The Handmaid’s parable: the end is thigh!

Daniel Botero Arenas 11.II

7. What is Margaret Atwood warning us about and how does she oblige us to consider it?
Critically-acclaimed works of fiction are, for the most part, parables
Behind the preference of some individuals for fictional literature (genre fiction in particular) lies an
underlying desire for escapism and analgesia. This in turn can be understood as a reaction to the
absurdities –or, in the more somber cases, the pains- of everyday life. However, the best works of fiction
are oftentimes jam-packed with the very same issues which originate this flight from reality, whereupon
they assume a thematic or climactic role. Historically, fiction capable of incorporating real conflicts (be
they moral, religious political, or downright philosophical) into its plotline has transcended the socially-
perceived lowliness of dime novels and pulp magazines, thus acquiring artiness before the public eye and
aesthetic superiority for tenured over-analyzers. This sheds light on the Orwellian mantra, which holds
that “all art is propaganda”.1
Therefore, the presence of a propagandistic moral or message can be inferred from the near-universal
acclaim which the handmaid’s tale has hereto garnered. The shape and form this message takes
corresponds to the novel’s placement within bookshelves; its dystopian quality, that is.
Thomas Less: the dystopian novelist as an alphabetized doomsday preacher
All dystopian novels are conditioned –more so than any other fictional literary genre- by the fears and
aversions of their author’s time period. In fact, the dystopian novel can be simplified as the hyperbole of
the negative contemporary societal qualities (as opposed to the Utopian novel, which is best described as
out of print). The maximum extrapolation of contextually defined evil. Even the earliest exponents fulfill
these requisites: the biblical dystopias of Nineveh, Sodom and Gomorrah embodied the sinful behavior
which the Israelites condemned; Johnathan Swift satirized the meddlesome European politics and the
fledgling natural sciences of his day (through the cities of Lilliput and Laputa, respectively). Furthermore,
by virtue of their ability to construct a negative vision of the future, they warn the reader against the
proliferation of existing evil –made possible by his/her leniency thereto. Faced with a future where social
ills have become lawful, prevalent or compulsory, the reader is obliged to consider them in their existing
form – and the necessity of moral prophylaxis.
Having outlined the psychology behind dystopian fiction –and its moralistic fortune-telling- we can
discern the specific grievances which drove Atwood to actually writing the handmaid’s tale. It must be
noted that behind its axiomatic moral certainties, the novel displays a heightened awareness of the
interrelatedness and comorbidity of some social evils, and as result many of its themes are best presented
as couples. These unions make Atwood’s’ warnings all the more pressing and incisive; they turn dystopia
into a consequential phenomenon, rather than an unexplained plot point.

1
http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/dickens/english/e_chd
Patriarchy as a consequence religious fundamentalism
Needless to say, theocracy is a ubiquitous, recurrent topic within the annals of dystopian literature (one
might even say that it stands responsible for the beheading of the genre’s originator). From this
perspective, the Republic of Gilead may strike the reader as a rather unremarkable, overtly-familiar
setting. However, the warning behind Atwood’s iteration of Christ-o-fascism is endowed with greater
specificity, and deals with the religious endorsement of gender inequalities2 in the guise of traditional
values and moral fitness.
The author herself has gone to great lengths (beyond the plotline’s breadth, that is) to emphasize Gilead’s
religiously-condoned oppression of women. In the meta-fictional Historical Notes, professor Pleixoto
describes this dystopia as one of “Two Late-Twentieth-Century Monotheocracies” (alongside Iran) which
reinstated a nonconsensual “form of simultaneous polygamy practiced both in early old-testament times
and in the former state of Utah”3. This alleged biblical precedent is instrumental in the legality and social
acceptability of sexism within the novel’s universe. Indeed, the patriarchal stratification found in the
handmaid’s tale- with womankind split into wives, Aunts, Marthas, Handmaids and Unwomen- bears
close resemblances to the caste systems which almost all western/eastern religions endorsed at some point
in history. Handmaidens can be understood as a reissue of the age-old concubine –renamed and
repackaged by official Sons of Jacob think tanks to appease public sensibilities in an age of mass media
(Frederick R. Waterford, Gileadean authority figure –and possible identity for Commander Fred- enjoys a
“background in market research”. This is no coincidence; Atwood is most likely warning the reader
about the résumés future enslavers). The property status of the Handmaid is evidenced by her duties (she
is to be raped routinely during the esoteric ceremony) and her assigned name –which consists of her
masters’ prefixed with the preposition “Of” (i.e. Ofglen, Ofwayne, Ofwarren and Offred. Curiously, the
latter stops short of earning a Nickname)”). Piety and submissive femininity are personified jointly by
Gileadean role models (Serena Joy has successfully evolved from televangelist to trophy wife).
It must be noted, however, that Atwood’s Republic of Gilead is not necessarily a warning against religion
itself (nowhere in the novel is religion identified as inherently patriarchal). Indeed, a great number of
religious groups are branded as rebels and persecuted by the regime (Baptists, Catholic, Jehovah’s
witnesses and Jews4). Religion, within the handmaid’s tale, is critiqued as the potential enabler and
vindicator of inequalities (sexual or otherwise). All in all, it cannot be denied that the novel’s over-
arching feminist message supersedes the anticlerical, atheistic views it may-or-may-not champion.
Infertility (and, by extension, political instability) as a consequence of pollution
Or, more abstractly, disease as a direct consequence of environmental disruption. According to the
Historical Notes (far more reliable than Offred’s tangential, almost incoherent narration) the pre-
Gileadean period was plagued by “Stillbirths, miscarriages, and genetic deformities” attributed to
“various nuclear-plant accidents, shutdowns, and incidents of sabotage that characterized the period, as
well as to leakages from chemical and biological-warfare stockpiles and toxic-waste disposal” together
with the “uncontrolled use of chemical insecticides, herbicides, and other sprays”. Through the novel, the
Republic of Gilead –with its emphasis on child-bearing-is often defended as a political remedy for this
“sharply declining birthrate”. For Aunt Lydia, Gilead provides the freedom from in place of freedom to,
prioritizing safety and survival. Unlike the religious polemic, the causality here is unmistakable: A man-

2
Alongside racism and sectarianism, but these forms of discrimination have a marginal effect on Offred’s diaries;
and are given an almost non-canonical status.
3
Historical Notes
4
Chap 4
made ecological crisis engenders a public health crisis which devolves into a public order crisis
whereupon fascism can flourish. This logic of ecological cause and effect is restated in Atwood’s 2015
article for Matter, titled “It’s not climate change –it’s everything change”5. Her association with the cli-fi
subgenre is equally noteworthy.

Dry academicism in the study of human suffering

The Historical Notes addendum –despite its use in the elaboration of this homework- is ultimately
satirical, and was included by the author to lampoon yet another (arguably lesser) wrongdoing. The
section ridicules the dry, detached treatment given by academics –chiefly historians- to the emotionally-
charged, personal experiences of victims like Offred. As keynote speaker Professor Pieixoto deconstructs
the handmaid’s tale into a collection of factoids, displaying little empathy or emotional involvement in
the process. His audience, with its cued applause, canned laughter and prioritization of lunch hour,
appears to be just as oblivious –if not malevolent. The Twelfth symposium on Gileadean studies as a
whole has seemingly turned the tribulations of a mother into a historiographical scavenger hunt, wherein
Offred’s diaries become “crumbs the Goddess of History has deigned to vouchsafe us.”

With this farcical epilogue, Atwood has toyed with the reader’s need for closure after the tragic yet
unresolved events of the 46th chapter, projecting her own grievances and indignation (which, as
mentioned above, is standard practice in the dystopian genre). The chronology of these Historical Notes is
slyly manipulative as well: set in the year 2195, they are possibly underestimating the reader’s future,
which –owing to the believability of the Gileadean dystopia- may very well turn out to be Offred’s past.

Therefore, we will find that the handmaid’s tale is a handmade vessel for Margaret Atwood’s social
grievances and anxieties –portrayed in a worst-case scenario in which they have taken over the world. Its
significance, however, is not only cathartic. In its causal, consequential understanding of (what is often
termed) evil lies a veritable warning about the trouble ahead.

5
https://medium.com/matter/it-s-not-climate-change-it-s-everything-change-8fd9aa671804#.nwhzu94cp