Margaret Atwood: The Handmaid’s Tale

Name: Oláh Viktória

Subject: Modern English and American Literature and Culture
(OT-ANG17-L-310)
Lecturer: Dr. Bődy Edit

2019.

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 The structure of The Handmaid’s Tale is characterized by many different kinds of
storytelling and fiction-making.

It is very clear that The Handmaid’s Tale is a construct:

 She makes her character Offred tell us this directly in chapter 23:
‘It’s impossible to say a thing exactly the way it was, because what you say can
never be exact, you always have to leave something out, there are too many parts,
sides, crosscurrents, nuances’.

 As Offred also says later, in chapter 40, ‘All I can hope for is a reconstruction’
 In chapter 41 she apologises for her story being ‘in fragments, like a body caught
in crossfire.

As we read the section Historical Notes we can see that it has a series of tapes which seem
like unnumbered and are not arranged in an particular order but finally we consider them as
a reconstruction.

Atwood added a final feminist commentary to her feminist novel, refused a neat ending and
left us with an additional mystery. [1]

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 The story is told in First Person (Central). The information we get about Gilead is from
Offred.We can only know and experience what Offred know, experiences and remembers. We
do not know she’s real name, she is only allowed a really limited view of the world.
Nonetheless, we get to know her life, her past and her present. From a dramatic or plot
standpoint, we only discover the narrator's history and the events that led up to the foundation
of the Republic of Gilead as she reveals them, almost as an aside to her narrative about what's
happening to her at her third posting (the Commander's home). [2]

Offred would have had no access to a recording machine so her narrative must put together
at a later date from her memories. The only thing she has is her ability to remember, her mind.
Atwood wants us to see her narrative as a construct so she plays with the time-sequence. 7 of
the 15 sections of the novel are entitled ’Night’ and at these times Offred mentally escapes from
the present environment into her own mind.

She re-lives past events: times at the Red Centre, her childhood, her marriage to Luke. It is
a sharp contrast between the ’time before’ and the present in Gilead. It seems like Offred lives
in several worlds. The shifts in tense in the narrative between past and present makes us
very aware of changes in time-sequences. [1]

The third form of storytelling comes about because of the constant atmosphere of paranoia
and uncertainty, Offred makes up fictions. She must keep several stories in mind at once, which
are true at the same time. This form of storytelling is most clear in her imaginings about Luke’s
fate, where he could be dead, imprisoned or maybe escaped.

Offred also uses storytelling as a pastime. Since she has no access to any enjoyment, and
very few events happen in her life, she often goes over events from other people’s points of
view, such as her long imaginary recreation of Aunt Lydia and Janine talking about Moira, her
creative ideas about what Nick might think of her and the Commander’s relationship. With
more stories and memories than current-time actions, the book is profoundly repetitive. It forms
its own kind of simple, quiet hell—we, like Offred, are trapped within the echo-chamber of her
mind.

We can see below where, and to what degree, the theme of Storytelling and Memory
appears in each chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale. [3]

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 Moreover, Atwood increases suspense by delaying the telling of crucial facts (Offred tells
us only what comes to her mind). In the first chapter we have an unnamed narrator speaking of
an unknown group, about Aunts, undefined situations. Luke is first mentioned in chapter 2 but
we can only realise in the 5th chapter that he is in relationship with Offred and they have a
child. It leads to a new dimension to Offred’s circumstances. Later, we progressively piece
together what happened with them in their last days together. We never find out what happened
with Luke and their daughter.

On the other hand, we put together Moira’s and Offred’s mother’s ’puzzle’ together
piece by piece through the story. In chapter 22 we read about Moira’s escape from the Red
Centre, but we come to know the whole story when Offred encounters her at Jezebel’s. What
will be Moira’s final fate? We never do know…

,, Equally, although Offred recalls her mother at various times, the closest she comes to
finding out what happened after her mother’s arrest is when Moira tells Offred, at Jezebel’s, ‘I
saw your mother.. in that film they showed us, about the Colonies’.

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And of course the most significant piece of withheld information is what happens to Offred
herself - and what her real name might be.”

Much of her narration is concerned not with events or action, but with her emotional
state, which is often affected by the memories that well up from her happier past. Another fact
which proves that the novel is a construct that the reader receives different versions of the same
event. For example, in chapter 23:

‘In fact I don’t think about anything of the kind. I put that in only afterwards.’

A few lines later she tells us that the Commander asked her to kiss him ‘As if you meant
it.’ and Offred adds, ‘He was so sad’ before telling us, ‘That is a reconstruction as well.

I think that the most obvious example of Offred giving us various versions is her account in
chapter 40 of her first visit to Nick’s room.

‘Alive in my skin, again, arms around him, falling and water softly everywhere’

She then abruptly says,

‘I made that up. It didn’t happen that way. Here is what happened.’

Yet, once she has given us a more prosaic version of their sexual encounter, Offred declares,
‘It didn’t happen that way either.’

She reminds us that:

‘All I can hope for is a reconstruction: the way love feels is always only approximate.’

Another structural method should be mentioned: different voices. For instance, Moira’s
and Aunt Lydia’s voices are diametrically opposed in personality and attitude. Aunt Lydia’s
teachings at the Red Centre are reproduced in some detail( e.g. chapter 13). She frequently talks
in clichés, attacking sexual and other freedoms

This is in contradiction with Moira’s simple comments and demotic, often obscene, language

When Offred remembers on her mother’s feminist views, these too are reproduced in a different
speech style, so that we meet different people and personalities even though the whole narrative
is ostensibly told in Offred’s voice

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When we reach the Historical Notes, Atwood creates another, very different voice for Professor
Pieixoto, whose rather sarcastic, detached style is in sharp contrast to Offred’s sensitive,
thoughtful and emotionally engaged tone. [1]

My conclusion is that the narration of The Handmaid’s Tale is incredibly varied,

consciously structured and constructed, it has changing time-sequences which makes us aware
all the time. She uses different voices, as well, as a structural method. Offred’s perspective is
our perspective. We see and feel everything what Offred sees and feels, and we get to know
her story step-by-step through the ’Night’ sections and the present events. I have never read
such a genius and memorable novel, highlighted the fascinating narration.

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Sources
 [1] : https://crossref-it.info/textguide/the-handmaids-tale/31/2922
 [2] : https://www.shmoop.com/handmaids-tale/narrator-point-of-view.html
 [3] : https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-handmaid-s-tale/themes/storytelling-and-memory