First of all, the sci-fi element surprised me–being an Atwood novel. But she (who I can’t help but say reminds me of Rhea Perlman [Carla on Cheers] ) has always played a bit with time and the lives of her characters.
The writing’s a bit laborious, although it appears I’ve flown through forty pages without realizing it. The protagonist, Offred (of Fred?), seems to be a designated childbearer in the world of the future. But the writing, as I say, is all tell:
We turn the corner onto a main street, where there’s more traffic. Cars go by, black most of them, some gray and brown. There are other women with baskets, some in red, some in the dull green of the Marthas, some in the striped dresses, red and blue and greend and cheap and skimpy, that mark the omen of the poorer men. Econowives, they’re alled. These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can. Sometimes, there is a woman all in black, a widow. There used to be more of them, but they seem to be diminishing. You don’t see the Commandeers’ Wives on the sidewalks. Only in cars. (p. 24)
I used to read a lot of science ficture and a bit of fantasy, but one thing that strikes me here is the specific social status of the populace. This seems a common trend in stories about a future world and I wonder about it; it being so in conflict with our centuries of gearing towards a world where all are equal. Is it a throwback to our past? What makes the author dream up a world where this division becomes the norm?
In Atwood’s novel there are Marthas, Angels, Aunts, Wives, Handmaids, Guardians, Commandeers, etc. There are uniforms. There are the oppressors and the oppressed. Can we not dream up new evils for mankind but instead, must reach into our past?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
I’m not sure we can hope to reach ‘equality’. Because we all want to improve and to be better we must reach higher, and with each step we must shed that which is lower to maintain that increase. It’s a dynamic, difficult to comprehend, hard to explain, but yet in my confused thinking, it somehow seems as necessary as the curve of a wheel.
The Handmaid’s Tale is an intriguing novel which demonstrates just how powerful men can be. They strip the women of their independence and treat them as no more than objects. This is a must read novel which has several gripping parts which fill you with emotion.