The Handmaid's Tale

[[File:Illinois Handmaids Stop Brett Kavanaugh Rally Downtown Chicago Illinois 8-26-18 3437 (42505508810).jpg|thumb|right|165px|Anti-[[Brett Kavanaugh]] protesters wearing ''Handmaid's Tale''-style clothing.]]
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{{cquote|And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.<br>Notwithstanding she shall be saved by childbearing, if they continue in [[faith]] and [[charity]] and [[holiness]] with sobriety.|||''The Handmaid's Tale'', Chapter 34<ref>https://icmotrospaises.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/the-handmaids-tale-margaret-atwood.pdf</ref>(Actually a quote from 1 Timothy 2:14-15<ref> https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/2-14.htm</ref>)}}

'''''The Handmaid's Tale''''' ({{Isbn|0771008139}}) is a [[dystopia]]n [[science fiction]] novel first published in 1985 by [[Canadian]] [[author]] {{wpl|Margaret Atwood}} {{lived|1939}} that presents a scary future in a [[religious]] [[totalitarian]] [[society]] in which [[women]] have lost all control over their [[Reproductive rights|reproductive lives]].

The critical reaction can be summarized as "Oh, this loony Canuck is overreacting about [[Christianity|Christian]] influence in [[United States|American]] politi-[[Religious Right|DEAR GOAT! WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!]]"  

The book won the first [[Arthur C. Clarke]] Award in 1987.<ref>[http://www.sfadb.com/Arthur_C_Clarke_Award_1987 Arthur C. Clarke Award 1987] ''Science Fiction Awards Database''</ref>

In September 2019, Atwood published a sequel to the novel, called ''The Testaments''.<ref>''The Testaments: A Novel'' by Margaret Atwood (2020) Vintage. ISBN 0525562621.</ref>

==Background to the story==
The novel takes place at an unspecified future date following the transformation of the [[United States]] into a [[theocracy]] called the "Republic of Gilead". The story follows the tribulations of Offred, a "handmaid" who belongs (temporarily) to a man named Commander Fred (hence the name, "Of Fred") living in the area formerly known as Cambridge, [[Massachusetts]].<ref>[https://www.romper.com/p/where-does-the-handmaids-tale-take-place-the-setting-has-a-biblical-historical-basis-51460 Where Does 'The Handmaid's Tale' Take Place? The Setting Has A Biblical & Historical Basis] Romper.com</ref> Atwood can critique the control of women's [[sexuality]] and reproduction due to the premise that in the book's [[Nuclear war|post-apocalyptic]] setting, most women have become infertile. Women lose all value as anything but walking incubators. Women are classified by their economic background and their ability to have [[children]]. Those that have financial status are, or become, [[Marriage#Forced marriage| "wives"]]. If a wife proves unable to conceive, her husband is given a "handmaid" whose job is to conceive and bear a child on behalf of the wife. Any handmaid who has had three failed pregnancies is killed. All women are denied any [[education]], and reading is a criminal offense for them (just like historical [[slavery]] in the US).

[[Republican Party | Some people]] apparently consider this [[dystopia]]n (or utopian to a [[fundamentalist]]) novel a handbook for how to run a country. [[Homosexuals|"Gender treachery"]] is met with the [[death penalty]], as are many other crimes. [[Jews]] have been forced to convert or get shipped back to [[Israel]], though many (perhaps all) of the transport boats were scuttled; while the [[Curse of Ham|"Children of Ham"]] (as black people are called in Gilead) have been resettled in [[North Dakota]] (the novel implies that they are being killed there). And all righteous citizens are safe under the ever-vigilant [[Secret police|Eyes of God]].

==Modern comparisons==
In the ''Handmaid's Tale'', women's only true role is [[sexual reproduction]]. For the [[elite]], [[sex]] is not supposed to be an act of pleasure, but a job requiring minimal time spent in the act itself.<ref group=note>And exceptionally creepy, no matter the reader's sexual tastes.</ref> The clear ties to a [[Puritan]] existence, where pleasure and [[sin]] are conflated, is easily apparent.

==Caste system==
Women in Gilead are divided into [[caste]]s based on their "job":
*Handmaids (The aforementioned walking incubators) wear red dresses and white "wings" on their heads.
*Wives wear blue.
*Marthas (maids) wear green.
*Aunts wear brown.
*Econowives, wearing a mix of red, blue, and green, serve men who cannot afford a more elaborate 
harem
 household.
*Daughters wear white. (In the sequel, they wear peach in spring/summer, plum in autumn/winter, white for church, and then spring green after they get their period).
*Jezebels, who are sterilized [[prostitute]]s and wear what's standard for their job. They're named after the Biblical [[Jezebel]]
*And so on.
==Adaptations==
There have been two adaptations of the book.
* The first, made in 1990, was a film starring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, and Robert Duvall.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099731/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 The Handmaid's Tale] (1990) ''IMDb''.</ref>
* The second, a TV series on Hulu starring Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, Yvonne Strahovski, and Joseph Fiennes, premiered in April 2017. The show is easily the more famous of the two adaptations, winning critical acclaim and helping to put Hulu on the map as a major streaming service and rival to Netflix, especially after it swept the 2017 Emmys with thirteen nominations and eight wins.<ref>Otterson, Joe. [http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/emmys-2017-hulu-handmaids-tale-1202557512/ "Hulu Carried to Emmys Glory by Eight Wins for 'Handmaid’s Tale'."] ''Variety'', 17 September 2017 (recovered 15 December 2017).</ref> Ironically, Moss, who plays Offred, is a member of the [[Church of Scientology]], a religion that itself does not have the greatest track record on women's rights, something that hasn't gone unnoticed.<ref>Merlan, Anna. [https://themuse.jezebel.com/isnt-it-relevant-that-the-star-of-the-handmaids-tale-be-1794667562 "Isn't It Relevant That the Star of The Handmaid's Tale Belongs to a Secretive, Allegedly Oppressive Religion?"] ''Jezebel'', 26 April 2017 (recovered 15 December 2017).</ref>
==Why you should read the book, see the movie, or watch the show==
*[[Pat Robertson]] hated all three.
==See also==
{{collist|3|
*''[[Aldous Huxley#Brave New World|Brave New World]]''
*[[Christian Identity]]
*[[Christofascism]]
*[[Dominionism]]
*''[[Fahrenheit 451]]''
*[[Islamism]]
*''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''
*[[Project 2025]]
*[[Totalitarianism]]
*[[Wahhabism]]
*[[War on Women]]
}}

==External links==
*[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheHandmaidsTale ''The Handmaid's Tale''] at [[TV Tropes]]
*{{wpa|The Handmaid's Tale|''The Handmaid's Tale''}}
*IMDb: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099731/ ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (1990)]
*IMDb: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5834204/ ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (2017)]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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Categories: Books, Films, Feminism, Science fiction, Television programmes, Totalitarianism