Working with a novel – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Before reading and working with the novel, study the text “Enjoying Novels” to learn about literary
analysis.
Read Chapters 1–3 and then stop to consider
these questions
1. How do you think the novel will develop from
here? Is this going to be about rebellion? Will
Offred attempt to escape her confined
environment?
2. What do you make of Offred so far? Write a
brief character analysis of her up to this point.
3. What have you learned so far about the
society Offred lives in?
4. Who are the Angels and what does the way
they position themselves in relation to the
handmaids tell us about Gilead?
Now read the rest of the novel before working further.
Questions about the novel in general
The Handmaid’s Tale has been called a feminist novel. A very simple definition of feminism is “the
advocacy of women’s rights in order to promote the equality of the sexes”.
1. What are the roles women perform in Gilead? Do you think they reflect how at least some
people see the role of women in society today?
2. Did the author manage to hold your attention and succeed in getting you to think about the
main ideas in the book?
3. The novel starts in medias res, which means “in the middle”. How effective a start to the
novel is this? Does it grab your attention or do you find not having enough information at
the start confusing and irritating?
Characters
1. How believable are the characters in the novel? Do you feel you know them well? Explain
and give examples.
2. How do we learn about the characters? Is it through description in the narrative, through
their actions, thoughts, reactions? Is it through the way others react to them? Or is there
another primary way of revealing character in this novel?
3. Choose two of the secondary characters in the novel and explain their function.
4. Does your opinion of Offred change at all the further into the book you come? Give
examples to support your opinion.
5. What is your opinion of the Commander? What ideas do you think Atwood is trying to
convey through this character?
Discussing themes
Below is a list of statements about the novel’s themes. Discuss in groups whether you think each
statement is true or false, and why. Remove any false statements and then list the remaining
statements in their order of importance.
The novel is about …
the control of women’s bodies
a society in decline
the danger of watching pornography
the loss of women’s rights
how language is used as a tool of power
how easily we might accept that our civil rights are taken from us
the importance of human rights
the dangers of religious fanaticism
the position of women in society
the importance of guaranteeing that we ensure the continuation of our species
the effects of birth control
Plot
1. Write a brief plot summary of the novel and the most important events. Work in pairs and
read each other’s summary. Where do you differ? What do you feel you should have
included, and where do you feel you say too much?
2. This story does not have a straightforward chronological plot structure. Rather, it is told in
bits and pieces, in the past and present tense, but always within the flow of the
protagonist’s mind. Because we are in the narrator’s mind, the events are not related to us
in a chronological, retrospective manner. Discuss what the effect of this plot structure is. Do
you find it confusing? Does it add suspense? Does it keep you curious and interested in what
is going on?
Setting and point of view
1. How important is setting in this book? Explain your opinion.
2. There are many indicators of control over Offred in the setting. Choose two examples and
describe what they suggest about the world Offred is living in.
3. Point of view is an important part of telling a story. In this novel, the point of view is first-
person: we are in Offred’s thoughts. The benefit of the first-person point of view is that it
brings us closer to the story (called immediacy). One of the disadvantages is that we are
restricted to only seeing the events from this one person’s perspective. Can we trust Offred
as our narrator? Give reasons for your answer.
4. Write a brief text in which you summarize the story from Serena Joy’s point of view. Share
your texts in pairs or small groups and discuss what this tells us about perspective. Does
your opinion of Serena Joy change in any way?
Language
The title of “Handmaid” can be said to reveal Gilead’s view on women. Other names in the novel are
also suggestive in this way. What is the function of the names and the prefix given below?
Wives
Daughters
Marthas
Aunts
Unwomen
Angels
Eyes
Commander
The use of the prefix “of” at the beginning of each of the Handmaid’s names
Genre
The Handmaid’s Tale belongs to the dystopian fiction genre. Simply put, this type of novel presents a
hostile and repressive society (often claiming that it is the opposite). The purpose of the dystopian
novel is to warn about the direction in which society is headed or could be headed. What aspects of
society do you think Atwood is warning us about?
Discussion topics
For further class or group discussion, choose some of the topic suggestions below.
1. Benjamin Franklin once said: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
After the terrorist attacks on 9/11 2001, new government agencies and new laws were
introduced. Many Americans feel these are depriving them of the civil rights and liberties
that once defined the US as a great democracy. Many, however, claim that to protect life
and liberty, measures such as surveillance of citizens, monitoring emails, telephone calls,
etc. is unavoidable. Considering the situation today, do you agree or disagree with Benjamin
Franklin? Give reasons for your opinion.
2. In the novel, reasons are given to explain why it was necessary to create the repressive
society of Gilead. What are the arguments presented? Also consider other arguments people
might use, for example unequal distribution of resources, unrest, crime or terrorist threats.
Could these be valid reasons for creating a society like Gilead?
3. Gilead is a theocracy where the government and the church run the country. What view of
religion does the novel present?
4. Some critics have claimed that The Handmaid’s Tale appears to be somewhat ambivalent in
terms of sending a strong feminist message. Read the extract below:
In a recent piece for the New York Times, Margaret Atwood tackled the question of whether or
not her 1985 work The Handmaid’s Tale ought to be considered a feminist novel:
"If you mean an ideological tract in which all women are angels and/or so victimized they are
incapable of moral choice, no. If you mean a novel in which women are human beings — with all
the variety of character and behavior that implies — and are also interesting and important, and
what happens to them is crucial to the theme, structure and plot of the book, then yes."
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv-radio/2017/04/why-handmaids-tale-claimed-feminist-when-
its-deeply-ambivalent-about
Discuss whether you think The Handmaid’s Tale is a feminist novel. Does it succeed in making
you think about important issues concerning gender equality?
5. Discuss the following statement:
Atwood is criticizing the objectification of women which is prevalent in all societies.
Objectification in this context means: the action of degrading someone to the status of a
mere object.
Then discuss whether it is possible for men to be objectified.
6. It could be argued that Atwood is warning women about the dangers of rollbacks, a process
that involves the undoing or dismantling of rights that have been won over the last decades.
Discuss whether you think the position of women in Western society today is under threat.
7. What about the commander? Go back to your character description of him and use this in a
discussion of the male role in Gilead. Could the commander be viewed with sympathy?
Essay topics
Write an analytical essay on one of the topics below.
1. Discuss the ways in which the notion of social control is developed in the novel.
2. Discuss the role Offred is forced to play in Gilead.
3. Discuss the way the story is told. Why do you think the author chooses to tell the story of
Gilead through the narrator’s non-chronological point of view?
4. Discuss the theme of the novel and relate this to recent developments in the English-
speaking world when it comes to revelations of sexual abuse and harassment of women, e.g.
in the entertainment world.
5. Write a text in which you explain the social issues Margaret Atwood is warning us about in
The Handmaid’s Tale.
6. Using The Handmaid’s Tale as your point of departure, write a text about the position of
women in Western society today.
Quick research
As mentioned above, the dystopian novel is a particular genre of fiction. A more detailed definition
of the term is:
Dystopian literature is a genre of fictional writing used to explore social and political structures in “a
dark, nightmare world”. The term dystopia is defined as a society characterized by poverty, squalor
or oppression and the theme is most commonly used in science fiction and speculative fiction
genres.
The most popular definition of dystopian literature is that it is anti-Utopian. The genre challenges
utopia's fundamental assumption of human perfectibility, arguing humanity's inherent flaws negate
the possibility of constructing perfect societies. Dystopian literature is deliberately written to
frighten the reader. Works of dystopian literature must walk a fine line between evoking the
sensations of fear and inducing a sense of futility. By proving a completely perfect society is not
possible – showing the awful results of what happens if the goal is social perfection rather than
incremental social improvement – dystopia shocks the reader into accepting humanity's flaws as
ineradicable and thereby working toward a better society rather than an ideal one.
https://www.questia.com/library/literature/literary-themes-and-topics/dystopian-literature
Below is a very brief list of some other dystopian novels, most from the last five decades, and some
more dystopian than others. Read about one of the novels and present it in class as a suggestion for
reading.
Other Atwood novels:
Oryx and Crake (2003)
The Year of the Flood (2009)
Other authors:
Erewhon by Samuel Butler (1872) (Note that Erewhon is “Nowhere” spelled backwards)
The Circle by Dave Eggers (2013)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2009)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (2009)
The Stand by Stephen King (1978)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968) (The cult movie Blade Runner is based
on this book)
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962) (A famous Stanley Kubrick film with the same title is
based on this book.)
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut (1961)