Too Believable For a Fairy ‘Tale’ (Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood)

Member Name: sarashaw100

Product:	Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Date:	04/10/01 (602 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: exciting, original, gripping

Disadvantages: im scared now, still scared, even more scared

June is a prisoner by her country. But then all women are that can have children. She lives in a hall that used to be a gymnasium and sleeps on an army bed. She cannot talk to anyone or even have contact. She is watched as she sleeps and no men are allowed in the building she is in, this is the republic of Gilled. The Aunts control her. These are the women who teach (or should I say brainwash) them into believing they are doing well.

With no communication June, who is known now as Offred (of Fred), is desperate to talk. The book is full of sexual images, need and wants. The fact that you cannot deny people of contact be it verbal or physical. The girls are not even allowed to read or write. All books have been destroyed and all written visible word is now drawn in pictures.

Set in what used to be The United States a rebel force has taken over the country. There has been a nuclear war and most people have become impotent. The women that are not are turned into handmaids. These handmaids go from house to house trying to bear the owners children. They have three chances, if they do not do this they will be forced to clear up nuclear waste until they die (survival rate is about 6 months).

The handmaids don’t just go house to house though. They perform the ceremony while they are there. I want to share this with you to show the horror of the situation, which is really legal rape. The commander’s wife sits down and then June lays on her. They hold hands and the commander then has sex with her. Nice huh?

The handmaids where a long robe which is red. They have a veil to hide their face and there hair is hidden. All you can see of them is the red object walking down the road. The idea of covering up is very similar to Muslim dress or the habit a nun wears. The handmaid’s cannot drink or smoke. They have a healthy diet and regular exercise to keep them fit.

So as you can tell this is a book that is very unusual
to what we know in today’s society. It is a religious world fighting a religious war. The handmaids are held against there will showing us that this world of violence and anger. Religion is the main aspect of the book really. The world is based on the Christian religion from the language used being very biblical to the way they dress and act. There is not just Christianity however. Nazi ideas are raised in the killing off of the weak (by clearing nuclear waste). Slavery is raised as well and will power. People will go past any boundary to get what they need. Mentally or physically. In June’s case this would be communication.

So who else is in Gilliad? Well the men at the top who are in charge are called commanders; they are allowed handmaids of their own. Their wife’s are called the commanders wife’s. They are expected to be good little wives and sit at home doing nothing. The Mather’s are the women doing the household choirs and the handmaids, well they get pregnant. There are guardians who do the commanders jobs like clean the car and drive, Ect… Then there are the angels. These are the people under the commanders who fight in war and keep everything under control.

So now that we know who is who a bit more about the book? Well it is on the A-Level syllabus (I know because I am studying it at the moment). The book is 324 pages long and was written in 1985 (the year I was born). It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction and the Governor Generals Award. It is a classic and original book, however bares some similarity to the book 1984 by George Orwell.

This whole book from what I have said may sound unbelievable, but it has scared me so much. They way the rebellion force talks over America is worrying because, it could happen. June goes into a shop and her credit card has been frozen, all women’s money has. Slowly step-by-step things happen and soon she is in the gymnasium, or what Gi
lliad calls, ‘The red centre’.

So how is the book written that makes it interesting and different? Well it is constructed like we are inside June’s head hearing her thoughts allowed. The story is very jumpy the way your mind is when you think. You make a connection between one thing and another i.e. oranges may make you think of your holiday last year to a hot country, which may make you think about the beach, and so on. Thus this is what the book is like.

The story is not told in order. We find little out by little and only towards the end do we find out the whole story, this keeps you hooked. So when is this book set. NOW. Today, tomorrow. Now. As you read it you can see everything being so easy to happen, it makes it hard to sleep at night.

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