When the world comes to an end...the dystopian novel

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

"We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there; the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone. A balcony ran around the room, for the spectators, and I thought I could smell, faintly like an afterimage, the pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felt-skirted as I knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair. Dances would have been held there; the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound, style upon style, an undercurrent of drums, a forlorn wail, garlands made of tissue-paper flowers, cardboard devils, a revolving ball of mirrors, powdering the dancers with a snow of light."

One of the latest books I have just finished reading is "The Handmaid' s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Since I did not have too much time to read it, I've downloaded the audio version and listened to it on my phone. The story is read by Joanna Davis, a British actress best known for her television work: Sense and Sensibility, Bleak House, or the 1995 BBC TV series Pride and Prejudice. Listening to Joanna Davis (one of my favorite actresses) added so much credibility to the novel. I've decided to read (listen to) this novel first because it is a first-person narrative (and I love this kind of books) and secondly because I am interested to read more about dystopian novels, after reading “Never Let Me Go” by Ishiguro.

This story if one the best examples of dystopian novels, similar to George Orwell's 1984, or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Novels of this type present imagined worlds and societies that are not ideal, but instead are terrifying and restrictive. Atwood wrote this story in the mid 1980's after the elections of Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain, during a period of conservative revival in the West, influenced by the so-called movement of religious conservatives who criticized what they thought were the excesses of the “sexual revolution” of the '60s and '70s.

In the novel Atwood explores the consequences of a reversal of women’s rights. In the new Republic of Gilead (former USA), a group of conservative religious extremists had taken power and a new society is founded on a “return to traditional values”.Women in Gilead are forbidden to vote, to read or write. It is a picture of a totalitarian society world undone by pollution and infertility.

It is the story of a handmaid named Offred (which means “of Fred”) who is the main narrator of the book. We never find out her real name but we have detailed descriptions of how she went from a partner (married to Luc) and mother to a surrogate, controlled and repressed by an extreme religious and patriarchal ruling elite. The handmaids are the class of women used solely for their reproductive functions.

What I have found very intriguing about this book, is the way the author makes use of biblical allusions and how she plays on the idea of basing a society's morality on the morality of the Bible. Gilead (coming from Genesis 31:21) is used in the Bible to refer to a mountain region east of the Jordan River. The handmaids were sent to the Rachel and Leah Re-education Center to train for the position of handmaid and it becomes clear that this Gileadean story of the handmaids comes from the story of Rachel and Leah found in Genesis 29:35. Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob, give their maids to Jacob so can have more children through them. This biblical story is read by the husband to his wife and handmaid before they all engage in a strange fertility ritual (how ackward is that?)

So the book takes ideas from the religious right- that women should return to the home, that men are the rightful “head” of a household, that women shouldn't have access to birth control and that women’s right of an education and career are to blame for a declining birth rate and the corruption of society.

Offred serves the Commander and his wife Serena Joy (another symbolical name), a former gospel singer and an advocate for “traditional values”. Every month when she is near her menstrual cycle, she must have impersonal, wordless sex with the Commander, while Serena sits behind her, holding her hands. Offred's freedom is completely restricted. She can leave the house only on shopping trips and the Eyes (Gilead's Secret Police Force) watch her every move. Even her name consists of the word “of” followed by the name of the Commander. Another important detail about Offred is about her dress- she wears all the time a heavy red dress-a fact that denotes her rank in society.

The novel ends with an epilogue from 2195, after Gilead has fallen written by Professor Pieixoto. We find out that Offred managed to escape, but we are not given any details as to where she had gone or what she had done after her escape.

It is amazing how after more than twenty years after its publication there are elements of the story that have become true. The most obvious connection is with many issues regarding women's rights and religious fundamentalism that take place in the Middle East.

It was a heavy book, not a very pleasant one to read or listen to. It took me a while to get used to the narrative line. However, I strongly recommend it if you like dystopian novels and also because it is one of the fewest dystopian novels that actually depicts real life.