Though originally published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood rings as true a warning as ever. Its relevancy has remained timelessly consistent, especially now with the abortion law crisis unfolding in the US. In the foreword to the text, Atwood describes her motivation in writing such an unpleasant story: it is a version of reality she hopes—now that it has been told, forever preserved between pages of fiction—won’t come to pass. I believe she has achieved this goal, or at the very least a fraction of it. The reality taking place in Gilead is not altered beyond recognition from our own, which is why The Handmaid’s Tale is a story that incites fear. The reader is pulled into the Republic of Gilead, and often it feels as though you are watching the tale unfold through your own eyes, rather than Offred’s.
Within the novel, a heavy theme of contrast is displayed frequently, that of which being referred to as the old world and the new. Atwood achieves a sense of realism by sprinkling global normalities into her writing. For example, the way Offred remembers once having the ability to use a phone. This tugs at something within the reader, making you think, “This could be me.” It pushes you into the story, whether you want it to or not. You become a handmaid.
Another literary device Atwood employs is the specific, at times formulaic structuring of her paragraphs (I like to refer to it as the Sandwiching Structure). She opens a paragraph with the character performing some sort of action: entering a room, or walking down a road or path. This draws you into the scene. She then expands the narrow viewpoint of the reader using, you guessed it, descriptions. Descriptions, descriptions, descriptions. Perhaps a simile or two. A metaphor to shake things up. And yet, the descriptiveness of her writing doesn’t take away from the overall story. It only immerses you further into the richness with which Atwood has created her world.
As aforementioned, Gilead’s reality is not our altered reality. It is real, as much now as it was thirty-four years ago. We are living in Offred’s old world, but the new one is on the horizon. Laws are still being enacted today that are enforcing the inequality with which woman have been drowning in for centuries. We are still being treated as lesser. The scales remain to be tipped unfairly. Unless we create change. It’s not about pro-life or pro-choice. It’s about the free-will of a group of people having been taken away. It’s about allowing our bloody history to repeat itself. A vicious, never-ending cycle.
Make no mistake. We will not allow our choices to be made for us.
We will not become handmaids.