Critics Reviews Of The Handmaids Tale

What Critics Said About 'The Handmaid's Tale' Back In The 1980s

“But it so much more than that ― a taut thriller, a psychological study, a play on words. It has a sense of humour about itself, as well as an ambivalence toward even its worst villains, who aren’t revealed as such until the very end. Best of all, it holds out the possibility of redemption. After all, the Handmaid is also a writer. She has written this book. She may have survived.” -Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

                                                                                                   

The Handmaids tale is a mixture of a “taut thriller, a psychological study or a play on words”.  It has “humour”, as they question even the worst people. It holds the hope of “redemption”. As we are given hope she survived. -Summary of Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

·         “And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light”(pg.307)

·         “Perhaps he’s an eye”(pg.28)

·         “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”

           

“As a cautionary tale, Atwood’s novel lacks the direct, chilling plausibility of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World. It warns against too much: heedless sex, excessive morality, chemical and nuclear pollution. All of these may be worthwhile targets, but such a future seems more complicated than dramatic. But Offred’s narrative is fascinating in a way that transcends tense and time: the record of an observant soul struggling against a harsh, mysterious world.” -Paul Gray, TIME

This novel “lacks the direct” of possible quality seeming reasonable as “Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World”. It comments on too many events that could possibly happen. And although theses may be “worthwhile targets”, they seem complex. Offred is an “observant soul struggling” – Summary of Paul Gray, TIME

·         “Nor does rape cover it”(pg.105)

·         “I’d like you to play a game of Scrabble with me,”(pg.148)

·         “I could become an unwoman”(pg.146)

                 

“Offred’s monotonous manner of expression just drones and drones.” -Robert Linkous, San Francisco Review of Books

Offred’s dull manners “monotonous” of “expression” makes it less interesting.-Summary of Robert Linkous, San Francisco Review of Books 

·         “I never liked her”(pg.36”)

·         “I don’t sit, but take my place,”(pg.89)

·         “I go back, along the dimmed hall”(pg.153)

"In the Gileadean patriarchy, a woman is denied the right to possess or to have control over her own body. Her body is segmented and her value is determined on the basis of her reproductive capability. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood suggests that the society of today where choices are too many may lead to a totalitarian future that prohibits choice." -Quote from "Ecofeminist Vision: A Study of Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and The Handmaid's Tale" by K. Reshmi

Critics views of “The Handmaid’s Tale"

The male dominant society “patriarchy” a women is given no possession or “control over her own body”. They are judge on the “reproductive capability”. She states how Atwood society suggest to much choice can damage our future” – summary of "Ecofeminist Vision: A Study of Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and The Handmaid's Tale" by K. Reshmi

·         “Hell no,” (pg.254)

·         “Give me children or else I die” (pg.71)

·         “we were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, of too much choice” (pg.35)

"Indeed, the desire of the Gilead regime to remove name is as strong as the desire to remove faces. Just as the rules of Gilead try to eliminate mirrors, the reflection of faces, so they attempt to erase names." Quote by Jessie Givner about anonymity in Gilead

The need to “remove names” is equal to having to “remove faces”. To link to the society removing “mirrors, the refection of faces” so they can remove names. – Summary of Jessie Givner about anonymity in Gilead

·         “Offred isn’t my name, I have another name”(pg.94)

·         “I am Ofglen”(pg.295)

·         “Moira”(though out the novel)

"Strictly controlled access to leisure reinforces the Handmaid's enslavement." & "They have no choice regarding the treatment of their bodies; no permission to select the individuals with whom they pass time; [they have] no control over their lives." & "Every step, every mouthful of food, every move is observed, reported, circumvented or approved." -Quotes from "Study of Female Leisure spaces in Dystopian Novels" by Margaret Daniels and Heather Bowen

They do not get a choice on the “treatment of their bodies” or “over their lives”. They are monitored “observed, reported, circumvented or approved”- Summary of  "Study of Female Leisure spaces in Dystopian Novels" by Margaret Daniels and Heather Bowen

·         “ too big” “too dark and shimmering, their mouths to red (pg. 123)

·         “Nor does rape cover it; nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for”(pg.105)

·         We are two-legged wombs”(pg.146)