The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a very controversial novel by Margaret Atwood. Full to the brim with controversial topics such as religion, abortion, pornography, women extremists, and sex, this novel no doubt makes for a very interesting read. Taking place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the current site of Harvard University, the Republic of Gilead is a dystopian society where the rights of all, especially women are virtually non-existant. All of this is for the sake of protecting the women and to allow them to fulfill a sole purpose: the continuation of the human race.

PART A

A very good symbol that points to one of Atwood's problems addressed by the novel is found on page 57. From the break on, Offred speaks of a pillow that is in her room, a pillow with the word "Faith" on it. Now this in itself is strange since women are not allowed to read because it might give them poor ideas. However, there is a much deeper meaning to this simple pillow and it is embedded in Atwood's commentary on religion. Offred describes the pillow as, "A hard little cushion on it, with a petit pint cover: Faith, in square print, surrounded by a wreath of lilies. Faith is a faded blue, the leaves of the lilies a dingy green. This is a cushion once used somewhere else, worn but not enough to throw out. Somehow it's been overlooked" (57). Wow. These few sentences give a crystal clear image of what Atwood is saying about religion and Offred's individual religious views. Offred's faith is faded and worn. By saying how it was once used somewhere else is Atwood saying that Offred once had a use for religion in a past time before the rise of this horrible Republic of Gilead. It had once held a position of high regard of Offred, but all of the things that she has put through has seriously shaken her faith in religion. However, although shaken, Offred still holds onto her religion because her loss of faith has not gone so far that she is willing to, "throw out" (57).

PART B:

One of the most humorous lines of the novel takes place when the Commander takes Offred to Jezabelle's. " 'I thought this sort of thing was strictly forbidden,' I say. 'Well, offically,' he says. 'But everyone's human, after all' " (237). Is this not the biggest statement of hypocrisy in this entire novel. Here is the Commanders saying that even though all women's rights and many men's rights are completely non-existant, all for the good of the women to protect them and to keep inappropriate images and thoughts out of men's minds, here is a place where men are complete breaking the rules. All of these oppression of rights, and here are the Commanders and other high ranking officals having a great time and associating with prostitutes because, hey everyone is human. The nonchalant tone in which the Commander says this makes him sound like a huge hypocrite. He can escape any time he to this place where he can experience a facade of pleasure and "love" that he has been stripped of in this society. Offred on the other hand, has to live day in and day out with no rights and she has no place to escape to. Jezabelle's stands to show what a ridiculous society Gilead is because it is a place of no rights and mass discrimination, and right around the corner in one of the back alleys is a whore house, that serves the needs of the Commanders and other men because after all, everyone is human.

PART C:

Now my opinion. If I ever have to read this book again, I do not know what I will do. Every moment I read it was mental agony. I do not deny the brilliant way in which Atwood makes her stand on extremists, religionist and femanists alike, through uses of diction, tone, and social commentary. However, I hated this book. The monotanous tone in which it was written, while intended by Atwood to convey the meaninglessness and boringness of Offred's life, made reading very difficult and unenjoyable. In my opinion, there was little excitement that would keep a reader interested and after a while, reading virtually the same thing over and over loses its appeal. If I had to recommend this book to another, my suggestion would be to put this book down, never pick it up again, and read something, anything else. Yes I know this view is quite extreme but it really shows how much I disliked this book.