The Handmaids Tale Foreword
The Handmaids tale Foreword: In an age of consumerism and commercialization, the younger generations are demanding fast satisfaction and instant returns. They want see and own within a couple of taps on their screens which are specialized, personalized, made to meet their every demand. We are in an age where possessions define you. The commercial world loves us and consequently mass production and competition increases happily. Un-till we stop to ask, what costs do these freedoms come? Recently portrayed on the big screen The Handmaids Tale shouts out a universal and timeless message .
As warning to us, Margaret Atwood presents the inconvenient truths about the ways in which we live our lives today. Dystopian totalitarian government, Gilead offers prime grounds for Atwood’s ironic and controversial comment . The novel paints a picture of a world undone by pollution, infertility, environmental degradation, declining birthrates and the dangers of nuclear power. It is a classic Reflection of the original production era, the 1980’s, in which the understanding of humanities environmental footprint went commercial
Gilead is set in a time where life had become so licentious that the morally aggrieved have overthrown, this in just over a decade. The similarities to reality in this novel lead the reader on a confronting journey, both of discovery and realization, positioning them to question society and all that is our normality. Living under the fundamentalist Gilead Ian regime, the commoner is stripped from all that they own and once lived for. It is a society in which freedom has been replaced by control.
Due to a drastic decline in fertility rates, the few fertile woman left, are now treated as communal property and are selected for the role of womb, classified as ‘Handmaids’. Women find themselves no longer allowed to read, work, own property, or handle money. Consequently they are entrapped in a system, which defines them by their role: womb, wife, prostitute, and servant. Various commanders move handmaids from house to house for fertilization and childbirth is miraculous. Reaping the benefits of this rarity are those in power .
The rare commodity of a baby is distributed to the commander and his wife. Confronting and contrasting our ways of life today, Atwood evolves a threatening statement about the system. This ‘story’, discusses the social expectations that dominate our lives . In a fictional tale not dissimilar to history, it embodies the timeless tune of human nature. Painting a disturbingly graphic picture of the future and has her audience left appreciating all that we take for granted every day.
Through the eyes of handmaid, Offred, we are transported into a totalitarian fundamentalist regime. Offred hangs on those who poison her existence. She has been stripped down to Breeding for breath. Passively resisting the regime Offred in her self is a comment on what it is that truly empowers us. Through off red’s circumstances Atwood has us asking the questions. What is the repercussion of our becoming so acquainted with freedom, that we stop fighting for it? What will the remedy be for when we finally are forced into facing the inconvenient truth?
Through entertaining the ethical dilemmas of today, Atwood asks how we will work in solving the problems we are currently making for ourselves. All fundamental issues that the younger generations, the future leaders of our world need to be ware. A theocratic government, which demands false dichotomy, patriotism and ultimately Christian fundamentalism. The themes of this novel are Parallels with the monstrosities we are facing today, consequently presenting us with some disturbing realizations about reality.
Presented in a fictional format this book is similar to the healthy version of a mud cake. Juicy, gooey, sweet and enticing, only unlike the pulp fiction today’s audiences crave, this piece of work leaves you thinking. The story hangs on the realities of our world. Yes the world is changing. Will there be anyone left soon from the liberation eras to endorse, and let us understand how to fight for our rights? Will the future of our world know how? I can only imagine these were Atwood’s questions when she set out in writing this prophetic piece. This is her legacy.
This is how she answered the question. This is education, reaching out to the masses like someone able to speak a universal language . She has caused the problems in the hope that we will change. Such powerful words of warning becoming more relevant as time goes on, this novel will stand the tests of time and live throughout the 21st century. Atwood remarkably, is able to offer a confronting and ultimate insight into the society today, all this without one generically boring statistics. This is an Ultimately Disturbing dystopia that leaves its audiences captivated by the possibilities.
