The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

[Omphalos]

The Handmaid's Tale is a chilling look at the horror that results when sexuality and democracy are repressed, and history and religious dogma are reinterpreted to aid in consolidation of authority. Interestingly Atwood stayed away from big-picture issues, and instead concentrated on the life of one woman whose true name is never given. She is referred to only as "Offred," as a possessive form of Fred, a military commander who is basically her owner. Several hundred years in the future a nation called Gilead has come to power in the east coast of the United States. Those who run Gilead are never seen, but it seems that they are Christian literalists who use scripture and bastardized lessons of the bible to control the citizens. As expected the society is heavily ritualized even though things like reading and writing have been practically eliminated. The primary means of control include sexual conditioning and indoctrination. Young women have all been rounded up and put into centers called "Rachel and Leah" centers where they were indoctrinated into their new lives as handmaids. Take a look at Genesis 30:1-3 for an idea about the beginnings of this story...Please click here, or on the book cover above, to be taken to the complete review..

 

[dustinzgirl]

This is probably one of the best 'future history' type of books ever written. It takes modern society, mixes in some ancient religious traditions (Judaism, Islam), and is filled with symbolism in both speech (you'll have to read carefully to understand that) and objects (esp. clothing and color). If you haven't had a chance to read this book, you should. It might be a little rough for younger generations. I first read this when I was about 12 or so, and didn't really understand it. Later, when the movie came out on television (not when it was first released) I was slightly older and had a much better understanding.

It's a literary treat, at least I think so, and while the 'chilling horror' is a large part of the tale, its not really the important part. There's a lot more to take away from this book, IMO, its a lot like 1984--yeah its got torture and death and scary guys, but its also more pointed towards the values and morals that people accept to define their society, even knowing they are wrong--which forces one to question do they really know this is wrong, or do they just accept it as part of their values and morals? We can say that we feel the actions of the book, the plot, are inherently immoral and lack values of normal society, but what about people from the Old Testament times (which this book has a lot of correlation towards), they would probably not think that this was immoral.

This books takes the tradition of a servant carrying a child for the masters dates way back to Genesis (which is the foundation for the whole book) and was often prompted by the wife (which is what occurs in this book) and discusses it from the perspective of totalitarianism, absence of choice, and a society that is misogynist in nature but also certain women have a lot of power (the general's wife, for example; and the "teachers").