Movies - The Handmaid's Tale

Home > Listing Index > Movies > The Handmaid's Tale

	Movies - The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a 1985 dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (essentially, dress codes) play a key role in the form of social control in the new society.

The novel was completed while Atwood was a visiting professor in the English Department at the University of Alabama.

The novel is commonly used for college-level (A-level in the UK) English courses, usually in comparison with other dystopian-themed novels. The American Library Association lists it in "10 Most Challenged Books of 1999" and as No. 37 on the "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000" due to a high volume of complaints from parents of pupils on these courses regarding the novel's anti-religious content and sexual references.

Themes

Dystopia

A revolution has taken place and the United States has become a dystopia. The Constitution has been abrogated, and a new order has been established: the Republic of Gilead. The Republic of Gilead is ruled through biblical propaganda and rigid enforcement of social roles. Most citizens have been stripped of their freedoms. All religions, except the official state religion, have been suppressed. Those who do not conform to the new societal norms are pressed into service as maids and personal servants or deported to "the colonies" (regions where pollution has reached toxic levels) — if they are lucky. Political and religious dissidents, abortionists, and homosexuals are executed and hung at "The Wall" for public display. The government has proclaimed martial law due to the destabilizing effect of "hordes of guerrillas" roaming the countryside, although the actual threat from the "guerrillas" may be greatly exaggerated.

In Gilead, many people are infertile for reasons explored only in the coda to the story. It is possibly due to the ecological disaster which has made parts of the country uninhabitable. Fertile women are forced to engage in sexual reproduction for the benefit of the upper classes. Lower class women who cannot reproduce are exiled. Although men may also be infertile, it is fundamental to the Gileadan power structure that they be beyond reproach. According to the state, the problem is not with the men, it is always with the women. Women who cannot conceive after their third placement are deemed barren, and sent to the dreaded colonies with all the other "Unwomen" - resulting in many genuinely fertile Handmaids seeking to impregnate themselves using alternative methods. For example, when Offred goes to visit the Doctor, he offers to "do the job" for her. Similarly, Serena Joy setting up Nick with Offred, so that she may conceive, and produce a child for Serena Joy and her husband (and thus save Offred, though Serena isn't concerned with Offred's safety).

Subjugation of women

Gilead, women are stripped of their independence. They are no longer allowed to hold property, arrange their own affairs, make reproductive choices, read, wear make-up, or choose their clothes. Women are segregated into categories, and dressed according to their social function. Seven legitimate categories (Wives, Daughters, Widows, Aunts, Marthas, Handmaids, and Econowives), and two illegitimate functional categories (Unwomen and, secretly, prostitutes), are mentioned in the novel.

Socially accepted and promoted categories of women in Gilead

# White women seem to be the default in the Gilead society. In the novel, the two main non-white ethnic groups mentioned are African Americans and Jewish Americans. Both are quickly shuttled away per the fundamentalist Gileadan interpretations of the Bible. The value of reproduction of white women in America is privileged over that of others. This is an underpinning assumption of the book. # Wives are at the top social level permitted to women. They are women married to the Commanders who are the ruling circle of the new military dictatorship. They are often infertile for unknown reasons, possibly related to an unexplored ecological disaster or effects of a bioweapon. Wives always wear blue dresses. With the death of the husband, a Wife becomes a Widow, and must dress in black. It is implicitly suggested in the novel that Widows are also being sent to the colonies. # Daughters are the natural or adopted children of Wives, and though not mentioned perhaps also of Econowives. They wear white until marriage (at 14). The narrator's daughter had been adopted by one of the Wives who are infertile. # Aunts have the duty of training and monitoring the Handmaids. In return they receive — relatively speaking — a substantial degree of personal autonomy. It is a central organisational element of Gilead that women be used in the social repression of women. Aunts dress in brown suits. # Handmaids are fertile women whose social function is to bear children for the Wives. Handmaids are subjected to a monthly reproductive ritual derived from the biblical story of Rachel and Leah's reproductive competition (Genesis 29:31–35; 30:1–24). Handmaids dress in a red habit with a white head-dress which obscures their peripheral vision. The Aunt system produces Handmaids, by reeducating fertile women who have broken Gileadean gender laws. Due to the demands of Wives for fertile Handmaids, Gilead gradually increased the number of gender-crimes. Additionally, the Aunt system promotes the role of the Handmaid, and seeks to legitimise the role of Handmaid by removing any association with gender-criminality. # Marthas are infertile women whose compliant nature and domestic skills recommend them to a life of domestic servitude in the houses of the elite. There is conjectural evidence that Marthas may be African Americans (in the chapter "Shopping"), reflecting a long tradition of the American elite using black slaves and domestic workers as house servants. However, since black people (referred to in the novel as the "Children of Ham") are described as having been relocated into bantustans, this is unlikely. Marthas dress in green smocks. # Econowives are women who have married low ranking bureaucrats. Econowives are expected to perform all the female functions: domestic duties, companionship, child-bearing. The 'Econowife dress is multicoloured: red, blue and green to reflect their multiple roles. It is believed by Aunt Lydia that one day, no-one will have to be an Econowife, suggesting that they are just temporary measures within Gilead.
[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for The Handmaid's Tale ]

Some related entries: Kevin Reynolds | Robin Hood and the Sorcerer | National Society of Film Critics Awards 2003 | Van Helsing | The Lemon Drop Kid | Babylon 5: In the Beginning | Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life | War Party | Hitler, Beast of Berlin | Martha Coolidge | Only The Strong
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article The Handmaid's Tale; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay