The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of a Handmaid living in a dystopian world, run by a totalitarian and theocratic government that has overthrown the United States of America. In this new nation, known as the Republic of Gilead, a strict patriarchy has been established, with most women no longer having the right to freedom of speech and movement, and denied the right to read, write, own property, and handle money. Even within the women there are rigid social classes, with the different classes forced to each wear a designated colour to distinguish between them and suppress individuality. The Commanders’ wives wear blue, the Handmaids wear red, Aunts wear brown, Marthas green, and Econowives wear striped colours.

Due to the consequences of environmental pollution, radiation from nuclear warfare, and the dumping of toxic wastes, there has been a sharp rise in birth defects and infertility, resulting in low birth rates and a population decline. To increase birth rates and therefore the population, the few remaining women who are still fertile are forced to become Handmaids whose one and only role is to bear children for Commanders (the ruling class of men in society). The Handmaids undergo horrific monthly rituals known as Ceremonies where the Handmaids are forced to have sexual intercourse with the Commanders as they lie between the legs that Commander’s wife.

The story is told from the perspective of Offred, who has been assigned to a Commander named Fred. She lives with the Commander, his wife Serena Joy, the Commander’s chauffeur Nick, and two Marthas, Rita and Cora. One of the only times Offred is allowed out of the house is during her daily trips with her shopping partner, Ofglen, where they exchange polite greetings and purchase food items using tokens. It is through Ofglen that Offred discovers that there is a secret underground resistance, known as “Mayday” as Ofglen unsuccessfully tries to recruit Offred into gathering information from her Commander’s office. Aside from the daily shopping trips, Offred also visits the Doctor frequently to ensure her ongoing health and fertility. It is here where the Doctor first suggests that the Commander may be infertile, and offers to have sexual intercourse with her, a proposition that is both extremely risky and illegal, and which Offred declines.

Throughout Offred’s narration, regular flashbacks are interspersed, and it is through these fragments of memories that the reader can gradually piece together Offred’s past. The reader discovers that Offred was once married to her husband Luke and had a daughter in pre-Gileadean times, a daughter whose location is discovered angrily by Offred to have been known to Serena the whole time.

Offred’s college best friend, Moira, and Offred’s mother were both politically active and strong feminists. One day, after her mother disappears and the government is overthrown, Offred and Luke attempt to escape the country, and try to prevent possible suspicion by making extreme decisions such as killing the family cat, drugging their daughter, and faking passports and other documentation. Despite their desperate measures, the family is caught as they take off from one of the critical checkpoints in a moment of panic, and Offred is selected for training as a Handmaid.
As the story progresses, Offred begins to take riskier and riskier actions. After one of the monthly ceremonies, upon receiving a request from the Commander delivered secretly by Nick, Offred begins to illegally visit the Commander in his office, who, she is quite surprised to find, is simply looking for someone to read magazines and play scrabble with. Offred finds this quite comical, and it becomes a regular occurrence, despite the potential to face severe consequences if caught. One day, the Commander takes Offred to “Jezebels,” a secret brothel where Offred unexpectedly comes across Moira. She finds out that Moira unsuccessfully attempted to escape Gilead and was forced to choose between working at Jezebels, or in the colonies, where prisoners work in deadly conditions cleaning up toxic and radioactive waste. The same night Offred is taken to Jezebels, Serena organises for Offred and Nick to meet in secret in an attempt for Offred to successfully conceive, with the intention of passing off their baby as the Commander’s. However, without Serena’s knowledge, Offred’s meetings with Nick soon also become a regular occurrence.

One day, Offred sets off on her daily shopping trip, and is shocked to find that the old Ofglen has been replaced with a new Ofglen. She discovers that the old Ofglen committed suicide after she was caught by the Eyes, Gilead’s secret police. When Offred arrives home, she realises that Serena had discovered her secret trip to Jezebels, and in desperation, considers her options. Whilst contemplating whether to escape, beg for help, or commit suicide, a black van pulls up outside the house. Expecting members of the secret police to open the door, it is instead Nick who approaches Offred, and whispers “it’s Mayday,” suggesting that Offred is being saved by the resistance.
The men from the black van offer no clues as to whether they are a part of Mayday, and the story ends on a cliff hanger, with the reader left in limbo. Where does Offred end up? Was she saved or was she punished? Does she live or does she die? The ambiguous ending is one that leaves the reader questioning, wondering, and frustratingly, never knowing.

The epilogue of the novel is set approximately one to two centuries after the end of Offred’s story, where academics gather to present information based on transcripts of Offred’s narration recovered from thirty cassette tapes. In this epilogue, her story is presented to the reader from a new perspective: indifferent and factual. However, despite the significant amount of research and investigation that went into Offred’s narration, the academics too, can only wonder what may have happened to Offred.