“Men often ask me, why are your female characters so paranoid? It’s not paranoia. It’s recognition of their situation.” — Margaret Atwood, The Paris Review, 1990.
Thanks to the pathbreaking novels by the likes of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and H.G Wells, most literature-lovers across the globe have an understanding of dystopian fiction as a literary genre. Of course, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, published in 1985, qualifies as one from the genre but at the same time, it also falls into the sub-genre of “feminist dystopian fiction.”
What is Feminist Dystopian Fiction?
Feminist dystopian fiction can be understood as a separate literary (sub)genre. The narrative styles in this kind of fiction propose a position for women that can be classified as a fundamental subject position. In simpler words, the dystopian novels in which the inequalities of society or subjugation of women is strongly embroidered or intensified to highlight the need for change in present-day social order fall under this subgenre.
The Handmaid’s Tale is Offensive
Having won generous acclaim and prestigious awards such as the Governor General’s Award (1985) and a nomination for the Booker Prize in 1986, The Handmaid’s Tale is offensive for the simple fact that even in 2021 (yes; precisely when women are being celebrated for breaking the glass ceilings, for having climbed the steep corporate ladders, etc), Atwood’s concerns for the lives of women stay quite relevant.
There are still many places in the world where women don’t enjoy equal rights as do their male counterparts—where sexual slavery is a norm for females and they are treated like low-grade objects deemed valuable only for their procreative capacities. However, ironically, the world depicted in Atwood’s novels also simultaneously pinpoints the hidden vices of world spheres that are seemingly utopian—that in a way look like a total reverse of oppressive patriarchal regimes but are as damaging to the status of women in the society. For instance, despite the numerous signs of progress in the world, there are still many countries that don’t allow women to exercise free will when it comes to crucial decisions related to their own bodies. There are still many women across the globe who cannot terminate a pregnancy when they don’t want a child because the government denies them their natural rights. And there are still many places where women don’t have the right to leave tyrannical marriages because of the rigid divorce laws.
Understanding the Subgenre via The Handmaid’s Tale
Ever since the release of The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, there has been a barrage of novels with similar themes but Atwood’s work is still used as a touchstone to analyze all other works that fall into the subgenre. It offers a narrative that stays significant for its practical applicability to diverse times and settings. This perhaps is one of the most important reasons why her work continues to hold interest for researchers, TV producers, and literary critics.
So, first things first, The Handmaid’s Tale came into this world at a point in time when there was a humongous curiosity for “utopian literature,” predominantly “feminist utopias.” With The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood seemingly reworks the dystopian vision of Orwell’s classic tale to fit a social superstructure governed by American Puritan tenets—that places high emphasis on “morality.” In one of her interviews, Atwood commented: “my book reflects the form and style of the early Puritan society and addresses the dynamics that bring about such a situation.” One cannot lose sight of the fact that the mid-1980s was also a period of assessment for feminists who were receiving its third wave. So, Atwood makes clever use of this precise moment of transition in the world to gauge the motivations and means of a kind of feminism that's fed heavily on theory.
The story is set in the Republic of Gilead, a dystopian theocracy in which the rich and the influential live luxurious lives while most other folks live in constant fear of punishment—for they are bound by extremely strict social rules. Atwood compares and contrasts the feminism of the 1970s with present images of Gilead’s despotism. Analyzing the feminist utopianism of the decade, Atwood crafts a story around her imagination of what human society would look like if at all those fundamentals could reach their fruition and were adopted fully by the people.
In its entirety, The Handmaid’s Tale portrays a dystopian culture that has involuntarily and absurdly met some specific feminist demands. It is noteworthy how Atwood criticizes liberal America, simultaneously revealing the oppression involved in Gilead’s utopianism. Living in the aftermath of a nuclear war, most women in Gilead have lost their reproductive capacities, because of which Gilead is experiencing deteriorating birth rates. The few fertile women are forced to continue with their role as handmaids who are attached to rich households—forced to establish sexual relations with men in these homes to bear them children. In Atwood’s own words, Gilead is a “society in which you have a sort of "farming" of women.”
Sample this, for instance, in Gilead, objectification of women and pornography are banned because the society in a way has achieved a feminist goal for females where they must feel “protected.” This tyranny establishes a new “freedom” for the women who hitherto suffered the fear of sexual exploitation. Ironically, even though Gilead claims to have defeated sexual crimes, it has in fact institutionalized sexual violation. It has empowered the affluent class to venture into stables of prostitutes and seek pleasure in the miseries of oppressed women. The novel’s central institution, the Ceremony, sanctions the commanders to commit “ritual rape” with the handmaids assigned to them. Tactfully, Atwood raises questions on the rationality of ideals (political and philosophical) that in the pursuit of this liberty are bound to make the world a sort of jail for people. To the reader, the entire story is narrated by a handmaid named Offred, who is in her thirties and is forced to work as a handmaid for she is still fertile. In the course of narration, we encounter her memories, the explorations of her mind via asides, recollections, and detours.
Writer, John Updike, in his review of the book in The New York Times expressed: “Miss Atwood has threaded a curious poem to the female condition. Offred’s life of daily waiting and shopping, of timorous strategizing and sudden bursts of daring, forms an intensified and darkened version of a woman’s customary existence, a kind of begrimed window through which glimpses of Offred’s old, pre-Gilead life – its work and laughter and minor dissipations, its female friends and husband and child, its costumes and options – flicker with the light of paradise.”
The Testaments: A Much Belated yet Most Awaited Sequel
So, almost 35 years after The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood published a sequel in 2019. Even though The Testaments generally met with mixed critical reviews, Atwood joint-won the Booker Prize for her novel—becoming the oldest author to have received the honour. The Testaments manages to strike a balance amid thrusting storytelling and references that are dark and murky. It begins 15 years ahead of where Atwood left us last in 1985. Atwood’s fans have been curious to know what happened to Offred who was taken away in an unmarked van at the end of the previous novel. Gilead continues to serve as a metaphor for today’s society. It continues to warn us about how the numerous forms of discrimination based on class, race, and sex can cause massive destruction if they remain unobstructed. Gilead continues to be symbolic of a state where women have been deprived of basic rights—where freedom to express, vote, and freely worship are rights denied to them.
The Testaments is told through overlapping personal stories narrated by three women, which collectively explain a chain of happenings that took place over 15 years after Offred’s last scene. One of these three narrators is the cruel, exploitative Aunt Lydia, who was in charge of training women to be good housemaids in the first novel. Aunt Lydia’s narrative is so captivating in the entire tale that it kind of overpowers the other two narrators who are relatively new to the readers. The sequel indeed shows the evolution of the tyrannical Aunt Lydia. The readers would be intrigued to see her as a woman seeking survival in a world where she doesn’t want the man to be her master. Even though Gilead is now rotting, Aunt Lydia’s chronicling of the unjust regime is essential as she herself has remained a part of the cruel plans and can inform the reader on how the superstructure worked. Surprising the reader, The Testaments does not follow Offred's story but mainly concentrates on Lydia’s. Through the accounts of these three women, the other two being very young women, Agnes and Daisy, Atwood successfully adds to our imagination about Gilead and continues her dystopian narrative. The writer also succeeds at fusing the past into our future. This sequel emphases less on viciousness, violence, debased state of Gilead but offers glimpses of the everyday life of the affluent classes in the republic and the power struggles.
The story does bring to light what The Handmaid’s Tale had foreshadowed: Gilead must fall. While the previous novel showed us only dark images, this one hands us hope of a revival where the suppressed and the marginalized have a chance to topple the superstructure. The Testaments is about standing up for one’s rights and standing against tyrannical regimes. It is here to tell us that in this world where subjugation has become the status quo, men and women can right the wrongs by sheer will and collective power. Even though the sequel answers many critical questions about Gilead, many stay unrequited. Perhaps Atwood wants us to interpret things based on our individual understanding and reach our own deductions.
Written by
Ambika Singh, PhD
Content Manager, Shulph
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