The novel is set in future where the U.S. has been replaced by a new totalitarian state called the Republic of Gilead. Gilead rose to power because they wanted to put a stop to the vast amount of readily available porn, prostitution, and the amount of violence that was towards women. They also intervened due to declining fertility rates that were caused by pollution and chemical pills which led to radiation sickness. The main character’s name is Offred which is not her real name but she says that no one is allowed to call her by her real name anymore because her name is forbidden. She is a handmaid. A handmaid’s job in Gilead is to be assigned to married couples in order to bear children. Offred is assigned to the commander and his wife, Serena Joy. Every month when Offred is at the right part of her menstrual cycle, she is required to have impersonal worthless sex with the commander. However, when this is taking place, Serena is required to sit behind her holding her hands and there is not any talking or eye contact which makes the whole experience more awkward and painful.
Margaret Atwood uses a series of Offred’s flashbacks to clarify what has happened in the years leading up to present day. We find out that she has had an affair with a married man named Luke and she has ended up marrying him and they have a daughter together. We also find out that Offred was raised by her mother who had been a feminist activist. And she had a best friend called Moira who was a tenacious rebellious lesbian who refuses to stand down against Gilead.
When the Republic started, there was a crackdown on women’s rights and it forbade women to hold property or have jobs and Offred and Luke attempt to flee to Canada with their daughter but they are caught over border and separated and Offred never sees him again.
After Offred gets captured, she is sent to the Rachel and Leah’s Re-education Center which is called the red center by its inhabitants. It is where women are re-educated and taught to become handmaids. They are taught that women are men’s servants and they should be solely concerned with bearing children. Moira is a rebel and she escapes and Offred doesn’t know what happens to her.
Offred gets assigned to the commander’s house where her life is settled into a restrictive repetitive regime and she’s only allowed out of the house to do shopping and she has to do this with another handmaid, Ofglen. While they are shopping together, they visit the Wall. The Wall used to be a wall outside Harvard University but now it’s used to hang people on to remind people how powerful Gilead is. Ofglen tells Offred that she is a member of a secret underground organization known as Mayday which has dedicated to overthrowing Gilead.
Offred doesn’t get pregnant, which is bad because if she doesn’t get pregnant, then she will get in trouble. Even if it’s the commander that’s infertile, she will get the blame. She goes to a doctor for a check-up and they check that she is able to get pregnant and the doctor offers to have sex with her because the commander is probably infertile. She has heard of it before and considers it but declines because she doesn’t know if she can trust the doctor and it’s too risky if she gets caught.
One day, the commander tells his gardener and driver, Nick, to tell Offred to come and see him in his study. Offred starts visiting him regularly and the commander lets her play scrabble and read old magazines such as vogue which is all forbidden because women are not allowed to read and write. He lets her do all of this on the condition that he gets a kiss from her at the end of each meeting while Serena Joy knows nothing about any of it.
A lot more time passes without Offred getting pregnant and then Serena Joy suggests that she have sex with Nick and then pass the baby to the commander. Serena promises that if she does this, she will bring Offred a picture of her daughter who she has not seen since she was separated and who she assumed was dead. Offred is really angry because she realizes that Serena has always known about the fact that her daughter was alive and where she was.
The same night Offred is supposed to have sex with Nick, the commander gives her a revealing outfit wear and takes her to a club where commanders can mingle with prostitutes. Inside the club, Offred sees that Moira is working there and Moira tells her about how she has escaped from the red center and then got captured but preferred to become a prostitute than to be sent to the colonies. Later that night the commander takes her to a hotel and Offred is supposed to have sex with him. She tries to show some passion but she cannot manage it.
Offred and the commander return home and Serena goes to Offred’s room and tells her to go and have sex with Nick. And she does. They soon start sleeping with each other frequently without anyone else knowing. Offred becomes too caught up in the affair and she sort of fails to collect information about the commander as she’s suppoed to be doing for Ofglen.
One day all the handmaids are talking in groups over the execution, particicution, of a supposed rapist. Later, Ofglen tells Offred that he was not actually a rapist but a member of the Mayday. Ofglen doesn’t show up for the shopping and Offred is informed that she has hanged herself when she saw the secret police known as “the Eyes” who were coming to get her.
Serena finds out about the fact that the commander had taken her to the club. She goes back to her room with a promise of punishment where she sees that the Eyes have arrived but Nick tells her that it’s just Mayday disguised as the Eyes coming to rescue her. Offred leaves with them but she doesn’t know is she can trust Nick so she might be going to freedom or to prison or death.
The novel closes with an epilogue from the year 2195. It is after Gilead had fallen. It is written in the form of a university lecture and he discusses the significance of Offred’s story as part of history and he suggests that Nick arranges Offred’s escape however it’s still unknown what her fate was. She could have escaped to Canada or England or she could have ended up in prison or dead.
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