The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: A Brilliant Literary Work
Summary: 5 Stars
This last year, I had to read this book for an "independent reading project" that my AP English teacher assigned. At first when I heard the title I was thinking about how dull the book would be, about some handmaid to some person... "How exciting..." However, being as how I'm interested in stories with a female protagonist, I was still willing to at least give the book a try. Instantly I was hooked with in the first few pages, already brewing questions as to what exactly is going on and why things are as they are portrayed. Margaret Atwood was able to set a great story with the perfect setting and a plot that twists in such ways that can leave you asking questions until the epilogue. Even then I found myself still asking questions. I highly recommended book.Book Review: A Brilliantly Original Dystopian Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
I literally finished this book minutes ago, and I must say that I enjoyed it. This is the second book of Atwood's that I have read (Cat's Eye being the first) and I believe that The Handmaid's Tale is the better of the two. On the cover of my edition, the book was compared to Orwell's brilliant 1984, and I suppose that it could be considered its counterpart. However, where Orwell was attempting to make a devastatingly profound point about government and its influence, Atwood's work takes on the nature of human instincts. Both books have immense resonance for the reader, and Atwood paints an excellent picture of a pseudo-religious, paramilitary junta government and its social restraints. The ending is very well done and leaves the book rather open-ended, something I usually decry, but it works well in this literary masterpiece. The ending itself will remain a mystery to even the most analytical reader. The appendix at the back of the book is quite, if casually, infomative, though there should have been more than one to fully explain the nature and conjuration of the Gilead government. A book definately worth the reader's time and a fine, fast, fantastic read. Check it out, and enjoy!Book Review: A CALL FOR FEMALE EMPOWERMENT
Summary: 5 Stars
In her novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood effectively portrays a woman's struggle to retain her power.
The Handmaid's Tale describes a future in which a radical religious sect-the Sons of Jacob-has overthrown the United States government. A backlash to blasé attitudes regarding sex, this group aimed to cease the objectification of women, but only succeeded in creating a new form of objectification. The Sons of Jacob formed a caste society in which women must either "`fulfill their biological destinies'" (220) or be declared "Unwomen" (10).
The novel is told from Offred's-a Handmaid's- perspective. The regime forced her from her life of freedom to become a Handmaid-"a chalice" (286). Offred, like many women today, is too scared and unsure to defend herself. Readers easily identify with this character and cannot help but internalize Atwood's message of empowerment. The Handmaid's Tale drives home the theme of women's power with mastery.
The novel is intended for women. It is told from a woman's perspective and details horrors of sexism. Atwood stretches modern antifeminist thoughts to their haunting conclusions-urging women to take a proactive stance against sexism now, before it's too late. The book's fervent message is a response to growing antifeminist attitudes in the 1980's when feminists were accused of wrecking the traditional home. Atwood wrote The Handmaid's Tale to illustrate the chilling impact of the antifeminist sentiments that women belonged at home and men are more powerful than women. These attitudes are stretched to become "`But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence'" (221) and "`she shall be saved by childbearing'" (221). The author was also influenced by the American Puritans' conservative values and the Iranian monotheocracy during the 70's and 80's. She takes these values and draws them to their logical conclusions.
The book's feminist message carries through the plot, which focuses on Offred's empowerment. After being imprisoned, stripped of her name, and sent to an elite household to bear children, Offred's spirit is shattered. She is utterly powerless against the new regime, which forces her to submit to objectification or die. Every month, Offred and the Commander must perform "The Ceremony" (93)-a sexual act that reiterates Offred's loss of sexual power, as there is no choice, intimacy, or love involved. The Commander asks Offred to meet with him secretly to play Scrabble and to talk. As women are forbidden to read or write, and the meetings are kept secret from his wife, this lends Offred a small power. Later, the Commander dresses Offred like a whore and brings her to Jezebel's, a brothel for elite men, for "`just another crummy power trip'" (243). At the end of the novel, Offred must either assert herself, or fall back "into the darkness" (295) of her powerless state within society.
I fell in love with this book on two levels-as a woman and as a reader. Atwood's fervent message of female empowerment humbled me. Previously, I regarded books like Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God as feminist. Atwood's satirical take on the matter, however, coupled with the narrator's relatable personality gave The Handmaid's Tale much more impact. Unlike Hurston's novel, this book is not clean-cut or uplifting. Its messy and despondent nature renders this tale's message more powerful. Women who read this book cannot take it lightly, but are forced to confront their own way of life. Atwood achieves her intended goal-to make the reader question and, therefore, empower herself.
The questions raised by Atwood added to the imagination stimulant this novel provides. Atwood's distopian world intrigued me. The Handmaid's world is wholly imaginative, with a few connections to modern American society that ground it in reality. This odd blend of fantasy and reality forms a plausibly extrapolated distopia. Atwood's spare style enriches this world. She uses short, simple sentences such as, "I don't need to smoke this cigarette" (209), to create an austere and distant tone.
Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is intellectually, emotionally, and imaginatively stimulating. She effectively urges women to recognize and demonstrate their own power. Atwood's work speaks for feminists everywhere when it states: "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum...`Don't let the bastards grind you down'" (186).
Book Review: A Classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a reader or a thinker and you haven't read this book, read it! The Handmaid's Tale is definitely a classic, it has a dramatic impact on most readers. Atwood tells the tale of how the United States became the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocratic government and the resulting society, from Offred, the handmaid's point of view. Offred has been assigned to a class: a reproductive handmaid. In this society of declining births, the handmaids are valued only if they are able to become pregnant by the men they are assigned to. And, if a child is born, the child will be turned over to the "morally fit" Wives. Offred recalls the past throughout this horrible present and tells how this society came to be. This book gives the reader interesting insight into societal standards, feminism, and right wing paradigms of thinking.Book Review: A Dire Warning
Summary: 5 Stars
The Handmaid's Tale really exceeded my initial expectations. This futuristic novel, set in the future, is a personal account of Offred's life in the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian and oppressive society in which women are only valued for their abilities to reproduce. The increase in abortions, birth control, and sexually transmitted diseases has caused a decrease in birth rates. Thus, Offred and other Handmaids are forced to have intercourse with their Commanders monthly in order to maintain a steady population. In Gilead, the Handmaids are allowed only the bare minimum of rights--the dictators have even removed everything readable from their lives so that the Handmaids cannot stimulate their thoughts. In her story, Offred reveals tidbits of her past life, where she enjoyed spending time with her family and having the freedom of choice.
Margaret Atwood writes with such power and fluidness that you cannot stop reading her intriguing story. This novel is both humorous and despairing, with an ending that was to me extremely shocking. Upon finishing the book, you will be confronted with a series of new thoughts on our world's problems and our future. Atwood calls to attention numerous issues in society: environmental deterioration, pornography, and degradation of women, to name only a few. Also, Atwood vividly captures human emotion and longing, as Offred is offered no consolation to her alienation and loneliness. The reader can feel Offred's despondency. Atwood exposes mankind's need for human contact and relationships.
The book ultimately serves as an implicit warning to its readers of the dangers of falling into a state of complacency in a world of corruption. The novel is a quite frightening portrait of what may happen to us in the future if we do not change our ways right now.
While in Offred's past, society had the freedom of caring or not caring for the world, her present society has no choice to do anything anymore, even if it wanted to. Atwood is trying to warn us, and she succeeds: as of now, we have a right to apathy--but will we in 20 or so years?