The Handmaid's Tale

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To provide social commentary regarding the devastating possibility of a patriarchal theocracy, Margaret Atwood pulls from many past real events. In a 2003 interview with John Stroumboulopoulos, Atwood states that every event in The Handmaid’s Tale actually happened hinting at the plausibility of this kind of society today. For example, widespread fear of a devastating illness, like AIDS, and general feelings of foreboding permeated the 1980s (“Atwood’s Use…). Additionally, the very real possibility of nuclear disaster has terrified generations, paving the way for a plausible planet, barren of human, or otherwise, resources (“Atwood’s Use…”). In addition to frightening ecological realities, women’s role as property has been a fact of much …show more content…
Environmental disaster, widespread epidemic, polygamy and institutionalized rape are both plot elements that provide social commentary in The Handmaid’s Tale, and at the same time, past events that impacted real people’s lives (“Atwood’s …show more content…
Deceivingly dangerous, Aunt Lydia’s words to Offred invite the reader to evaluate how some people interpret freedom. She suggests, “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it” (50). Of course, for Offred, “freedom to” equals freedom to love a man who was married before. It means, freedom to care for the daughter she brought into this world. However, the architects of Gilead made the decision that “freedom from,” for example, an alleyway rape ironically validates the institutional rape of what have become handmaids. Atwood again invites critical analysis of the ways in which a society’s actions impact others. The Commander accurately suggests that, “Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse for some” (68). In the Commander’s mind, laws that lead to the perpetuation of the human race are worth it, despite the
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