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Written by Bluetear
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Saturday, 22 September 2007 18:19 |
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 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Is an alarmingly realistic portrayal of our ordinary society and how in one unimaginable day our ordinary world could be turned into a horrifyingly totalitarian theocratic state.
I was introduced to this very pro-feminist piece of fiction when I was at school. It was probably my first real face-to-face encounter with something like it and it was quite earth shattering. To date I have not heard of one single guy ever claiming to have picked up and read this book. Yet whenever I've dropped the title of this book amongst other women I hear that they too studied it whilst they were in school.
To give Atwood the credit she deserves, this book doesn't paint all men as bad guys.
In fact it looks at the way some women in our society with some worryingly suppressive views have the power to turn the tide against the rest of us. The book also looks at how in dire and depraved situations a group of people be it men, women or children will commit the most despicable acts towards one another. But it also shows how different people cope. From the wayward all fists types who prefer going out all guns blazing to the average everyday anti-heroine whose personality from the outside isn't much to be desired. Yet somehow is one of the quietest of survivors and has one of the most enduring spirits of them all.
The anti-heroine I talk of is of course Offred. She is our eyes and ears throughout the story. An everyday librarian, who wears sensible clothes married to Mr Sensible and mother of a little girl. She leads us from the beginning as if she were walking through a supermarket pushing a trolley. Suddenly the supermarket is no more and she is divided from her husband and child. Carted off like a cow to be herded for slaughter she along with all the other women in this one part of America are quarantined off according to their health status and various other stats known through various bits of data, records and files kept of them through their lives. Penned up and surrounded by electric cattle wire and beaten back with cattle prods. Their names and identities stripped along with their familiar clothing and hair. Her name Offred is given to her and simply means she is the property of Commander Fred.
What's the significance of the 'Handmaid'? The handmaid's are a bunch of women chosen solely to re-produce for the ailing population of aged stiff upper lipped hypocrites responsible for the new regime. The wives of the regime for whatever reason can no longer reproduce (possibly due to radiation poisoning or old age). Everything is formally marshaled. The wife of the house ushers the handmaid into the bedroom and is present through the whole thing. And it's no wonder that the success stories are low given the amount of vicious contempt the wives feel for the handmaid's. Offred is one of these handmaid's. Wrapped up in bright red nun-like clothing, clothes that signify her new purpose in life. To be fucked by some greasy slime ball until she can give chicken neck lady a bastard heir so that their lives can continue while she bleeds inside for her loss of identity, husband and child.
It's not all doom and gloom as Offred's new world opens up and reveals itself for what it is and new doors open leading her to new self realisations.
As you can tell I can go on about this book forever. It's not very long but at times it felt like the weight of the world. Very thought provoking and sinister. It's not your light hearted read, I'll give you that. But well worth exploring and is not just a woman's book. More men should deffinately give this one a go.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 23 March 2008 07:00 )
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