Imagine a world where the quality of your existence is dependent on your sex. You could say, that’s the world we live in. But that would be an exaggeration. Which becomes clear when you confront yourself with the reality presented in this novel. Its reading helps to realize that maybe it is not as bad as some radical feminist movements would claim. But it is also leaves you with the alarming feeling that something like that could happen and in fact, as history shows, did happen.
The authoress depicts Gilead – a country which used to be the USA before the whole government was assassinated. Who took over the power were men, who now are in control not only over the state, but also over women, whom they deprived of rights and property. And the women get divided into various groups, determining their status and the extent to which they are subject to the power of their supervisors. There we have Marthas, Aunts, Handmaids , Wifes and Unwomen. The system’s main goal is to maximize the level of reproduction. A woman is therefore persecuted if she cannot give birth to a child and thus support the country in the only way she allegedly can.
As far as the form is concerned at the beginning the plot is hard to follow as the reader is thrown into a world he/she doesn’t know and is not given any lifebelt. Only later do we get some retrospectives, but these are also not chronological. However, once you get accustomed with some new terms like the Eyes the novel gets engrossing.
And Atwood’s writing gift manifests more than often. I sometimes wondered, that such short lines can be so impressing. Let me quote some of them:
I have enough daily bread, so I won’t waste time on that. It isn’t the main problem. The problem is getting it down without choking on it. Now we come to forgiveness. Don’t worry about forgiving me right now. There are more important things. For instance: keep the others safe, if they are safe. Don’t let them suffer too much. If they have to die, leit it be fast. You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.
This is the prayer Offred is saying. Talking of prayers: even these are ruled by the system – the women had to pray in the specified form, there were even prayer machines. All other religious groups were in various ways eradicated. Just like gender traitors… It does ring a bell.
A good piece of literature, for sure.
Tags: handmaid's tale, margaret atwood
