A brief analysis of 'A Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
First published in 1986




Life as we know it has changed. Women are seen as inferior beings to men and they are ranked. There are the handmaids, whom all other women look down on, the Martha's, who are maids, and the wives. The novel begins with an oppressed handmaid in a training camp, which is really a disused school gym. This is where the girls are educated and taught to abide in an appropriate manner for a handmaid. Throughout the novel there are many flashbacks, which portray to the reader that, these girls once lived a normal life just like us, yet they were suppressed by men and forced into becoming inferior beings.

The handmaid whom we learn about lives with a Commander. She leads a very restricted life and is not even allowed to walk into town without another handmaid as a chaperone. She is desperate to rebel yet initially too frightened. Another handmaid introduces her to a 'handmaid secret society' and she realises that there ...