The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
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Book Reviews of The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: A Unique Perspective
Summary: 5 Stars
The Handmaid's Tale is Margaret Atwood's profound insight into the dystopian society that may exist if we as a people continue with our traditions of the oppression of women. Yes, the phrase "oppression of women" connotes the notion that women in our society are beaten and abused, but our society's discreet methods of repressing women give off a similar psychological effect. While society has progressed along in that women are now allowed to vote and run for political office, it has taken much too long for our mainly male-dominated society to consider females an equal gender (Where are our female presidents?). Atwood's depiction of a dystopian civilization is a perceptive look at what the world would be like if we continue to suppress women and their rights.
Eloquently written through a handmaid's observant point of view, The Handmaid's Tale presents novel ideas that present messages which could easily translate into today's society. While we may not realize it, we as a people take many of a woman's roles in life for granted. It is the woman who normally takes on her husband's surname in matrimony, but it is hardly ever the other way around. In Atwood's proposed civilization of Gilead, the matrimonial nomenclature takes on a whole new meaning. The protagonist Offred is a handmaid to her household, promised to her commander. She is "of" Fred, so to speak, and the rest of the women bear similar names- Ofglen, Ofwayne, Ofwarren, and so on. In a feminist argument, Atwood brilliantly challenges the concept of women taking on their husband's family names, as the women lose their identities in the process, marking complete submission to their male spouses. Women who are with child are envied in Gilead and those who are barren are degraded. That women must endure the hardships of labor while their spouses stand by and watch is an element of life that many underestimate. It is these minor details that truly exemplify Atwood's intellect in fabricating her dystopian society, making extremities of such small measures that we normally take for granted.
As a male, the book truly opens my eyes as it gives an alternate perspective of life if women were truly subjected to such measures. Despite the fact that the conditions present in The Handmaid's Tale could be considered by many to be outlandish to today's society, Atwood's message should be taken into deep consideration. Atwood creates a hypothetical world where America, rather than progressing forward, backtracks and resorts to its traditional gender roles where woman are kept for the sole purpose of bearing child. My appreciation for women has certainly been increased, as the book emphasizes the importance of women's rights today and how dire it is for these rights to be maintained, as society can easily, as The Handmaid's Tale shows, return to an antediluvian culture of male dominion. Through the portrayal of an anti-utopian society, Atwood conveys what may seem as imminent threats to society.
Book Review: A life of sex while hanging on to hope
Summary: 4 Stars
The Republic of Gilead is a place where no woman would want to be summoned for it is a place where certain women, called Handmaids, are used as sex slaves. A woman given the name Offred explains her life as being a Handmaid and how she once had the life as a wife and mother. Now she can only think of her past and appreciate what she once had and hope one day that she will regain some of it back. Offred continues to explain through out the book how she was forced to live with a man, known as the Commander of the household, and his wife to be used solemnly for her ability to give birth. As interesting as the life Offred is now living, she surprisingly slowly shares information of her past and how everything came to be. As the book prospers, you can't help to want to know the future of Offred and her past. As things become unbearable in the Republic of Gilead, it is as if you also seem to slowly lose hope of ever gaining change. The best part is not quite really understanding what is happening in the novel, yet wanting to understand.
I believe The Handmaid's Tale was fantastic. I liked how the author only allowed Offred to tell certain parts of her past at random moments. Because I am a woman and the fact that Handmaids were being used for there abilities to give birth made me want to find out if Offred would escape from her, so called, destiny. Knowing that Offred wondered what had happened to her mother, Luke, daughter, and sometimes Moira, also made you curious on what had happened to them. There were moments through out the book that would make you think there was hope on yet escaping but then around the corner was just the opposite. As the reader, I just wanted to know what would come of Offred. For example, there was a time where you thought maybe the Commander, of the household Offred was sleeping in, would be Offred's ticket home. Then there are many women of Gilead who, like Offred, are against what has happened which could possibly lead to an escape. Of course there was the possibility of Offred becoming pregnant. The Republic of Gilead amazes me from the arranged marriages to the hangings in town. The Republic of Gilead is an awful place as described by a woman given the name Offred. However, just as Offred's new life in Gilead prospers so does her outlook on life and her heart and mind is swarmed with mixed feelings and soon yours are too.
If you have an interest in novels that are based on the feelings and emotions of one certain character, you will enjoy The Handmaids Tale. I definitely recommend that people read this novel because it keeps your interest and it makes you think differently about life. After I had read The Handmaids I appreciated my life more. The Handmaids Tale has excitement, mystery, unhappiness, paranoia and even romance. If you want to experience the life a woman who has lost her past and now must live a life of sex, pain, love, and hope you should read The Handmaids Tale.
Book Review: A Hint of Red
Summary: 5 Stars
Sometimes, its not what you say, but how you say it. Story lines and plots are constantly recycled, but what sets them apart is how the author takes the idea and journey and makes it his/her own. Thus, Handmaid's Tale should not be taken for granted over Orwell's 1984. Atwood is too proud of a woman to let such raw energy slip past her fingers and she has proven to be quite a versatile writer by producing a surplus of immaculate novels. To me, the protagonist, Offred, is a timeless character - a submissive woman, who is so secretly rebellious, that she doesn't even realize it herself until half-way through the novel. Atwood puts Offred in the beginning years of the Republic of Gilead (formerly the United States), in which religion has taken over as an oppressive totalitarian government. It is an age of decline births, as few women and men are left fertile. Women's stations in the society have been reduced to roles that would make the medieval wives cringe in fear. A commander of a household would possess several women: his wife (the abstinent head of household), his Marthas (sterile women who act as servants and workers) and his Handmaids (the women designated for procreation purposes). Offred, acts as our tour guide through this horrific world, while carrying the burden of her lost liberties and her separation from her husband and daughter.
Through grace and tortured language, Atwood gives us a sociology lessen about a world that could possibly become our reality. Readers cannot help but be spellbound by the unique voice of Offred, who must adapt to a world where women are not allowed to read and are no longer allotted any simplistic comforts, such as make-up, photo albums and the freedom to speak and think openly. This book grabs you from the first page and the reader must succumb to the feeling of hopelessness that is embedded in almost every figure of society.
I think that's why I kept reading though - there is a chance for change and hope. All of the characters, no matter what their position in the caste system, seem to hate the society. Special moments, such as the commander inviting Offred to play scrabble with him. The gesture seems like a modest act of sympathy from a man who seems to resent his own superiority. Every character is worth exploring until Offred makes her own decisions to involve herself with a man who could either be a member of the rebel resistance movement or the secret police.
The Handmaids Tale has the storytelling quality of Anne Rice and the literary qualities and social criticism that one would expect to find from an Adrian Rich collection. I won't lie, this story is an epic journey and has been told before by other writers, set in different worlds with different voices. But I have yet been able to find one that touches every emotion the way that Atwood does. Good stories should always be treasured, but the one's that make you think are true gems.
Book Review: Handmaids Tale
Summary: 3 Stars
I found The Handmaid's Tale was a type of warning sign of what a society with few limitations on what a person could do. And this shows what could happen to a society if something drastic happened and the government had to take complete control of everybody. And the religious leaders take over and tell everybody what to do. And people who weren't their religion. People who didn't convert were hung such as the Jews and they were hung on a wall with a label on them for everyone to see and the label was to tell what they did. Homosexual acts were also forbidden and you could be hung for that also.
In the future the woman tried to fight back against this government because they have taken everything she has ever owned from her. Her job, husband, money, daughter, life were all taken away from her. Everything material was taken away from her she wasn't allowed to keep anything personal. They even took her name away a she has been given the name Offred. This hasn't only happened to her it's happened to all the other women. The U.S. is no longer it is called Gilead. The new place was the government runs everything that you do. Offred keeps having flashbacks of life before the big change. Part of her memory has been erased so she doesn't know what happened to her husband Luke or her daughter. In this New World she searches for another man and seeks for their love. In this time women are used as sex objects and their told that's all there good for so finding a man to love is hard and its not something your allowed to do.
I recommend this book to any person who wonders of how the future could end up and is scared of what could happen. This is a good example of how lucky we are to live in a society that we live in now. And in the book they take everything for granted. Once they turn into the Gilead they realize how lucky they were and they wish they took advantage of what they had when they had it. This book is also for a person who gets really into the book and doesn't put it down. You need to constantly be paying attention or you will become completely confused and won't know what's going on. This is not the happiest books but it will make your mind think. This is a good book for women to read because they will get into it and what's happening to the women in the story they will find unbelievable and how could something like this ever happen. Reading this book would insure them like something like this would never happen. The book is sometimes a little sketchy and they go back an forth a lot it can get a little confusing at times. The mystery of the book and the ending makes the people seem very real and they way the author makes them act is very realistic she doesn't leave anything out and tells you exactly what is going on in their mind. Other than that I liked the book and I don't read many books. It keeps me wondering and I had to pay attention very closely while I was reading it.
Book Review: Intriguing, but Unlikely
Summary: 3 Stars
As a female conservative, I approached this book with a great deal of trepidation, knowing of its reputation as a parable for the left. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing and story-telling (and for this I give it three stars) but the overall quality of the novel is marred by the blatantly circumscribed view of Christianity presented in the book as well as the lack of her distopia's relation to reality. One of the most important tenets of Christian Doctrine is to respect the individual, and for Atwood to portray the supposedly Christian society of Gilead as having zero respect for individual rights and to be all-concerned with status and dominance does not ring true in the slightest.Several of the other reviewers argue that Atwood's vision is not at all farfetched because of the state of women in Islamic countries. Exactly! I had the same thought in the back of my head the whole time I was reading this book. It is so-called Islamic countries in the Middle East and not Western nations where women are limited to lives as wives and mothers and where the sanctity of the individual is not respected. Had Atwood set her novel in present-day Iran or Iraq, it would ring true in a way that setting it in near-future-day America does not. We have a centuries-old tradition of respecting individual rights in America. Atwood's suggestion that we are on the brink of negating centuries of human progress in the way we view individual rights, in the one place in the world (the West, that is) where they are consistently respected, stinks of feminist fearmongering. And her constant harping on abortion "rights" gets really old, especially when contrasted with actual evils--rape, slavery, torture--perpetrated on the "handmaids" in her novel.
Ultimately, when we're judging the value and insight of a distopian novel such as this one, we need to look at how relevant the story is for the society it claims to portray. I think Brave New World is a wonderful book because despite being written over 50 years ago, it was accurately able to pinpoint troubling aspects of our society, that have grown more troubling in the ensuing years--our materialism, hedonism, lack of respect for life, failure to create lasting relationships, etc. The Handmaid's Tale fails to fulfill this crucial function. Atwood may think that by pinpointing, say, opposition to abortion rights as a "problem" in America, she's right in positing that the Republic of Gilead is our next logical step as a society. But by taking that philosophical leap, she's entirely glossing over the message of her opposition (those who want to protect the unborn) whose message has nothing to do with enslaving women, and everything to do with respecting human dignity. I recommend this book to those on the right, if only to gain some insight into the lefty feminist mindset, and because the story is compelling, if entirely misplaced in historical context.