The Handmaid’s Tale | The Handmaid’s Tale

At a glance:

Author: Margaret Atwood
First Published: 1985
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Psychological realism
Time of Work: The late twentieth century
Setting: The fictional Gilead
Genres: Long fiction, Dystopian fiction, Near future and distant future fiction
Subjects: Dictators, Freedom, United States or Americans, Power, personal or social, Sexism, Sex or sexuality, Gender roles, Self, Slavery or slaves, Revolutions, Future, Twenty-first century, Prostitution or prostitutes, Religion, Feminism, Oppression, Women, Conservatism, Infertility, Childbirth, Totalitarianism, Women’s rights
Locales: Gilead

Offred, a Handmaid to Fred, one of the Commanders in the Republic of Gilead. Deprived even of her name, she is known only in reference to her master, as “of Fred.” Having already proven her fertility by giving birth to a daughter before the revolution, this thirty-three-year-old woman functions as a surrogate womb for Serena Joy, the infertile wife of the Commander. Other than her role as substitute womb, Offred has no standing in the community; she is a faceless entity, forced to wear a nunlike habit of red (for fertility), the headpiece of which...

The Handmaid’s Tale | The Handmaid’s Tale

At a glance:

Characters Discussed

Join eNotes