So far I love Margaret Atwood. I have taught her poetry before in my AP Literature class and with The Handmaid's Tale I am captivated. I can't wait to read more. So for this book...I can't stop thinking about it. Offred's tale, her voice, have haunted me since I closed the book. I will say that I believe the ending to be ambiguous. I don't agree with what I read online at all. However, I won't reveal the ending. Instead let me pick apart the rest.
First, can I just say this dystopian novel is creepy. The Eyes kept me from sleeping on two separate occasions. Seriously, I had nightmares about the book. In one I am pregnant but being hunted. At this point, I hadn't read far enough to understand that if you were a pregnant handmaid, then you were worshipped and treated like a queen. (They really wouldn't worship a handmaid because she was lesser than all other things on earth. A pregnant handmaid was given special treatment, however.) So, therefore, I shouldn't have felt hunted. I think the dream reflects the hunting, the superhuman desire, to have a child that the Gilead society had. Since nuclear warfare had rendered most people sterile, the Republic of Gilead had handmaid's that literally were provided for as long as they continued to be possible wombs for the Commander's children. The word "handmaid" meaning that during the act of sex , the wife of the Commander would hold the hands of the handmaid so that the child, if conceived, technically is one flesh with the wife and Commander, leaving the Handmaid as a incubator only for the fetus.
Beyond this extremely odd way of procreating, the entire story creates a lasting impact. The society is strict and forbidding. Nothing is permitted. Some male figures of authority were afforded luxuries but that is all. Offred's first person narration is full of satire and biting commentary on the state of her life. Previously, she had been a mother and wife. She knew what love was. All of that was stripped away and the enormity of that pain becomes very real to the reader. Offred is so lonely and sad that she creates numerous versions of some of the more exciting aspects of her otherwise dull existence. She also creates various versions of the truth about her real life before Gilead.
I particularly enjoyed Atwood's style. She uses a lot of anaphora and parallel structure in order to create Offred's wit. For example, Offred says, "I would like to be without shame. I would like to be shameless. I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was."
She has shame and she is an independent thinker. Then, however, she gives herself no slack when she does something less than great under normal circumstances. In her circumstance doing stupid things was all that kept her alive.
First, can I just say this dystopian novel is creepy. The Eyes kept me from sleeping on two separate occasions. Seriously, I had nightmares about the book. In one I am pregnant but being hunted. At this point, I hadn't read far enough to understand that if you were a pregnant handmaid, then you were worshipped and treated like a queen. (They really wouldn't worship a handmaid because she was lesser than all other things on earth. A pregnant handmaid was given special treatment, however.) So, therefore, I shouldn't have felt hunted. I think the dream reflects the hunting, the superhuman desire, to have a child that the Gilead society had. Since nuclear warfare had rendered most people sterile, the Republic of Gilead had handmaid's that literally were provided for as long as they continued to be possible wombs for the Commander's children. The word "handmaid" meaning that during the act of sex , the wife of the Commander would hold the hands of the handmaid so that the child, if conceived, technically is one flesh with the wife and Commander, leaving the Handmaid as a incubator only for the fetus.
Beyond this extremely odd way of procreating, the entire story creates a lasting impact. The society is strict and forbidding. Nothing is permitted. Some male figures of authority were afforded luxuries but that is all. Offred's first person narration is full of satire and biting commentary on the state of her life. Previously, she had been a mother and wife. She knew what love was. All of that was stripped away and the enormity of that pain becomes very real to the reader. Offred is so lonely and sad that she creates numerous versions of some of the more exciting aspects of her otherwise dull existence. She also creates various versions of the truth about her real life before Gilead.
I particularly enjoyed Atwood's style. She uses a lot of anaphora and parallel structure in order to create Offred's wit. For example, Offred says, "I would like to be without shame. I would like to be shameless. I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was."
She has shame and she is an independent thinker. Then, however, she gives herself no slack when she does something less than great under normal circumstances. In her circumstance doing stupid things was all that kept her alive.
