Handmaid\'s Tale by Margaret Atwood

¶ … Handmaid's Tale

Atwood Creation of Alternate World

About the Book

The book Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood is the tale of a woman named Offred who belonged to the Republic of Gilead. Some particular details were published at the time the novel that recommended Gilead's time frame to be in the current since the State of Gilead is now appears as the new form of a northeastern American State.

The story is a bitter mockery on the state of present day's culture, with alertness of what may happen if some particular extremist groups attain the strength and power. However, the significant and main theme of the novel is not only just on the liberty and freedom but also a debate as to whether the freedom from harm is more costly than the independence of ones own will.

Atwood Creation of Alternate World

The author has written the book on the long tradition and a near-future dystopias, which, since the early 50s has made up a great part of SF. Thus, the author, in the Handmaid's Tale gives to a certain extent an extrapolation of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, in order to picture what type of values may develop if environmental pollution provides most of the individual race sterilized. She gives the outcome of debates if the period 70s and early 80s within the feminist movement.

The way she has created an alternative world in the structure and characterization is due to the fact that she has been a part of that movement, who always adamant on her individual viewpoint. She discusses the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, along wit the emergence of the religious right all she has experienced.

Furthermore, the election of Ronald Reagan, along with and many kinds of backlash against the women's movement led to writers like her that had the apprehension that the antifeminist tide may turn back the clock if it could not prevent further gains for women.

Thus, Atwood considered the aspects and researched few of the traditional attitudes that she found exceptionally threatening and were rooted in the thinking of the religious right.

However, a social controversy lies beneath this novel since it was during the early 80s that a debate fumed about the feminist attitudes specifically towards sexuality and pornography. Although, the candid and blunt feminists took all types of positions such as all erotica portrayed women as sexual objects was humiliating, and as for pornography, it was bad though erotica could have been good. Between all this the author was struggling through her experiences and was struggling the antifeminist movements.

Atwood thus, gives a lot if information and facts about the Gilead society's policies and took the opportunity to highlight the present tendencies that may lead in the direction depicted in the novel. Although the novel has not been set in the 'real' world, but it may gives realistic facts as how they world can become since the author has gone through such experiences both fictionally & in reality too.