In the dystopian society of Gilead, a handmaid wrote down her tale. The country has been damaged by air, water, and land pollution which caused many of the citizens to to be infertile. Young fertile women were conscripted to conceive and bear children for the elite upperclass. The handmaid attire was red, the color of blood, and white wings were on their head piece which limited their vision.
Commander Frederick Waterford and his wife Serena Joy used Handmaid Offred to try to produce a baby. Before she resided with the Waterfords, she was a young mother named June who was caring for her daughter. That life was abruptly taken from her. The handmaids "are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important." We are "two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels." And so the tale continues.
Scriptural passages are used to promote the cause, to give credence to the oppressive and unjust treatment of the handmaids. Author Margaret Atwood has said that nothing went into this novel "that had not happened in real life somewhere at sometime." This story can shed light on past and present issues, and give warning of what could possibly happen in our future.
