Margaret Atwood: Iconic, Heroic... or Prophetic?
My November reading recommendation is The Handmaid's Tale. I was horrified when I read it in high school, but at least mentally, I could classify it as a "dystopian novel."
Now, I'm not so sure. The novel tells the story of a woman trapped in the hellish state of Gilead, where the former United States has become a totalitarian theocracy. All women's rights over their bodies have been erased, and the novel's protagonist, Offred, becomes a Handmaid. Every month, the Handmaids are ritually raped by their commander in a perverse parody of the Bible, and they are ordered to give any children they conceive to their families.
Margaret said she didn't make any of this up. After rereading The Handmaid's Tale and her brilliant new memoir, The Book of Life, I understand what she meant. Her memoir provides a fascinating backdrop. She shares the shocking events in history that inspired her writing and draw unsettling parallels to events unfolding around the world today.
As Margaret says, the future lies in an infinite tapestry of possibilities. The Handmaid's Tale is just one of them. The point of prophecy is to warn—and it's up to us to listen and choose the future we want to live in.
– Dua x
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