Time goes by and Offred has still not become pregnant. Serena wants Offred to have sex with Nick and just say that the baby is the Commander's. Offred and Nick begin to have sex on a regular basis. Offred travels secretly to a club called Jezebel's with the Commander. Serena finds out about this and she says she is going to punish her. Offred is waiting in her room when she sees a black van approaching the house. Nick comes into Offred's room and tells her that it is really Mayday members coming to save her. Mayday is a group that is trying to overthrow the Gilead. Offred leaves with the men and will never see the Commander again. At the close of the novel Offred says, "And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light." Meaning, she does not know where her life will lead her from here.
At the beginning of this novel this book seemed like it was just going to be about a woman that gave herself up for sex and continued to have flashbacks. It turned out to be about a woman that was transformed from a woman to an object fighting for survival. When I say she was transformed from a woman to an object I mean that she cared about life and Luke until she was turned to a handmaid. Since becoming a handmaid her life changes drastically. She now has a set routine of where she stays, what she eats and the tasks she is asked to perform. When Offred begins to develop a relationship with the Commander she is taking a huge risk. If she is caught by anyone, including Serena she could possibly be killed. Knowing this she still continues to go back. She is really in a predicament where she has no choice. If she goes and gets caught she is done for. If she doesn't go and goes against the Commander's request she will be punished. Either way it's a lose, lose situation. As the novel continues it seems like Serena senses that Offred is close with the Commander and tries to get her to sleep with Nick. Offred who has been longing to sleep with Nick abides by Serena's request. I call Offred an object because she has no say in anything she does. She must do as she is told or face the penalty. Just like a real life object she goes wherever she is taken does whatever she is told. This novel really keeps the reader interested because you find yourself always wondering, "What will happen next?"
Book Review: Unimaginitive, Unrealistic...a feast of feminist propaganda
Summary: 1 Stars
I read this book for an English class ('Sex and Gender Issues'). Without hesitation, I can say it is among the worst books I've ever read. The prose is acceptable and fits the novel, but I can scarcely think of a more blantant rip-off than The Handmaid's Tale. Without improvising the anti-Utopian genre, this book cheaply copies 1984, Brave New World, and We. Handmaid's Tale fails miserably fails to approach the realism and totality of those works; while satire is not necessarily intended to be realistic, this book is not really satirical.Why is that so? Atwood wrote this book as some kind of reaction to the US' slight movement Right in the early 1980s. She does not, however, understand American political realities; it's almost painful to imagine what she was thinking as she penned the novel. The shift of the Republican Party away from Ford's centrism was not rooted in a religious revival- in fact, it was quite the opposite. While Southern religious Conservatives emerged full force in 1980, Barry Goldwater set the table much earlier (particularly his 1964 Presidential bid). Goldwater was actually pro-choice, and never associated with the religious Right. Likewise, Reagan was not fundamentally driven by a sense of moral duty.
Inevitably, Atwood's political ignorance results in a hackneyed and utterly unbelievable setting. I even laughed at certain elements of her 'Republic of Gilead.' Discussing the book's fantastic elements is almost difficult, despite being obvious. A bizarre group somehow gets the military to pledge it's loyalty (which is, of course, ridiculous). Worse, Congress is "machine gunned..." by the Army and the President is assasinated. US soldiers are trained to disobey illegal orders, and that is exactly what would happen- not that an entire bureaucracy like the US military could be easily turned against the country, anyway. Oh, and Catholics are persecuted by this regime; I suppose the fact that the military is over 1/3 Catholic posed little challenge to the "Commanders."
Red is an appropriate motif of the novel- because that's what color Atwood's politics boil down to. She (imagine fingernails scratching a chalkboard) heaps racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism etc ad nauseum into her Leftist field day. Her essential claim is that the end of Conservatism is a 100% Patriarchal, White society of zero tolerance and zero love (and zero freedom). Atwood's understanding of organized religion is also called into question here, as the RoG is some kind of new Christian Sect (at one point, the book reveals them to be in conflict with Baptists). Consider for yourself: a random new religion appears, it's leaders take over the country, and Harvard is the HQ of their Secret Police. Yeah, right...
If you need to read a book about Gender, "The Garden of Eden" by Hemingway is quite good. If you need to read about anti-Utopias, the three novels I listed previously are all very powerful. This book is not a significant work in either sense. Time has revealed its silly urgency to be unfounded. It serves as part complaint, part scare tactic, and part political statement; perhaps feminists enjoy it for precisely those reasons, but preaching to the choir is not the mark of a good novel. The praise this book has garnered is downright weird... I think it speaks to a paranoia with regard to religious people (among leftists, especially feminists), and a more subtle hatred of people that "oppress" women. Serene Joy mocks the notion of religious women...the epilogue essentially describes a better world that is free of White people (and perhaps Christians). Thinking about it, I do not recall a more offensive and ludicrous book from my experience, though they surely must exist...
Book Review: disturbingly fascinating
Summary: 4 Stars
This futuristic dystopian tale stems directly from the imagination of Margaret Atwood, as it hits on absurdities which have not yet been witnessed in this world. It takes Rachel Carson's theories of the effects of mass pollution to a whole other level as women everywhere become sterile, all except a few who are turned into "handmaids." Handmaids are fertile women who have been assigned to various high rank couples. The job of handmaids is one thing and one thing only: to get impregnated with the Commander's child, which she will have to give up later on. Consequently, women in general are stripped of their rights. This is especially evident when the first action the new oppressive government takes is to cancel the bank accounts of all women, rendering them as the property of men. In a world controlled by a few aristocratic men, the women are made to turn against each other to fight for their own survival. Wives willingly exercise their power over the handmaids and even Marthas have initiative over the handmaids. Or at least that is that the men intend. However, many females have formed secret relationships and connections, ones that help them to get through the ordeal mentally. Since their bodies are now considered objects of possession, their only escape is inward into their own minds, where they can concoct possibilities and keep their hopes alive. Essentially, those beaten to the point of submission are forced into a state of numbness, in which they learn to not feel and keep living through it.
The story, told through the character of Offred, tends to be confusing at times as the plot is narrated in a jumbled and chaotic manner that mirrors the feelings of the narrator. Readers must be ready to actively read and connect certain details with others in order to reach a more unified plot. The underlying connections in the book can only be reached when one is willing to dive headfirst into the novel and sympathize with Offred. The fact that the made-up world is one in which none of us have encountered makes the story much more unpredictable and surprising. The beginning was almost unbearable for me as a struggled to understand what was going on. Despite the initial blandness, the book gradually warms up until it cuts off in an abrupt ending. Offred's simple language demonstrates a very personal and casual tone, which is reasonable enough since these are her thoughts that have been kept inside of her for so long. She longs for an outlet in which to exercise her power of expression. As one will soon realize, The Handmaid's Tale capitalizes on the individual's freedom of expression and how the presence of inner hope can sustain a person a long way. Don't be mistaken though, Offred is by no means an active and dynamic character. Her passivity and inability to live up to the characteristics of everyone's "ideal main character" gets more than annoying sometimes. All she ever does is dream of escape, but never does she take a step toward actual liberty. Offred is at a point where she views coping and endurance as her only hope. Regardless, she does elicit struggle and desperation, both common qualities of the regular human being.
The Handmaid's Tale serves as a possible harbinger of what may occur in the near future. It opens us to the great many possibilities and downfalls that humans are still prone to. It emphasizes human's natural instinct for survival and human's natural instinct to indulge until there is no more and to indulge even when times are tough. To read it is to question whether humans have really reached a state of superiority over other animals. Have we really come that far? What prevents us from falling backwards?
Book Review: Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Handmaid's Tale / 0-385-49081-X
This dystopia masterpiece, set in a modern world that rings eerily familiar years after the publication date, describes the daily life and desperation of a woman caught up in a social struggle that she cannot influence.
A state of emergency has been declared, the national borders have clamped closed, and martial law rules a country that had previously been open, democratic, and free. Who is the enemy? That isn't always clear. A religious group, perhaps, or terrorists, but maybe the government is lying about the war, who they are fighting, and how it is going. Like the narrator, a prisoner in the country she once loved, we only she what she is allowed to see. In this time of despair, terror, and lower fertility caused by toxic chemicals in the water and air, the majority of citizens are willing to give up their rights in exchange for a fleeting feeling of security and protection.
When the state of emergency is declared, a fundamentalist Christian-based sect of the government takes over, using Biblical passages wildly out of context to justify denying basic rights of citizenship to women. Women are no longer allowed to work, hold property, carry money, or read and write. The men - husbands, fathers, and brothers - are given the women's former belongings and are charged with their safety. The new "work" for women is bearing children, or (for older, infertile, upper-class women) being submissive wives. Divorce is retroactively criminalized, and women in second-marriages are rounded up as criminals and put to work as private sex slaves and baby-incubators, making heirs for the privileged and politically connected. This is the story of one of these women. She tells of her loss of freedom, her sorrow at her husband's death, the pain at having her daughter torn away from her, and the slow mental decay as she sleepwalks through her new life - the endless waiting for nightfall, the humiliation of her "work" in trying to conceive a child.
The story is a work of art, and a masterpiece. The pacing is slow, leisurely, and even. We are gently and carefully walked through the life of a handmaid, we see the horrors and pain, and - like our heroine - we are numbed by it. Shocked, saddened, and pained, yes, but mostly numbed. We see the signs outside the grocery stores with simple pictures only, because reading is illegal for women. We see the slow crawl of days, stripped of freedom, monitored even while she is bathing, lest she attempt suicide. We see the other women, the ones who have accepted their fate and have come to adore their captors and the ones who have rebelled, fought back, and lost their lives dying trying to reclaim what was once there own.
Even the epilogue, which Atwood has attached without a word of explanation, is a dash of sharp irony. Against all hope, the diary which we have been reading, written by this abused woman, has been found by later historians. These wise and 'modern' men are entranced by the diary, but not because they care about the horrors this woman has lived through. No, they are not here to 'judge' history, they only want to read her innermost thoughts, open her up, place her in history, date her and sign her and then delegate her to a nice shelf somewhere to quietly rot. Even in death, our lost lady has no name, no identity, no worth in herself, not because she is unimportant, but because the people who have power over her cannot appreciate her worth. Their priorities are wrong, and they can only consume others, without contributing anything worthwhile to society.
~ Ana Mardoll
Book Review: Plain good literature
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read "The Handmaid's Tale" a number of times, both in English original and in Croatian translation (a pretty good one). First time I read it, it was because I have found it in a library of a Women's Study Centre in Zagreb, Croatia, so I expected it to be "feminist literature", and was therefore a bit cautious about it, thinking it would be some kind of pamphlet for women's liberation. Of course, I did not know anything about Margaret Atwood back then. First thing this book taught me is that M. Atwood is, above all, a great author, and that "The Handmaid's Tale" is a piece of plain good literature.The somewhat circular narrative centres around and is being told from the perspective of Offred, a woman living in Republic of Gilead, the dystopian, future theocracy established on the teritory of today's United States of America. Gilead's government is organized by a group of very specific religious fanatics, basing their theology on a couple of chapters from the Old Testament, specifically the story about Sarah, Abraham's wife, who could not bear children, and therefore had given Abraham her handmaid, Hagar, to concieve children with her. Also written in that chapter is God's command to Hagar to completely submit to her mistress, and Abraham's observation that Sarah is to do whatever she pleases with her handmaid.
That is the point from which the treatment of handmaids is derived in the Republic of Gilead. As the increasingly polluted land caused infertility withing majority of women, the fertile ones, especially those who have been either married to divorced men (theocracy of Gilead does not recognize divorce), or single, but not virgins, are taken as "handmaids" to be awarded to high ranking families without children.
Offred has been given to the family of The Commander, one of the highest ranking officials of Gilead, married to Serena Joy, a bitter and slightly desillusioned fanatic. Her narrative focuses on describing daily routines in their household, her experiences and her memories of a past, normal life, with a husband and a daughter.
Apart from political description of Gilead's ideology (which is given masterfully, without unneccessary and boring descriptions, yet with frightening details), the main value of this book lies in Offred's introspection. She is a person completely determined by her biological function as a woman and a child-bearer, completely deprived of any other individual merrits or rights. The way Offred deals with that is beautifully portrayed; sometimes in a flow that resembles free-association ("It's strange now, to think about having a job. Job. It's a funny word. It's a job for a man. Do a jobbie, they'd say to children, when they were being toilet-trained. Or of dogs: he did a job on the carpet...The Book of Job."), sometimes completely ripped-off of any emotions, yet almost physically hurtful with recognition and fear of it possibly coming true.
Granted, Margaret Atwood did write about a woman deprived of her rights in a male-dominated world here, but I don't believe it is a feminist pamphlet. It's a book about human condition, as any other good book; talking about what people are capable of doing, good or bad.
Another note. This, of course, is a speculative fiction, a dystopian one, like Huxley's "Brave New World" or Orwell's "1984". However, I have heard many people say that this one is the least probable one in terms of ever becoming a reality, and therefore fruitless in its message. To these people, I would recommend reading some news from Afghanistan, since Talibans took over.