THE HANDMAID's TALE

Every week I’ll be sharing what I read with you & please share with me what you are reading to inspire ✨each other and break out of our filter bubbles. What I’m reading 📖 this week: THE HANDMAID'S TALE  // ​Want to know more? Read on!

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BOOK VS. SERIES

​This novel by writer Margaret Atwood has recently received renewed attention when it was turned into a tv series in 2017, going into a third season already.

Did you watch this series? I haven't, but finally got around to reading the book.

And isn't reading the book version almost always better than watching the filmed one?

​At least it leaves so much more to your own imagination, which to me is the essential power of novels.

The poster for the tv-series version by Hulu.

WHO's MARGARET?

Margaret Atwood, still going strong at the age of 79.

Author Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Canada and has written more than forty (!) works of fiction, poetry and critical essays during the past decades.

Many of these won awards and some got adapted as films, tv-series or even operas.

She became most famous for writing speculative novels with real-world parallels, like the Handmaid's Tale, which got published first in 1985. She recently won the Booker Prize for her latest book: The Testaments.
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A DYSTOPIAN TALE

When you flip the first page of the Handmaid's Tale, you immediately get propelled into a new world, which you see through the eyes of the female main character 'Offred', a handmaid. Page by page you understand better what this world, called Gilead, is all about. 

Because we have Offred as our voice-over, we learn that we are in the near-future and have moved from a liberal U.S.A. society into a totalitarian one, ruled by men and full of religious driven rituals. Women are stripped of their jobs, family and names. Offred means 'Of Fred', other women are called Offglen, Ofcharles, etc., showing that handmaid's are owned by men.

This new world has a kind of caste system, where people have different roles and hierarchies such as:
​Commanders (men in power), Wives (obedient wives of the Commanders), Aunts (female indoctrinators), Marthas (female cleaners & cooks), Eyes (spies of the regime).

A handmaid has the role of a child bearer, assigned to elite couples of Commander & Wife that have difficulty conceiving themselves. In a monthly 'religious' ceremony the handmaid gets raped by the Commander while the wife is present.

This child bearing is needed because the population has decreased because of environmental causes, STD-viruses and immoral sexual behaviour (read: a reference to 1985 circumstances, and even our current lifestyle and culture).

The monthly ritual of conception as visualised in the tv-series.

WHY IS THIS STORY RELEVANT TODAY?

​The novel touches upon many relevant issues surfacing in nowadays societies, like white supremacy, Christianity and women's rights.

In present-day U.S.A. these topics, such as female rights, have come to the forefront again. During Trump's presidency for example, legislation on abortion has become more strict. This novel shows one possible future scenario which today's society could evolve into. And it's not a pretty one! At least not for women, who are loosing out in this possible future.

Protesters in Handmaid inspired costumes.

The tv-series of the novel even inspired nowadays women's movements.

​The dress code of the handmaid (a red scarlet  cloak and a face-obscuring white bonnet) has become the costume for many female protesters advocating for women's reproductive rights.

A SNAPSHOT of the novel

Atwood's writing provides an in-depth, personal, human angle on this dystopian future. She has a way with describing the feelings and thoughts of Offred in a profound manner and really make you step into her shoes. Here are some quotes from the book that are interesting references on how disruptive change can almost happen unnoticed.

A revolution?
Snippet by snippet the novel shows how Gilead came into existence, as shown by the quote below. And the scary thing is, this makes so much sense. I could imagine this is how we would also act in The Netherlands: no rioting, just waiting for direction...

"They did it all at once. After they shot the President and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on Islamic Fanatics at the time. Keep calm, they said on television, everything is under control. That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it was temporary. There wasn't even rioting in the street. People stayed at home, watching television looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on."
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It takes a generation
​The generation of women in Gilead, like Offred, still have memories of different times where women had more freedom. The following quote shows that the creators Gilead are well aware of how change spreads through society:
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"You are a transitional generation. It is the hardest for you. For the ones who come after you it will be easier. They will accept their duties with willing hearts. Because they won't want things they can't have."
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No reading allowed
In Gilead, women are stripped from all kinds of activities by law, such as reading. This would be hell on earth to me! Offred sometimes get's the chance to secretly read old magazines and I can totally identify with her reading experience:

"​On these occasions I read quickly, voraciously, almost skimming, trying to get as much into my head as possible before the next long starvation. If it were eating it would be the gluttony of the famished. If it were sex, it would be a swift furtive stand-up in an alley somewhere."
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​On freedom
The restricted lifestyle in Gilead provides a stark contrast with the way of life before the totalitarian system took hold. Offred still remembers how this life felt:

​"It's strange to remember how we used to think, as if everything was available to you, as if there were no contingencies, no boundaries; as if we were free to shape and reshape forever the ever-expanding parameters of our lives."
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Looking back from the future on the future
The book has an open end but the epilogue (spoiler alert!) gives us a glimpse even further into the future. A group of academics who study the 'Gilean Period' gathers at a conference to look back on what had happened.

In the quote below one of the professors refers to elements that reminded me of the 'theory of adoption' by Everett Rogers, which I use as a framework to understand the spread of trends in society:

"As we know from the study of history, no new system can impose itself upon a previous one without incorporating many elements to be found in the latter, and Gilead was no exception to this rule."

ATWOOD'S THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE

The popularity of The Handmaid's Tale is no surprise for Atwood, as she sees today as the ultimate moment to use this story as a warning sign. Check the video below to hear her thoughts.
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,As the book's ending shows, apparently Gilead's system did not survive. But we don't know yet what happened.

​The new book by Atwood and sequel to the Handmaid's tale, The Testaments, will hopefully give some insight and direction on what we should be aware of today, to not wind up in a Gilead tomorrow.