The Handmaid’s Tale – questions

Questions on The Handmaid’s Tale:

1. How is the novel relevant to you?

I think that it is quite hard to say that the novel is directly relevant to me as it is a dystopian novel, and we are presented with a society that would be quite hard to imagine and replicate in current times. However, there are certain aspects of the novel that are relevant to me, and that are also quite relatable. For example, one of the main concepts that can be seen within the novel is the idea of female repression – we can see that women are not given much choice in the novel, especially considering the fact that they are obligated to have children in order to remain Handmaids. We are also made aware of the fact that they are completely stripped of their identities, as we see that the Handmaids are named based on the men in charge. All of this points towards the large concept of hierarchy, and the power imbalance and thus dominance that men have in society as opposed to women. This large concept can very well relate to the society that we live in – although females are not as repressed nowadays, and there have been movements towards achieving equal rights for both men and women, this is still not completely the case, thus alluding to the fact that men still hold a slightly more dominant and superior position in society compared to women.

Another way in which the novel is relevant to me and the current times is through the ‘normality’ that is established within the novel – as the novel progresses, we understand more and more of Offred’s character, and we are thus able to see her slowly accept her fate and accept the fact that her situation will not change. She starts to listen to others around her who are saying that her situation is ordinary, and that she simply needs to get ‘used to it’. This idea of something becoming ordinary over time is quite relevant to the situation that we find ourselves in currently, with COVID-19. Over the past few months of living with the virus, we have become used to wearing masks, and social distancing – these are now things that are considered “ordinary” for us and that are a part of our daily lifestyle, but they are things that would definitely not be considered as ordinary or normal if we weren’t living under these conditions. We can therefore see a link with the novel with regards to accepting your fate and making something seem ordinary over time because there is simply no other choice.

2. What have you learnt/explored about ‘authorial craft’ that is important moving forward and that you can conceptually relate to other (non-literary) texts?

There are a lot of things that I have learnt about ‘authorial craft’ that are extremely important within the novel and that help Atwood create meaning. One of the most noticeable features of this novel is the use of the first-person narrative in order to recount the story. Although Atwood could have chosen to use second or third person narrative to tell the story, she decide to use first person narrative in order to make the novel more personal, and in order to give us deeper insight into Offred’s character, her mentality, her thoughts, emotions and views. This makes it seem as though Offred is directly speaking to the reader, and informing the reader of her thoughts. We can see the use of a similar technique within non-literary texts, and other texts, through the use of direct address and first person narrative – both of these writing techniques allow for a much more personal and relatable text. Learning how the author addresses the text with a specific purpose and audience in mind helped me understand the effectiveness of similar techniques used in non-literary texts.

Another key concept that was explored by Atwood in the novel was the idea of the historical notes, and what they contributed to the novel and to our understanding of the novel. We come to know that these messages from Offred were pieced together from tape recordings that were found. We also find out that these tape recordings had sections of music in between, and thus can conclude that it is almost as if Offred was attempting to ‘mask’ her voice behind the music, highlighting the recurring use of palimpsest. Atwood’s concept of different information needing to be pieced together from a tape almost alludes to Offred’s “broken” nature/spirit as she was forced to live in Gilead and comply to the society’s many rules and regulations. Atwood’s decision to place the historical notes at the end of the novel changed our overall interpretation of the text after having read it – this technique can also be common in non-literary texts as we can be influenced by the placement of certain images/text and the composition of the texts.