Review: The Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale is a disturbing and extremely well done novel. It is among the most detailed, intelligent, and provocative dystopic works I’ve read.
It is the story of a woman stuck in a extreme theocratic state established in the US sometime in the near future. The society is essentially a Christian version of Saudi Arabia or Iran, where women have almost no rights. It is chilling to see an American or Christian version so vividly described.
The struggle of Offred (not her real name) is an incredibly provocative story. She is a handmaid, or a woman used as a surrogate for families that can no longer conceive. Only,
it is done against her will. She was once a married woman with a child of her own and a job. All of it was taken away in a religious revolution. In the new Republic of Gilead, women are not allowed to have jobs, have their own bank accounts, cannot travel alone, and are held to the strictest of moral codes. Second or third marriages are nullified unless the original spouse was dead, which is why Offred’s marriage was nullified, her child taken away, her husband arrested, and now she finds herself in a Saudi style community where she’s a walking uterus.
The book is very much about sex, both as a general matter of gender equality but also of sexual freedom. Offred has no control of her body, something that was once hers. Her sexuality keeps trying to break through. Atwood is constantly using sexual puns, metaphors, and innuendo in describing the normal every day events. The stream of consciousness narrating style was unique, although at times overdone. Its hard to imagine anyone thinks in such an overly poetic style.
Atwood’s speculative story is chillingly realistic.There are very creepy rituals but resemble certain societal practices done in the past. While mainstream Christianity has very much departed from such extreme repressive practices, there are few societies in the world that still utilize them in some form.
Can an advanced, liberty-loving society with such a tradition of equality devolve into an extreme puritanical theocracy? Something like it happened in Iran in 1979 and is happening now in Egypt. Both were semi-westernized countries in the middle and late 20th century but have reverted to more medieval traditions under the Ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Is it a critique of religion in general? I’d say No. It is more about when religious authorities swing violently towards totalitarianism. The religious authority in the book is the Wahhabi movement of Christianity and does not resemble any existing mainstream Church or faith in the United States. That doesn’t mean such a dystopia is impossible. It just means it won’t be rising anytime soon.
The book reminds me a little of the background story in Da Vinci Code, where the Catholic Church and the descendants of Jesus Christ led by Mary Magdalene were at odds. To ensure a woman could not be the spiritual figurehead of the Church, numerous moral and cultural rules and norms were used to keep men at the top. The persecution of witches and the revival of paganism and Earth-Goddess worship today is also an example of the backlash against antiquated traditional values.
It is a great book and I highly recommend it. The only criticism I can offer is its length. It is a lot of pain and misery to endure.
5 Stars!
Jacob
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