The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a feminist dystopian fiction novel written in the 1980's by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. Thirty years after publication, the novel has captured the zeitgeist and inspired many female writers to take up dystopian feminist fiction, inspiring a new breed of science fiction writers. There's tons of nytimes articles about this sort of stuff. I can see how influential Atwood has been on the genre.

The Handmaid's Tale is told from the first person, from a woman called Offred. It takes place in a near future New England (2005), where women's rights have been taken away, and government has been replaced by a totalitarian state called The Republic of Gilead, resembling a theonomy (theo-god, nomos-law), basically a Divine Christian law. Most of the novel takes place at night and during the day when Offred is out with other handmaids running errands around town as well as the descriptions of other handmaids from Offred's point of view.

These Handmaids bear children for women called Wives, who take care of the kids. There are male Commanders that rape these so-called Handmaids in an attempt to impregnate them. In this world women are commonly infertile so a woman with healthy reproductive organs are usually the Handmaids. Although initially the Commander's relationship with Offred was supposed to be strictly limited to an initiation ceremony, a ritual of rape with the Wife in attendance, she ends up hanging out with the Commander and seeing him regularly, enjoying sex with him despite the rape ritual.

The Commander plays Scrabble with her in his study, something scandalous because women aren't allowed to read and write. In addition, the Commander takes Offred to a brothel, where she meets her college best friend Moira, and is told that these women are yes, prostitutes, but that they get drugs and alcohol as well, and that this is better than being a government rebel, ending up cleaning radioactive waste in the colonies. However, Moira says that its frowned upon to reject any man. So there's a strong sense of control over prostitutes as well.

Through another handmaid Offred learns about the Mayday Resistance, people who are working against the government. Eventually the Commander's Wife finds out about the fling with Offred and Offred contemplates suicide. However, she doesn't kill herself. Instead, Offred tells Nick that she thinks she's pregnant. Some time after that she is taken away by men in uniform (The Eyes, or the Eyes of God), basically the secret police. As she's waiting to go inside a van, Nick tells her not to worry. Offred goes but she isn't sure if these men in uniform are the Mayday Resistance or the Eyes, and if Nick is apart of the Resistance or part of the Eyes.

Lastly, I would have to say that this is a fine work of speculative fiction. Its very difficult to say this is science fiction, although its been up for the critically acclaimed Hugo award, an achievement in and of itself. Atwood has created a world not very different from our own, but goes to the dystopian extremes-of totalitarian religious government, male dominated hierarchy, and class, caste, and status symbols. Although not much happens plot-wise throughout the novel, you get a sense that this is realistic, that this has happened in other countries, and that yes, it could even happen here if powers go unchecked, unbalanced, and out of control. In fact, when Trump got elected this book became more popular, unsurprisingly. Although its a dark and at times deeply disturbing book, it really gives you a sense of ourselves, our country, a mirror not quite reflected yet, but could if we went out of bounds.