Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood (York Notes Advanced)
by Margaret Atwood
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Book Summary Information
Author: Margaret AtwoodEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-08-29
ISBN: 0582784360
Number of pages: 136
Publisher: Pearson York Notes
Book Reviews of Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood (York Notes Advanced)
Book Review: An Amalgamation of Fiction and Reality
Summary: 4 Stars
In the fictional Republic of Gilead, the dramatic decrease of birthrates makes the society's fundamental goal is to control reproduction. Written from Offrend's first person point of view, the novel adds to the reader's connection with a Handmaid, her tormented feelings, and hatred toward this new totalitarian regime. Gilead is based on the precept that giving birth is women's religious and moral duty and those who do not fulfill it will be sent to hell (aka the Colonies) where the "unwomen" are left to die. With its modern setting, and reference to our present, the novel makes the reader shift between two different worlds: the narrator's and ours. For example, Atwood references Harvard as a place where the disobedient are hung and ironically she always hears the echoes of the old world where museums, stores, and the military where all used for their supposed purposes.
With Biblical allusions, and references to WWII, as in "mayday" and the totalitarian regimes of Stalin and Hitler, Atwood creates a masterful piece of a fictional world still connected to the reality.
With its ambiguous ending, the novel lets the mind ponder on what can become of this now familiar narrator. Is death better for her? Or if rescued, will she return to her family? The fact that the ending is hopeful adds to the greatness of the book.
Its only flaw, however, was its introduction of minor characters that we never get to learn about. Offred often mentions her daughter's name but she never talks about her. Otherwise, Atwood's use of syntax is a great indicator of the narrator is shifting tones- from hope to desperation, from fear to indifference, from love to passion. She constantly uses flashback about her family and her former life to demonstrate her criticism of Gilead where women are containers valued for only what is inside of them.
In order to serve the needs of the new society's elite, Gilead creates a system of titles where women are defined solely by their gender roles as Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. Stripping them of individual names strips them of their individuality. In a moment of desperation, Offred cries out in vain, "I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name; remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me. I want to steal something" (Atwood 97).
Deprived from her basic rights, Offred frustration and anger is revealed by her use of simple sentences with anaphora to stress her futile but desperate longing for attention.
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