Week 9: The Handmaids Tale

I apologize about the lateness of this post, I wanted to take my time reading this book. I thought it was absolutely fascinating.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of this novel is not the language or composition--as so much contemporary literature is--but the content. I found this novel fascinating in so many different ways that I can't even begin to list here (I think I'll be changing my thesis soon). The impact is made in this book through the fine line of reality. This is one of those novels that makes you think, "What if this were true? Could it come true?". And the scary answer is, yes.

Modern society is so held up on the small details of life such as political correctness and the interpretation of laws. One can see the echo of this radical new society in life today, and that I find entirely too frightening. Just like any modern concept that becomes a revolution, or evolution into something new (which may not necessarily be better), this new society was born slowly into reality.

Margaret Atwood did a marvelous job when she wrote about human nature. She progresses through fear of the unknown just as one has seen it happen in history. Atwood has done such a concise job, in fact, that one can read this novel as a history book. To back all of her splendid writing up, Atwood even includes a futuristic event as the final chapter. This last chapter cements the events of the novel into reality by making the "Handmaid's Tale" a document of the past that has been unearthed by "modern" scientists.

This novel holds one of the scariest aspects of human nature, our ability to be persuaded and to follow. It has happened before, in the enslavement of the African peoples and in Hitler's regime. What makes the deconstruction of modern life so hard to believe? It's a natural reaction to focus on the "novelties" of the past when faced with the difficulties of the present. In this case, the "objectification" and independence of modern woman. The older generation will always reject the newer on the basis of impropriety. Change, even in the younger generations, is almost automatically rejected at first glance. One must really question change to accept it.

The problem is that most people don't really question change or even what they do on a day to day basis. Therefore it seems like child's play to insert new laws and restrictions onto a society that isn't really paying attention, or are too scared to really contemplate the consequences. Therefore, this novel can be seen as a warning to all humankind. One must truly think about the aspects of ones life to truly live in it. Otherwise you are just an outsider looking in.