Why did Margaret Atwood write the Handmaid's Tale?
Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale has become one of the most influential and widely-discussed works of contemporary literature since its publication in 1985. The story of Offred, a woman living under the brutal rule of the totalitarian Republic of Gilead where she and other fertile women are forced into reproductive slavery as 'handmaids', struck a deep chord with readers. This provocative work was not conceived in a cultural vacuum - Atwood had specific motivations and intentions for writing The Handmaid's Tale tied to 1980s society, feminism, politics and her artistic vision.
Speculative Fiction as a Vehicle for Social Commentary
One of the key factors that influenced Atwood's writing of the novel was the sociopolitical climate of the 1980s, which she perceived as exhibiting a dangerous backlash against the women's liberation movement. As a prominent feminist writer, Atwood wanted to offer a startling warning about how hard-won rights could be stripped away if the religious right gained more traction. She extrapolated alarming trends like banned abortion, restricted birth control and rising fundamentalism into the dystopia of Gilead where women's bodies are completely political. Critic Emma Parker notes that through this exaggerated setting, "Atwood warns us of the dangers implicit in contemporary attitudes" towards gender equality.
In addition, Atwood was strongly motivated by her literary interests in utopias/dystopias, science fiction, and religious symbolism. She sought to inject vital commentary on pressing social issues into these genres by creating a hybrid form she called 'speculative fiction'. Atwood wanted to dramatize how ideology shapes society through chilling world-building. As scholar Sharon Wilson notes, she purposefully constructed "a version of how the world might look in the near future" by mirroring historical totalitarian and theocratic regimes. This artistic approach let Atwood build complex fictional ideologies critiquing real-world extremism.
Moreover, Atwood was keenly motivated by the aim of exploring the impact of oppression on female identity and relationships through characters like Offred and Serena Joy. Critic Helen Buss argues that examining women's inner lives under totalitarianism formed Atwood's central artistic purpose. The resonant characters of handmaids, wives and the female oppressor Aunt Lydia offer nuanced perspectives on gendered social power, complicity and resistance. For Atwood, speculative fiction provided the ideal vehicle for this multilayered character-based study of oppression's effects on humanity and identity.
The Enduring Power of Atwood's Artistic Vision
Through its chilling portrait of authoritarianism distorting society and women's status, Margaret Atwood's seminal novel The Handmaid's Tale conveys prescient social commentary rooted in the cultural zeitgeist of 1980s backlash politics, while also furthering her literary interests in speculative dystopias. However, the enduring fame of the work stems from Atwood's profound artistic purpose of analyzing oppression's damage and the resilience of the human spirit. The Handmaid's Tale remains powerful due to both its timely themes and Atwood's skilful storytelling serving her creative vision.
