The Handmaid’s Tale by Margert Attwood has recently become a cultural phenomenon. The original book came out in 1985 and Hulu show started airing in 2017. The 1985 book was a literary hit that Attwood wrote to reflect the turmoil of the 80s. The later TV show skyrocketed the book into pop culture.
The book and show take place in Gilead, where the main character Offred is forced to be a Handmaid. Women have no rights and it even goes as far as they cannot read. Offred is a Handmaid to a Commander, meaning her purpose is to have children, since Gilead has problems with declining birth rates due to infertility problems. Her name is literally Of Fred based on her Commander’s name Fred, meaning her entire existence is based on her Commander. Women in Gilead can also be Wives, daughters, or Aunts, who are the female leaders and basically nuns. The government in Gilead was created after declaring martial law after an attack killed everyone in the government. The reality was that they were taken over by the religious right and they are now controlled by the Commanders who are the higher class men.
Attwood wrote the Handmaid’s Tale to reflect the issues of the 80s and as a cautionary tale of a future that she envisioned in 2005. A conservative president, Ronald Reagan had just been elected which led to a rise of conservatism and there was an increasing Christian right. These ideas influenced Attwood’s dystopian Gilead, where the government is controlled by the Christian right. There was also backlash against abortion in the 80s due to a film called the Silent Scream which depicted an ultrasound of an abortion and was used by pro-life groups as reasoning against abortion. Clinic bombings and arson cases were happening and the Reagan administration limited access to abortion by declaring that the US would only fund international groups that promoted natural family planning. Attwood reflected this turn in America by having abortion in Gilead punishable by death. Doctors who performed abortions before the rise of Gilead are hung on a huge wall for everyone to see and Handmaids who kill their children are also killed. The government of Gilead justifies this and the role of Handmaidens because of declining birth rates and saying that it is God’s will. Which is very evident in a society that was created by the Aunts and only accepts Christianity. Attwood observed the rise of Televangelism which is reflected in the character Serena Good, who is the Wife of Offred’s Commander, and a former TV preacher who pushed for women to be more modest and for a change in society. Attwood also turned to other countries for her ideas of what a controlling government would look like. During the 80s Romania was being controlled by Nicoli Ceausescu. He outlawed abortion and contraception and forced doctors to closely montor young women to make sure that they did not do anything to make themselves infertile. Which is what the Handmaids have to do with their doctors visits and in Gilead abortion and contraception is illegal. Attwood also took inspiration from Argentina. In 1976, a military junta took over Argentina, which is very similar to the creation of Gillead. The government of Argentina from that time would take babies from the poorer citizens and give them to the rich leaders. Over 600 children went missing. This is exactly what happened to the main character Offred, she had a daughter who was taken from her when she was forced to become a Handmaid and her daughter is raised by a Commander and his Wife. These parallels between real life and Attwood’s fiction world show how she created Gilead as a way to warn women of the time and show that what was happening could lead to disastrous results.
The Handmaid’s Tale was written as a cautionary tale for people in the 80’s but now it has been brought up to modern times with a new Hulu show. The show started airing in 2017 and was changed to reflect today’s era. Since in the original book Gilead is meant to be set in 2005 so the writers changed parts to reflect today’s political climate. Just like the book the show came out right after a conservative president was elected, this time the show came out three months after Donald Trump was elected. In the show the government declares martial law after a Islamic extremist attack that they say kills everyone in power. Unlike in the book where they say a coup kills everyone. The show’s Gilead systematically gets rid of gay people reflecting the current vice president’s views about things like conversion therapy. It also has the same strict abortion laws as the book which are even more relevant due to the current situation with many states trying to fully outlaw abortion.
Since the show has come out women have been dressing as Handmaids to protest laws that want to limit women’s choices. The Handmaid outfit which consists of a red cloak and white bonnet that is meant to cover up all of a woman and is a sign of oppression in the book has become a sign of power for women. The show changed Offred from a character who was just trying to fight to stay alive in her new reality into one who is actually fighting to change her reality. She has become a character that is a revolutionary and someone that women can look up to.
Due to the success of the show Attwood recently came out with a very requested sequel, The Testaments. A large problem with The Handmaid’s Tale is that because of Offred’s perspective of a female who is essentially at the bottom of the social class is that Offred knows little to nothing about the inner workings of Gilead. The Testaments, although it is a sequel, is not from the perspective of Offred. It is set fifteen years later and is from the perspective of three Aunts. The Aunts have the most rights of all women in Gilead. They are allowed to read and write, they live together and are not forced to get married and have kids. There are also four Aunts who were the first Aunts, most notably Aunt Lydia who was the Aunt that trained Offred in how to be a Handmaid. These four Aunts are the ones that created the laws and the system of Gilead, but of course they let the Commanders take credit for it. The Aunts like other women were forced to be in their positions against their will, they just happened to be past the age of being able to have kids. In the Handmaid’s Tale they are painted as the enemies when in reality they are in a similar situation of just trying to survive in the male controlled society. One particular story that The Testaments follows is one Aunt’s journey to undo everything that she created and how from the start she created a system that she would be able to undo. The Testaments sheds light on many questions from the first book. It explains how the Aunts keep track of genealogy to prevent incest since a good chunk of the population does not know who their parents are. It also explains how other countries are completely normal, the biggest example being Canada. The United States seems to be the only country that has gone through a huge change and women in Gilead try to escape to Canada. The Testaments sheds a lot more light on really how terrible it is for women in Gilead, the most sought after position for a women in Gilead is to be a Wife but as The Testaments explains Wives can also be in very bad situations. The new book shows how the society of Gilead is terrible for everyone but Commanders.
The Handmaid’s Tale, the show, and the Testaments follows the creation of Gilead and the fall. Along the way it shows a future that some think is scarily close to happening and it creates a character for women to relate to and use as an icon in their fight for rights. A Handmaid has become a symbol for oppressed women across the globe with notable features from the show being used in protests. Such as the Handmaid’s outfits and the quote “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”, Latin for “don’t let the bastards grind you down”, which was etched by another Handmaid into Offred’s closet. It was a message from one Handmaid to another to keep persevering and it still rings true for many women this day.
