Mirza’s Comments (group member since Mar 21, 2011)

Mirza’s comments from the Eleven Reader's Club group.

"The lawns are tidy, the façades are gracious, in good repair; they're like the beautiful pictures they used to print in the magazines about homes and gardens and interior decoration. There is the same absence of people, the same air of being asleep. The street is almost like a museum, or a street in a model town constructed to show the way people used to live. As in those pictures, those museums, those model towns, there are no children." (5.1-2)

This is the heart of Gilead. The Handmaid's Tale as narrated by Offred, is authored by Margaret Atwood. Offred lives in the novel's fundamentalist social hierarchy ruled by a select few with a dark and dull setting as pictured in the passage above. Set in the future, the rules and expectations of this loveless culture are exactly the opposite of a phrase she is quite fond of: "Don't let the bastards grind you down". The oppressive society forces its women into social classes, where it is petty things such as phrases like these carved carefully into closets and little tidbits of gossip that barely keep handmaids going. Nevertheless they wish to escape. At least Offred does.

With such laws and restrictions, Canada is the place subtly implied (in my opinion) when ideas of escape and freedom are mentioned, since the former United States is now Gilead. Here too, Canada plays a role that it has always played in the history of United States, involved in efforts synonymous to the underground railroad. For Canadian readers this instills a sense of pride and nationalism, a motif added by the author perhaps deliberately, considering she too is Canadian. Offred's nostalgic narratives are similar to the culture we find to be of North America today. Symbols of survival and courage characterize Canadian identity in the Handmaid's Tale. From it, readers are reminded to cherish, protect, and uphold the community they enjoy today and take for granted. The United States and Canada have long fought for and have thus enjoyed choice and free will. But this is a notion completely eradicated in the Republic of Gilead where a few laws from the sacred texts have been cherry picked and imposed upon the people. Canadian readers among all others are taught to value it.

Also, this book should definitely be read by Canadians because of Margaret Atwood, if you disregard all other reasons. Exquisite use of language runs the novel as a movie in your mind making it enjoyable and easy to read, a sign of good writing. It is precisely works such as these that have made her of the most-honoured fictional authors in the recent past.

First-hand narration also makes this novel an excellent read. It urges the reader to delve into its story making it familiar. Because the reader views Offred's experiences from such intimacy, the society she lives in and the expectations she is forced to live up to seem realistic. It is for this reason that Margaret Atwood has categorized this novel as 'speculative fiction'- something that is not too far-fetched from reality. Here, the dystopian society present is resultant of "logical conclusions" taken from current trends and issues. Thus, the very realistic approach to such totalitarian regimes, oppressive rules, and humiliating expectations shake readers to the core. This enlightens readers to be aware of their surroundings, should such ideas that used to be mere insight yesterday dreadfully become reality tomorrow, because it is often that people are falsely led to believe that "it can't happen here." Not only can it become a painful reality in the near-future, such events have already occurred in the past.

Simply, this is book to be read by people of all ages and backgrounds as it is exquisitely written and consists of great themes and elements that are food for thought. The Handmaid's Tale is truly a witness to a great mind at work.

The Handmaid's Tale

Rehab Mirza
For Mr.E.Giest
(ENG3U)
March 21st, 2011
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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
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I was recently exposed to Canadian literature, often reading any good book I could get my hands on previously. I found it to be a whole new ‘genre’ of reading and it comes with a whole new appeal. Despite little knowledge of the subject, I recognized Margaret Atwood as a familiar name when we studied the poem ‘It’s dangerous to read newspapers’ in English class. I found the writing to be exquisite containing an ocean of ideas in a very brief account.

I instantly chose Atwood to be the author of a novel I would read soon and found more options than I could choose from! I finally settled on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ for quite a few reasons.

Along with many good reviews about the book on Goodreads.com, it is also of a modest size- which is somewhat convenient for analysis. It has won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987, and it was nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. It has also had several adaptations in the media, since the novel remains-to this day- an idea that is relative to the modern society. More importantly, it is a dystopian novel- and this is familiar to me from the work of Orwell in his book ‘1984’. The idea of dystopia is new to me as well, but interests me greatly since many societies have been held ‘controlled’ in the past and is therefore realistic.

This speculative fictional novel is set in the Republic of Gilead- a near future world in what previously had been the United States of America. The people are under a new theocratic military dictatorship and the society is dominated by racist and chauvinistic men. Men and women are categorized by cast, class, gender and occupation within their society, a concept not uncommon in the world today.

I hope to read this novel and enjoy it :)