Recently Read: The Handmaid's Tale

I don't know why I never discovered Margaret Atwood before this. She is a Booker Prize winner and in her native Canada, something of a national treasure.

The Handmaid's Tale is a modern classic, one that is studied in university classes both as an example of "dystopia" novels as well as an expression of the fears of the feminist movement in the 1980's. I had not known any of this when I started reading the novel, knowing only that it was recommended by many liberal-leaning North American women who have grave concerns over the right-wing idealogies of the current US administration. They said that this book is a chilling portent of what may happen if the religious right seizes control.

I read this book during my daily train commute, and had it done within a week. Atwood's prose is simple and elegant. Her ideas may be elegant but are anything but simple. She tells us the dangers of religious extremism by depicting a post-revolution world where America has regressed into a sort of pseudo-Victorian state. In the Republic of Gilead, men are in charge, everyone praises the Lord, television, advertising and commerce are things of the past and most chillingly, selected women are designated as "Handmaids". These are women who are of child-bearing age, who are unmarried, or forceably separated from their husbands because only marriages between previously unmarried people are considered valid. In this dystopia, childbirth rates are alarmingly down, and these Handmaids fulfil the role of ensuring the continuation of the species. They are assigned to high ranking officials of the new regime, to live in their homes, together with their wives. They has only one responsibility: to become pregnant and give birth.

The titular Handmaid is Offred - "Of Fred". Fred is the name of the Commander to whom she has been assigned. She has her own name, but we are never told what it is. All the handmaids are identified "Of" whomever they are assigned to. This book is told in the first person, from Offred's perspective. In the first few chapters, she describes her daily life as a handmaid and her relationship with the Commander and the members of his household. Her relationship with the Commander's wife is prickly and uncomfortable. I found this to be one of the most interesting aspect of the book. Written by a feminist, this is a fascinating exploration of two very different women living in very circumstances, one seemingly more privileged, but ultimately, both equally hellish.

Everymonth, during her fertile period, Offred, the Commander and the Commander's wife perform the Ceremony. This is the monthly attempt at impregnating the Handmaid, with the wife participating to symbolically establish that the Handmaid is simply a proxy womb and that any child conceived is spiritually of husband and wife. The Handmaid is nothing more than a necessary third middle man. This part of the book showed how religious fervour can be twisted into very strange practices.

The first person narrative ends on an ambiguous note, with Offred being whisked away by the Commander's driver, Nick. Offred and Nick had become lovers, and she sought solace in him, driven into his arms initially by the Commander's wife in an attempt to get Offred pregnant and out of her life (I believe that the wife knows her husband to be infertile). Luke claims to be a member of an underground resistance group. Offred puts her fate in his hand, while not entirely believing if he is telling her the truth.

The best part of the book for me is the Historical Notes at the end. This is set sometime in the future, many years after the timeline of the main narrative. It is in the form of a keynote speech being delivered at an academic conference. The speaker, Professor Piexito is speaking about a brief period in American history when the USA became the Republic of Gilead. He is speaking about a set of recorded tapes, narrated by a woman who lived in Gilead. We learn that Offred had narrated her tale on these tapes, that they were recovered from an underground safe house. In the style of a typical academic lecture, the Professor examines the context of the tapes, the techniques to establish its origins and the methodology of attempting to identify the narrator. He narrows down the identity of the Commander to two possible men named Fred and tells us more about Gilead and how it came to be, in the process. Ultimately, there is not enough surviving evidence to establish who Offred herself is or what became of her.

This book is deserving of its classic status. Some of its ideas about feminism might seem outdated now, but I think its message has a renewed relevance in today's world or rising fanaticism and fundamentalism.