The Handmaid's Tale-Review

While on one level it isn't fair to compare “The Hunger Games” to “A Handmaid's Tale” the fact is that both are dystopias and  both are successful, one has recently rocketed to fame and one has been famous since 1985. While “The Hunger Games” seems to believe that it offers up something new, “The Handmaid's Tale” is firmly rooted in the belief that there is nothing new about its theme, which immediately ingratiated me to it. The main character, Offred is a Handmaid and as such her job is to become impregnated by the Commander, a wealthy official. In this Post-American society women are relegated to a few certain jobs which embody traditional gender roles. What power women had was cruelly taken away virtually overnight. Nothing is what it seems though as Offred soon learns, the Commander at once embraces and subverts the totalitarian Gileadean regime, and subverts it.  Despite the fact that offenders are harshly punished, Offred and others continue to break the rules. Offred’s story ends as she is caught having an ‘affair’ with the commander and is about to be punished when she is, instead, offered redemption. Whether she is saved or not, we do not find out. The book then suddenly switches to a lecture given sometime after the fall of the Gileadean regime and the patronising tone of the lecturer shows Atwood’s belief that it is normal to look back on history with arrogance and the belief that those people were ignorant but we are enlightened. The fact, as well, that Offred herself does not completely understand what has happened and that she claims herself that her story is subjective, part of a narrative that may or may not be true helps create the feeling that ‘A Handmaid’s Tale’ really is a warning. One of the things I dislike about dystopias in general is the sense that they are pedantically telling you about how far society is gone and what will happen if it continues, but The Handmaid’s Tale seems to be more of a warning about what happens when we believe that we are too god or too enlightened to have something like this happen to us. Furthermore it seems to be a tribute to storytelling itself where even Offred is not sure how much of her story is true, what she has created and what is real, and for that matter what is the difference between ‘reality’ and the reality we create. Overall, combined with Atwood’s great writing, and characters that are at once likable and flawed, "The Handmaid’s Tale" is a great book and one that will hopefully continue to stand the test of time.