The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

This article discusses the book, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. Recently made into a televised series in the US and also aired in the UK, the book, which was written in 1985, presents a dystopic/futuristic vision of an American future Puritan society called Gilead where women have no rights and function in terms of the wider needs of the society. This book has received particular attention recently because of some of the parallels that can be drawn between the evangelical utterings of the current US Republican administration, and the fictional world which Atwood created over 30 years ago. The book also, however, raises a whole raft of questions which lie at the foundations of feminism: the relationships which exist between women, the role of reproduction and power, sexuality, repression, endemic violence against women and resistance. This article will look at the key themes in the book alongside recent discussions about the lessons which can be learnt from the text and the warnings we need to heed.