The Handmaid’s Tale

Contemporary social satire

In the 19th century, Charles Dickens dramatised a variety of social evils in adventure-filled novels, which alerted British society to a range of issues on which action was later taken.

In a series of novels which have drawn on elements of late 20th / early 21st century culture, the Canadian author, Margaret Atwood, has achieved a similar, chilling ‘wake up call’. Some fiction writers create idealised societies (utopias). In contrast, Atwood’s fables are dystopias, worlds whose horrific elements are shown to be only a step away from behaviours already seen in the world around us.

> Oryx and Crake (2003) deals with genetic engineering, the power of the internet and desensitising pornography

>Aspects of this story are amplified in The Year of the Flood (2009)

> Published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale is less about science and technology than the impact of totalitarianism, religious fundamentalism and the repression of women.

A human story

As with Dickens, simply to list the issues Atwood deals with misses the heart of her novel. Her Tale is an engaging story about one woman’s desire to live as a fully recognised individual in an era when that is a dangerous quest. Atwood draws the reader in to the internal world of Offred (whose original name is possibly June), which is full of passion and sensuous appreciation, in contrast to an external environment which recognises neither.

It is a story full of unresolved tension and Atwood’s narrative methods keep the reader having to interpret, then re-interpret events, just as Offred must. This can be a dislocating experience for readers, particularly at the novel’s end, so it is handy that there is a new Crossref-it.info study guide to help students get to grips with the text.

The impact of the title

With the novel’s title, Atwood is trying to show how the impact of an entire society is refracted through the experience of one, almost anonymous, voice. In this she consciously echoes the medieval works of Geoffrey Chaucer, who tried to depict different aspects of his era through a series of individualised narratives, such as The Wife of Bath’s Tale.

Both are great, thought provoking stories. Enjoy!