MARGARET ATWOOOD

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Literary Analysis: The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale is a novel categorized as dystopian published in 1985. The novel is set in the near future of New England in a strongly theocratic and patriarchal state of Gilead after it overthrew the United States government (Atwood, 36). Offred is the narrator and central character in the novel. She plays the role of a handmaid and is one among the many women that are captured and forcefully assigned the duty of producing children for commanders who are the ruling class at the time. The novel explores the theme of a patriarchal society using the narrator’s voice and experiences. It delves into resistance and attempts by not only the captured women to gain independence but also independence and individuality. The title of the book echoes the deep limitation of people’s rights particularly women who are not only denied the right to control their reproductive abilities but also denied the right to read, handle property and even handle money.

Worth noting, the author of the text does not bring out the main idea of the thesis as it is not easy to easily point to the central idea of the book at the first glance. However, the author made sure to let the readers know that the text is about the suffering that women go through at the hands of the radical political groups which attacked and killed the US president and majority of congress (Bacci, 156). The readers experience the mood that transpires during the regime of military dictatorship under Gilead. From the main idea, it is clear that the author took sides and was not in support of the oppression that people were put through. The essay employs an introduction that presents the central idea of the text. By just reading the introduction, the readers have an idea about what the story will be all about. Generally, the writing is vivid and understandable. One does not struggle to know exactly what the story is about. Without a doubt, some parts of the essay are rather confusing particularly the scene where Offred is being dragged away after Seren discovered that she had a relationship with the commander and she was pregnant. It is not clear where the men want to take Offred and her capture leaves the reader with questions about where they would take her.

The essay is well organized with the ideas developed and separated into paragraphs. The middle section does not have many subheadings but either way it is well-coordinated and organized. Each paragraph is well developed with a topic sentence which gives the reader an idea about what the paragraph will address (Beatriz, Costa and Danielle, 61). Further, the author employs the use of well-structured transition sentences to help bring correlation between the previous paragraph and the one that follows. The text used does not have a strong vocabulary; the language is persuasive and understandable for the reader. The authors employ the use of strong nouns, verbs, or adjectives that are well understood by the reader. Further, the text uses facts to support its claims and it employs minimal use of quotes from the novel. Additionally, the author uses quotations from the secondary source. The quotations are in line with the updated MLA guidelines for each work cited, there is a corresponding citation. The quotations that have been introduced are well explained. The essay has a concluding paragraph that summarizes the central ideas in the text and restates the thesis. Without a doubt, the conclusion provides a sense of completion for the essay. As regards, the formatting, the paper is well-formatted in line with academic writing guidelines.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. SF Film, 2018.

Bacci, Francesco. “The Originality of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Children of Men: Religion, Justice, and Feminism in Dystopian Fiction.” Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory 3.2 (2017): 154-172.

Beatriz, Clarice, Costa Söhngen, and Danielle Massulo Bordignon. “The handmaid’s tale: a legal-literary essay1.” (2019).