The Handmaid’s Tale
(Margaret Atwood)

The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of a female handmaid in the country of Gilead. In this science fiction account, Gilead is a theocracy that has formed sometime in the late twentieth-century out of what was previously the United States.

The story takes place in the early transition years of the regime. Although radically different from its political predecessor, the state of Gilead is still in a transitory period—its citizens, who take on very specific roles in society, can still remember what things were like in the “time before.”

The narrator of the novel goes by Offred, but has another name from her previous life, which she never reveals to the reader. Her role in Gilead is that of a Handmaid, a woman who serves in an elite family for reproductive purposes. A Handmaid must dress all in red and participate in monthly reproduction “ceremonies” with her Commander in the presence of the Commander’s wife. The ultimate goal is for the Handmaid to conceive a child that will be raised by the Commander and his Wife.

Offred tells her story in fragments, as her mind goes through various memories of her past life before Gilead. Her memories focus primarily on her mother, her best friend Moira, her husband Luke, and her daughter. It is eventually revealed that she was separated from Luke and her daughter during a failed escape attempt at the Canadian border. Offred does not know what happened to them, or whether they are alive. As part of her duties, Offred goes shopping every day with another Handmaid: Ofglen. After several weeks, they eventually discover that both are Nonbelievers. Ofglen is a part of a resistance network that uses the code word Mayday.

One night, Offred’s Commander summons her to his office. He doesn’t ask for sex; rather, they play Scrabble (although reading is forbidden for women) and he asks Offred for a kiss goodnight. These secret meetings continue until eventually the Commander takes Offred out to a club called Jezebel’s, where Commanders go to meet with prostitutes. There, Offred sees Moira for the first time since they were in training to be Handmaids together. Moira escaped the Red Center, but was eventually recaptured and sent to Jezebel’s.

Around the same time, the Commander’s Wife, Serena Joy, makes a deal with Offred. She wants Offred to sleep with the chauffer Nick in order to increase her chances of conceiving a baby. Offred consents, but then continues to see Nick on her own. She feels guilty about these meetings, considering her lust to be a betrayal of Luke. Offred and Ofglen attend a salvaging, or a public execution.

That same day, Ofglen does not appear at her normal spot to go shopping. Instead, a new Handmaid takes her place. She tells Offred that the resistance movement was discovered; Ofglen hanged herself before the government could take her away.

Back at the house, Serena Joy has discovered about Offred’s secret meetings with the Commander. A black government van comes to take Offred away, but Nick tells her that the officials are actually members of the resistance and that she is safe. Offred isn’t sure whether to believe Nick, but she goes anyway. The novel concludes with a fictional account of historical notes, given by a professor some 200 years later. The professor gives more detail about Gileadean society, and ponders what parts of The Handmaid’s Tale match up with true historical events.