The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

File:Novel the handmaids tale cover.jpg An American paperback edition
Author	Margaret Atwood
Cover artist	Tad Aronowcz, design; Gail Geltner, collage (first edition, hardback)
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	McClelland and Stewart
Publication date	1985
Publication place	Canada
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages	324 (first edition, hardcover)
ISBN	ISBN 0771008139 (first edition, hardcover)

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1985. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (essentially, dress codes) play a key role in the form of social control in the new society.

The novel was completed while Atwood was a visiting professor in the English Department at the University of Alabama.

The novel is commonly used for college-level English courses in the United States, usually in comparison with other dystopian-themed novels. In the UK it is frequently a part of A-level syllabi, and in Canada, it is frequently used at the Grade 12 level. The American Library Association lists it in "10 Most Challenged Books of 1999" and as No. 37 on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000" due to a high volume of complaints from parents of pupils on these courses regarding the novel's anti-religious content and sexual references.

Themes

Dystopian

A revolution has taken place and the United States has become a dystopia. The Constitution has been abrogated, and a new order has been established: the Republic of Gilead. The Republic of Gilead is ruled through biblical propaganda and rigid enforcement of social roles. Most citizens have been stripped of their freedoms. All religions, except the official state religion, have been suppressed. Those who do not conform to the new societal norms are pressed into service as maids and personal servants or deported to "the colonies" (regions where pollution has reached toxic levels) — if they are lucky. Political and religious dissidents, abortionists, and homosexuals are executed and hung at "The Wall" for public display. The government has proclaimed martial law due to the destabilizing effect of "hordes of guerrillas" roaming the countryside, although the actual threat from the "guerrillas" may be greatly exaggerated.

In Gilead, many people are infertile for reasons explored only in the coda to the story. It is possibly due to the ecological disaster which has made parts of the country uninhabitable. Fertile women are forced to engage in sexual reproduction for the benefit of the upper classes. Lower class women who cannot reproduce are exiled. Although men may also be infertile, it is fundamental to the Gileadan power structure that they be beyond reproach. According to the state, the problem is not with the men, it is always with the women. Women who cannot conceive after their third placement are deemed barren, and sent to the dreaded colonies with all the other "Unwomen" - resulting in many genuinely fertile Handmaids seeking to impregnate themselves using alternative methods. For example, when Offred goes to visit the Doctor, he offers to "do the job" for her. Similarly, Serena Joy setting up Nick with Offred, so that she may conceive, and produce a child for Serena Joy and her husband (and thus save Offred, though Serena isn't concerned with Offred's safety).

Subjugation of women

In Gilead, women are stripped of their independence. They are no longer allowed to hold property, arrange their own affairs, make reproductive choices, read, wear make-up, or choose their clothes. Women are segregated into categories, and dressed according to their social function. Seven legitimate categories (Wives, Daughters, Widows, Aunts, Marthas, Handmaids, and Econowives), and two illegitimate functional categories (Unwomen and, secretly, prostitutes), are mentioned in the novel.

Socially accepted and promoted categories of women in Gilead

1. White women seem to be the default in the Gilead society. In the novel, the main non-white ethnic group mentioned was African Americans. Blacks, along with the other significant minority Jews, are quickly shuttled away per the fundamentalist Gileadan interpretations of the Bible. The value of reproduction of white women in America is privileged over that of others. This is an underpinning assumption of the book.
2. Wives are at the top social level permitted to women. They are women married to the Commanders who are the ruling circle of the new military dictatorship. They are often infertile for unknown reasons, possibly related to an unexplored ecological disaster or effects of a bioweapon. Wives always wear blue dresses. With the death of the husband, a Wife becomes a Widow, and must dress in black. It is implicitly suggested in the novel that Widows are also being sent to the colonies.
3. Daughters are the natural or adopted children of Wives, and though not mentioned perhaps also of Econowives. They wear white until marriage (at 14). The narrator's daughter had been adopted by one of the Wives who are infertile.
4. Aunts have the duty of training and monitoring the Handmaids. In return they receive — relatively speaking — a substantial degree of personal autonomy. It is a central organisational element of Gilead that women be used in the social repression of women. Aunts dress in brown suits.
5. Handmaids are fertile women whose social function is to bear children for the Wives. Handmaids are subjected to a monthly reproductive ritual derived from the biblical story of Rachel and Leah's reproductive competition (Genesis 29:31–35; 30:1–24). Handmaids dress in a red habit with a white head-dress which obscures their peripheral vision. The Aunt system produces Handmaids, by reeducating fertile women who have broken Gileadean gender laws. Due to the demands of Wives for fertile Handmaids, Gilead gradually increased the number of gender-crimes. Additionally, the Aunt system promotes the role of the Handmaid, and seeks to legitimise the role of Handmaid by removing any association with gender-criminality.
6. Marthas are infertile women whose compliant nature and domestic skills recommend them to a life of domestic servitude in the houses of the elite. There is conjectural evidence that Marthas may be African Americans (in the chapter "Shopping"), reflecting a long tradition of the American elite using black slaves and domestic workers as house servants. However, since black people (referred to in the novel as the "Children of Ham") are described as having been relocated into bantustans, this is unlikely. Marthas dress in green smocks.
7. Econowives are women who have married low ranking bureaucrats. Econowives are expected to perform all the female functions: domestic duties, companionship, child-bearing. The Econowife dress is multicoloured: red, blue and green to reflect their multiple roles. It is believed by Aunt Lydia that one day, no-one will have to be an Econowife, suggesting that they are just temporary measures within Gilead.

The division of labour between women engenders resentment between categories. Marthas, Wives and Econowives perceive Handmaids as sluttish, and Econowives also resent Handmaids' freedom from domestic work.

Socially unacceptable categories of women in Gilead

Outside of society exist two further classes of women.

1. Jezebels. Informally, the desires of Commanders for mistresses — as in the former times — has resulted in a collective form of prostitution available only to Commanders. The women who populate this system are informally known as Jezebels. This category of women may also include lesbians. These women are housed in the remains of a hotel from former times, and are used by Commanders to entertain foreign dignitaries. Jezebels dress in the remnants of sexualized costumes from "the time before": cheerleaders' costumes, school uniforms, and Playboy Bunny costumes.
2. Unwomen are sterile women, widows, feminists, lesbians, nuns and politically dissident women confined to the Colonies (both areas of agricultural production, and sites of deadly pollution). (Handmaids who fail to produce a child within three chances are also sent here.) Unwomen as a category embraces all women unable to fit within the Republic of Gilead's gender categories. Unlike members of society who transgress and break fundamental rules (who are murderously punished), unwomen are categorically incapable of social integration as their society rejects them utterly. Males who engage in homosexuality (or related acts) are declared Gender Traitors, and either executed, or sent to the Colonies to die a slow death. All those banished to the colonies, men or women, wear grey dresses.

"The Ceremony"

Human sexuality in Gilead has come under a general social regulation that sex for pleasure is fundamentally degrading to women. Men are seen as constantly desiring sexual pleasure, but obliged to abstain for religio-social reasons. The social regulation is enforced as a law with corporal punishment inflicted by Aunts for lesser offences, and capital punishment inflicted by a group of Handmaids for greater offences (particicution).

"The Ceremony" is a sanctioned sexual act for the purposes of reproduction with two women present. This unites Wives, Aunts, Marthas and Handmaids in an urgent reproductive mission. Sex acts which defile the Ceremony (sex for pleasure involving Handmaids, homosexuality) are punished severely with death. It is uncertain what sexual relations exist between men and Wives, but the example of Commander Fred indicates a high degree of personal and sexual alienation in marriage. The sexual position of Econowives is also uncertain — the narrator has no interaction with them — but they are viewed with disdain by the reproductive alliance of Wives, Aunts, Marthas and Handmaids.

The Ceremony reenacts in rather literal fashion the biblical passage where Jacob's infertile wife Rachel says to him "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees" (Genesis 29:31–35; 30:1–24). The Gileadan variation on the passage has the Handmaid lying supine upon the Wife during the sex act itself.

The novel's narrator, the Handmaid Offred, describes the ceremony:

My red skirt is hitched up to my waist though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven't signed up for.

Once a Handmaid is pregnant, she is venerated by her peers and by the Wives. When her baby is born, it is given to the Wife of her Commander, and she is reassigned to another household. The reward of the Handmaid for giving birth is that she will now never be sent to the Colonies, even if she does not conceive again. This potentially shows that there is some justice within the Gileadean society, and that there is, however small, some reward for women. However, these rewards may simply be a functional incentive for social cooperation, motivated more by a need to avoid social disorder rather than motivated by justice.

Subjugation of women in pre-Gileadian society

Through Offred's memories, the novel makes clear that pre-Gileadian society was not a haven for women's rights. Pre-Gileadian society is that in which women are currently living, where women are in a state of regular and constant fear of physical and sexual violence. Despite long running feminist campaigns (approximately 1970–2000 within the text), Pre-Gileadian women are not equal with men. Feminist campaigners, particularly radicals like Moira (Offred's long-time friend), are persecuted by the state. Additionally, the advent of the mass commercialization of sexuality has occurred and prostitution has reached a nadir of "fast-food" and "home delivery" sexuality. Women outside of prostitution in "the former times" were subject to a socially constructed vision of romantic love which encouraged serial monogamy in favor of men's social and sexual interests.

Also, through the novel, Atwood is mocking those who were talking of 'traditional values'; for example, such leaders as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan who talked of how women should return to being housewives. Atwood shows how an extremist view can lead to such a society as Gilead by portraying this in the character of Serena Joy, who used to be a preacher of traditional values in 'the time before'. This vision of hers proves to realise itself and Serena Joy is clearly not content with this: ironically, her own preaching has destroyed her life.

In the former society, despite holding a University degree from Harvard, Offred was a menial white collar worker. Offred's coworkers were all women, but her boss was a man. Apart from the oppressive cultural phenomena of the former society, women lacked full and meaningful control over their economic lives and careers.

Social regulation of human sexuality

As Commander Fred explains, the Gileadian elite has a definite analysis of the failure of society in "the former times"; women were too available to men. Men's ready sexual access to women led to violence and abuse. Gilead's solution is to limit men's access to women until they have proved themselves within social-ideological terms. Fred sees no problem in the fact that women are in both cases treated as the property of men, in the former case as individual property, and in the latter case as social property.

Sumptuary laws

The sumptuary laws of Gilead are quite complex. All lower status individuals are regulated by sumptuary dress laws. Women, in particular, are divided into castes by their dress. Men too are regulated, but equipped with powerful military or paramilitary uniforms: constrained but also empowered. Only rare civilians (increasingly persecuted) and Commanders seem to be free of sumptuary restrictions. This freedom itself is indicative of power.

Additionally, those punished with death are dressed for the occasion: priests in long, forbidding robes and Doctors in consulting gowns.

Through its sumptuary law, Gilead is a society of appearance.

Plot

The story is told from the perspective of Offred, a Handmaid. "Offred" is the patronymic which describes her function in the Republic of Gilead; Offred belongs to (or is "of") her Commander, Fred. It is not revealed whether Offred has a "real" name, or whether she has a surname. In fact none of the characters in the novel are identified as having surnames, enhancing the other-worldly quality of the story. Based on certain clues which may have been left by Atwood, some believe that Offred's real name is June (eg. at the beginning of the story when Offred is in the gymnasium, she recites the names of all the girls; when Offred later speaks of all of these characters she does not include June. Also, on page 232 Atwood has Aunt Lydia say, "No mooning and June-ing Around," suggesting she is talking to June and not everyone else). There are other such clues to be found in the book. (In the 1990 film adaptation, Offred gives her real first name as Kate; however, this name is not supported by the novel.)

Offred's assignment to the household of the Commander is her third, after failing to become pregnant with her first two Commanders, who we must assume are Sterile. If she fails with her current Commander, she will be exported to the colonies as an Unwoman. We are given tiny hints as to Offred's opinion of her former Commander, particularly during the Ceremony. This assignment differs from her prior experiences in that she is given, in various disjointed episodes, glimpses that all is not as it seems in the new world and that the people in her life, while paying lip service to society's mores, seek various means of expressing their individuality.

Offred initially becomes aware of this new viewpoint when Fred oversteps the bounds of her official role by ordering her to visit his study late at night to play Scrabble with him. He also obtains forbidden hand lotion for her and allows her to read magazines from the old days — something extremely forbidden as women are no longer allowed to read. Once, he dresses her up in a sexy costume and smuggles her out to a forbidden nightclub for the night. He asks that she keep these secrets from his Wife, Serena Joy.

At the same time, Serena Joy is asking Offred to keep secrets from the Commander. In the old days, Serena Joy was a televangelist (loosely based on Tammy Faye Bakker, who, like Serena Joy, often cried and streaked her mascara on television) and a right-wing lecturer (loosely based on Phyllis Schlafly, who, like Serena Joy, ironically traveled across the country telling women they should stay in the home), and she resents her new diminished role. The only thing that can give meaning to her life is a child; and since the Commander is sterile (he has had multiple Handmaids before this one, none of whom have conceived), Serena Joy suggests that Offred attempts to conceive a child with Nick, their male servant.

Nick and Offred begin an emotional and sexual relationship which they continue until, in the final chapter, Offred is either caught or smuggled out of the household; however, in the ambiguous ending neither is truly made clear and there seems to be no closure as to what becomes of Offred.

An appendix following the story proper treats Offred's narrative as a historical document, implying an academic setting even farther into the future. In this respect The Handmaid's Tale is similar to Egalia's Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, or God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert, and, to a different degree, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Despite the novel's ambiguity about Offred's fate, and what may be considered evidence of continued sexist attitudes, the academic appendix implies a "happy ending" for its society in general. When taking the very long view, Atwood seems to be saying "this too shall pass" about the novel's totalitarian society and, by extension, the fundamentalist and fanatical elements in her own time.

Nevertheless, some critics have taken issue with such an interpretation of the appendix as wholly optimistic: it is arguable that the academic's perspectives indicate an adherence to a (debatably androcentric) grand narrative of major historical events, rather than a focus on the very real human tragedies that befall the citizens of Gilead. The very last sentence of the novel might be said to symbolize the dehumanizing historiography he adopts.

The Handmaid's Tale is similar in theme to some of Margaret Atwood's other books (such as Oryx and Crake) with its post-apocalyptic atmosphere. It makes use of many motifs, such as the debate over the separation of church and state, the sexual roles of men and women in society, and ultimately the right to individuality within the confines of an increasingly authoritarian government.

Social critique

Atwood's tale presents a number of social critiques. It presents a dystopic vision of American society in the period 1970–1985, particularly in the period of backlash against feminism. This critique is most clearly seen in both Offred's remembrance of the slow social transformation towards theocratic fascism, and in the ideology of the Aunts.

Atwood offers a critique of contemporary feminism. By working against violent pornography, feminists in the early 1980s opened themselves up to criticism that they favored censorship. Anti-pornography feminist activists made alliances with the religious right, despite the denials on the part of some feminists. (see Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon). Atwood warns that the consequences of such an alliance may end up empowering feminists' worst enemies. Atwood also suggests, through depictions of the narrator's feminist mother burning books, that contemporary feminism was becoming overly rigid and adopting the same tactics as the religious right.

Atwood also presents a critique of modern fundamentalist religious movements, including American fundamentalist Baptist Christianity, and Iranian fundamentalist Islam. In the American case, a religious revival of the mid-1970s seemed to remain particularly influential in the early 1980s. Jimmy Carter, a US president during the period, had avowed his renewed and reaffirmed Christianity. Additionally, the religious right was growing as a power base through televangelism and other revivalist techniques. In the book, Atwood pictures revivalism as a counter-revolutionary doctrine, opposed to the revolutionary doctrine espoused by Offred's mother and Moira, which sought to break down gender categories. A common Marxist historical reading of fascism states that fascism is the backlash of the right after a revolution has failed. Atwood plays on this Marxist reading of class, and translates its analysis into the structure of a gender revolution.

Similarly, in the Iranian revolution, an alliance of Western cultured intellectuals advocated modernism and Marxism. This revolutionary ideal was defeated by an alliance of predominantly rural and proletarian Islamic clerics. Women played a key role in the Islamic revolution, and became both paramilitary enforcers of Islamic gender codes, and occasionally secret gender police. At the time the novel was written, it was a common fear that women would be completely disempowered by the revolution. Some contemporary feminist critiques of Iranian society consider that some Islamic institutions, and the "revolutionary myth" associated with pro-Islamic women, have empowered some Iranian women.

Key phrases

Atwood emphasises in A Handmaid's Tale that the surrounding and environment is important, as the situation explains a certain behaviour or attitude. This can be seen, as the key phrase "context is all"(p154, 202) is repeated throughout the novel. The Scrabble game is an example of how the context influences attitudes. It was once "the game of old men and women" (page 149) but for Offred it is forbidden and therefore "desirable" (page 149). Furthermore one can see the importance of context as Offred perceives the world differently in a society that is very strict. Sandals and swimsuits were once a part of her daily life, but in the novel, where she is fully dressed, even during the summer, she questions how she could have worn swimsuits in the past, as they show too much skin.

Film adaptation

Main article: The Handmaid's Tale (film)

File:TheHandmaidsTale.png

DVD cover

A 1990 film adaptation of the novel was directed by Volker Schlöndorff. It starred Natasha Richardson (Offred), Faye Dunaway (Serena Joy), Robert Duvall (The Commander, Fred), Aidan Quinn (Nick), and Elizabeth McGovern (Moira) [1].

Stage and musical adaptation

A straight stage adaptation by Brendon Burns was toured by the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke, UK in 2002.

There is also an opera, written by Poul Ruders, which premiered in Copenhagen on 6 March, 2000.

Biblical references

The primary biblical reference in The Handmaid's Tale is to the story of Rachel and Leah (Genesis 29:31–35; 30:1–24). While Leah was fertile and was blessed by God, Rachel was barren, meaning she could not have children. Rachel proceeds to compete in producing sons for her husband, by using her handmaids as property. Rachel takes immediate possession of the children produced by her handmaids. In the context of Atwood's book, the story is one of female competition, jealousy, and reproductive cruelty.

A similar story also exists in Genesis, where Sarah is infertile, and Hagar conceives on Sarah's behalf. The Sarah and Hagar story is considerably different from the Rachel and Leah story. This is mainly because of the active role played by Hagar, and Hagar's possession of her child. Due to Sarah's reproductive generosity, Sarah's fertility is restored by God at an advanced age. Atwood was aware of the similarity between these stories, and was using it to show the hypocrisy of Gileadean biblical interpretation: the biblical story showed a relationship between a wife and a handmaid which did not involve sexual and reproductive subjugation.

See also

• Nolite te bastardes carborundorum which Offred finds written in her closet in chapter 9 is a version of the mock-Latin phrase Illegitimi non carborundum.
• Atwoods wordplay, word association: eg: job on page 182.

- job as in working as a librarian - "do a jobbie, they'd say to children, when they are being toilet-trained" - "The Book of Job"

• Freud is brought up when dealing with Offred's envy for commander, as he is allowed to read. "Pen Is envy" (page 196) = Penis envy. Freud stated that small girls envied the boys their penises. The ambigious comment "I envy the Commander his pen" emphasises that Offred envies the Commander his penis as it makes him a man and therefore he is allowed to write.
• The author Kurt Vonnegut is famous for the expression "so it goes" as the narrators of his novels often have a very distant attitude towards life. The expression "so it goes", can be found in Atwood's novel; for example, on page 274. As the comment cuts off a paragraph in a manner similar to Kurt Vonnegut's, one can expect that this is some kind of tribute to Vonnegut.

References in social science

• Stephen J. Ducat. The Wimp Factor. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. p. 110. ISBN 0807043443