How have scholars responded to Margaret Atwood’s 1985 book ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?

Margaret Atwood’s book ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a dystopian novel that was published in
1985. This controversial book has been widely discussed by scholars since its publication. It is
believed that the novel is a warning for the society and shows what might happen in the future. The
main themes in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ are feminism, sexuality and religion. This essay will
examine how scholars responded to the dystopian novel and how the main themes are presented.

One of the main topics covered in the book is feminism. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ raises such
issues as access to education, equality in a workplace, childbirth and the right of having charge of
their own life. Freedom of women is rigorously restricted in this novel; they cannot go wherever
they want, do whatever they want, study, read, write, vote and every their public move is watched
by police. The government uses women to increase the birth rate in the country. The main tasks of
women are giving a birth to a child and run a household. Furthermore, they are completely
controlled and dependent on the state and men. The book treats women as a group, as if every
member of the group is exactly the same. That is why all the handmaids wear the same red dresses.
In feminism, this generalization is regarded as the main way to establish patriarchy and use power
against women. The conclusion about the whole group is made on the basis of a few members of
this group.

Sex and sexuality is fully controlled in the Republic of Gilead. Only those women who have
reached a certain social status have a possibility to get married. But even the commander cannot
have sex with his wife, even though they both want to. Besides, pornography and sexual clothing
are destroyed, gays and lesbians are executed, divorce and second marriages are forbidden, but
sexual relations that are supported by the Bible are allowed.

The theocracy reigns in Gilead and it means that the church and the state are combined and
they form a government. The biblical explanations are used by people in order to justify their
behavior and lifestyle. As an example, the Commander says some bible verses every day to
substantiate the intimacy with the handmaid. In the novel, the Old Testament is twisted in order to
legitimize Gilead. It says that infertility is a female issue, it allows execution, but gays and lesbians
should be put to death. “The spiritual leaders of Gilead do not observe the religious rights of the
system themselves and it leads us to believe that religion is a tool in their hands because they are the
dominant group”( Roohollah,2018).

"The Handmaid's Tale" is a multi-faceted work that raises very important issues that can be
seen from different perspectives. This novel does not have a clear finale, readers have an
opportunity to come up with their own ending, but the story will not leave anyone indifferent and
will be discussed for a long time by scholars, critics and ordinary people.
 Atwood.M. (1985). “The Handmaid's Tale”. Toronto: McClelland and stewart.

Callaway.A. (2008). “Women disunited: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as a

critique of feminism”. San Jose: State University.

Gulick, A. (1991). “The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: examining its utopian,
dystopian, feminist and postmodernist traditions”. Iowa”: State University Ames.

Jadwin.L. (2009). “Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985): Cultural and Historical
Context”. Rochester: St. John Fisher College.

Roohollah, R. (2018). “The Handmaid’s Tale Through the Lens of Marxism. Studies in
Literature and Language”. Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 16-20.

Johnson. D. (2018). “The Handmaid’s Tale, Feminism, and the Dangers of Religion”.
Psychology Today.