History Literature / TheHandmaidsTale

* BolivianArmyEnding: [[spoiler:Offred's story has one, although the DistantFinale gives away what happened.]]

* TheConspiracy: We can assume its of the Group variety. Why? Well, how else did a group formed by Fundamentalist Christians, [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic The Far Right]] and [[MoralGuardians anti-pornography activists]] manage to infiltrate the highest echelons of the [[TheFederation pre-Gilead]] government and military?

* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:After (quite a bit less than) 100 years Gilead collapses but the Gileadean civil war with dissident groups has exhausted the Western powers and formerly "3rd World" nations are now dominant (e.g. somehow ''Nunavut'' is now the academic centre of the world).]]

** Also a textbook case of DystopiaIsHard; the fundamentalists got exactly what they asked for, but actually ''running'' a brutal theocracy is a hell of a lot harder than ''calling'' for it. [[spoiler:It quickly comes crashing down around their heads, and the beginning of the collapse can even be seen in the course of the book. Mind that its falling apart a mere ''seven years'' after being founded.]]

* GenreShift: The emotionally-laden story of Offred is immediately followed by the transcript of a speech given at a Gileadean study symposium that clinically dissects the story, finally dismissing most of it as too vague and unreliable as a primary historical source.
* HappinessInSlavery: Some women like the lifestyle of a Handmaid.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The epilogue contains an academic history essay where it is revealed that the novel you are just reading is a transcript of tapes Offred recorded as she is being smuggled out of the country.

* MandatoryMotherhood: Played straight in Gilead, because of the fact many high-ranking women are infertile or too old to get pregnant, so going on the Biblical precedent of Rachel and Jacob, they force "handmaids" to bear a child in their place.
* NoEnding: Subverted immediately by the LiteraryAgentHypothesis epilogue that follows on the next page.

* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: Very much so.

* StealthPun: "[[FreudWasRight Pen Is Envy]]."

** Though the book does acknowledge that Offred is an UnreliableNarrator as she can only speculate on what she is told, which as a handmaid is not much, and even then is filtered through state sponsored propaganda. The Republic of Gilead could be feeding people false information about environmental disasters for all the reader knows.

* StrangeBedfellows: The anti-pornographic alliance between radical feminists and fundamentalist Christians shown before the United States became Gilead. This undermined them in the end, as their fundamentalist "allies" turned on women in general. This was a then-current strange bedfellows alliance in the early 1980s.

* OnlyKnownByTheir Nickname: Offred and most other handmaids.

* TheUnreveal: Offred's name.
** A few subtle hints in the book lead some to believe it's [[spoiler:June]].
** Oddly enough, in the film adaption Offred is called [[spoiler:Kate]].

The previous Offred had committed suicide...

Offred befriends another handmaid, Ofglen, and eventually learns that she belongs to [[LaResistance a resistance movement]] to fight or flee Gilead. She eventually falls head-over-heels with another of its members. Offred enters a second underground through Fred, who is willing to share extra things with her, things normally forbidden to handmaids, to get extra time with her; its motives are less noble....

* PlayboyBunny: [[spoiler:Moira wears one of these costumes when she ends up in a brothel]].

** Headscratcher (or possibly a Continuity Error). It's implied that women have to have proven their ovaries are "viable" by having at least one child before becoming Handmaids. Moira, a lesbian, is in the Red Centre with Offred. Later, she states "I had my tubes tied years ago," which leads the reader to wonder how she was supposed to be a Handmaid. It's never explained.
** Moira was speeking metaphorically - she's a lesbian, and thus wasn't planning to have biological children. She meant that her tubes were tied in the sense that she didn't intend to use them.

* {{Unfortunate Implications}}: for a society to be as it is in the book everyone who didn't belong to a particular sect of Christianity would have to be killed/deported/enslaved, it would also require everyone of that sect of Christianity to be fine with the killing/deporting/enslavement it would also require a lot of corpses because there would be no way in hell for this to go easily, scare or not.
** In the book, the Republic of Gilead is at war with dozens of dissident Christian sects, along with deporting the Children of Ham to North Dakota and sending people to nuclear cleanup labor camps. Then, of course, there is the Red Center where women are indoctrinated and evaluated to be handmaids. So yes, it seems they do all those things.

** The fruits of their plan? ''The President's Day Massacre'': In which [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent The President]] and his cabinet are assassinated, while Congress was decimated and disbanded. In other words, nothing less than the ''total collapse of the government''. Goodbye America, hello Gilead.
** And they blamed it on the Muslim terrorists - at the time pre-dating 9/11 and resulting conspiracy theories of an "inside job" by 16 years.

* CorruptChurch: Fundamentalist Christianity cranked up to the point where it does not even resemble Christianity anymore, and was explicitly compared in the book to the system of Iran.

** Subverted in the 1990 film adaption, Offred's name is [[spoiler:Kate]]

** This is a major plot point as when the Fundamentalists take over, they simply freeze all women's bank accounts so their money is gone, then make it illegal to employ them (Offred mentions [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture having all electronic money made this easier as well]]. Then women reading is banned...

** Also, Jews are officially "repatriated" to Israel. (Unofficially, many of the ships carrying them are scuttled at sea.)

* SterilityPlague: Declining fertility rates due to chemical pollution are a central theme in both the film and book versions.

* {{Unfortunate Implications}}: for a society to be as it is in the book everyone who didn't belong to a particular sect of Christianity would have to be killed/deported/enslaved, it would also require everyone of that sect of Christianity to be fine with the killing/deporting/enslavement it would also require a lot of corpses because there would be no way in hell for this to go easily, scare or not.

Made into a film in 1990 starring the late Natasha Richardson, Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway.

* MandatoryMotherhood: Played straight in Gilead, because of the fact many high-ranking women are infertile, so going on the Biblical precedent of Rachel and Jacob, they force "handmaids" to bear a child in their place.

** Also, Offred's mother, a radical feminist, wished for a separate women's culture and that pornography be eradicated. Both very much haopened in [[NoWomansLand Gilead]].

** The fruits of their plan? ''The President's Day Massacre'': In which [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent The President]] and his cabinet are assassinated, while Congress was decimated and disbanded. In other words, nothing less than the ''total collapse of the government''. Goodbye America, hello [[NightmareFuel Gi]][[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny le]][[ItGotWorse ad]].
** And [[ParanoiaFuel they blamed it on the Muslim terrorists]] - at the time pre-dating 9/11 and resulting conspiracy theories of an "inside job" by 16 years.

* [[NoWomansLand No Woman's Land]]

* StrawmanPolitical: It takes a remarkably negative view of men and Christians to believe anyone could ever ''propose'' let alone implement a society like Gilead.
** Christianity maybe, but men weren't the {{Designated Villain}}s of the piece -- the women were often ''worse'' in their treatment of the handmaids; the radical sex-hating feminism that emerged in Atwood's era was portrayed as being equally responsible for Gileadian mores.
** The three main male characters are all presented fairly - Nick is friendly enough and just doing his job, the Commander obviously regrets what he's done and longs for intelligent female companionship and Luke's greatest sin is teasing Offred's mother.
** Not to mention that there are many indications that the oppressive fundamentalist religion of Gilead is opposed by many Christians -- while none of them are major characters, on account of the tight POV, there are references to Gileadians fighting with Baptists, Catholic clergy who are executed or tortured into submission by the state, and Quakers who help women ([[spoiler: including Moira]]) in their escape attempts. In fact, this is the Fundamentalist main problem-they're at war with literally ''every other Christian sect'' left, since only they know the "true" way to do things, of course.

* YouFailBiologyForever: No form of pollution fits what's described in the book, and you cannot screw up the oceans that badly without massive repercussions.
** Though the book does acknowledge that Offred is an UnreliableNarrator as she can only speculate on what she is told, which as a handmaid is not much, and even then is filtered through state sponsored propaganda. The Republic of Gilead could be feeding people false information about environmental disasters for all the reader knows.

Very popular in Anglophone high school English classes, although the risque subject matter leads to a [[MoralGuardians crusade to ban the book every five years or so]].

** And [[ParanoiaFuel they blamed it on the Muslim terrorists, at the time]]-predating 9/11 and resulting conspiracy theories of an "inside job" by 16 years.

** And [[ParanoiaFuel"they blamed it on the Muslim terrorists, at the time"]]-predating 9/11 and resulting conspiracy theories of an "inside job" by 16 years.

** There's mention in the book of a school named "after the President they shot" still standing.

* FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: The society is so completely ridiculous that it becomes absurd and there seems to be no reason why it can last. That's because it can't, so it collapses after only seven years.]]

** Also, Offred's mother, a radical feminist, wished for there to be a separate women's culture. Which there very much is in [[NoWomansLand Gilead]].

** Also a textbook case of DystopiaIsHard; the fundamentalists got exactly what they asked for, but actually ''running'' a brutal theocracy is a hell of a lot harder than ''calling'' for it. [[spoiler:It eventually comes crashing down around their heads, and the beginning of the collapse can even be seen in the course of the book. Mind that it begins to collapse a mere ''seven years'' after being founded.]]

** This is a major plot point as when the Fundamentalists take over, they simply freeze all women's bank accounts so their money is gone, then make it illegal to employ them. Then women reading is banned...

* ReleasedToElsewhere: Possibly, with the TV report about the Children of Ham being "resettled" in North Dakota.

* StrangeBedfellows: The anti-pornographic alliance between radical feminists and fundamentalist Christians shown before the United States became Gilead. This undermined them in the end, as their fundamentalist "allies" turned on women in general.

** Not to mention that there are many indications that the oppressive fundamentalist religion of Gilead is opposed by many Christians -- while none of them are major characters, on account of the tight POV, there are references to Gileadians fighting with Baptists, Catholic clergy who are executed or tortured into submission by the state, and Quakers who help women ([[spoiler: including Moira]]) in their escape attempts.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: The book is named in the fashion of the stories from ''TheCanterburyTales''. [[ViewersAreMorons In case you didn't figure this out, it's explicitly spelled out in the epilogue.]]

** Not to mention that there are many indications that the oppressive fundamentalist state religion of Gilead is opposed by many Christians -- while none of them are major characters, on account of the tight POV, there are references to Gileadians fighting with Baptists, Catholic clergy who are executed or brainwashed by the state, and Quakers who help women ([[spoiler: including Moira]]) in their escape attempts.