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The University of North Dakota
The Handmaid’s Tale
A Critical Approach
Tessia M. Groen
Senior Seminar in English
Prof. Crystal Alberts
13 May 2015

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The Handmaid’s Tale: A Critical Approach
Focusing on gender inequality in her fictional, 1980’s world, The Handmaid’s
Tale, by Margaret Atwood (1986) explores the implications for women’s rights in a
theocratic society. Atwood presents fictional representations of Moral Majority
leaders (given different titles in the text) who strip women in the post-American
Republic of Gilead of their civil rights and force them to accept menial, social roles
according to their childbearing potential. The novel’s narrator Offred recounts her
experiences as they happen; at times her narration reverts to flashbacks,
remembering America before the rise of Gilead, and describing events leading up to
the birth of Gilead. The details show Atwood’s concerns regarding the increasing
influence of the Moral Majority in the 1980’s United States. The Gileadian return to
a literal interpretation of the Christian Bible in The Handmaid’s Tale results in the
backwards movement of women’s rights, to the point of social and personal
oppression of women at the hand’s of Gilead’s strict, theocratic ideals. Though
Atwood’s text seems to focus on Offred’s story and her critique of the imagined,
theocratic Republic of Gilead, in actuality it is an insightful argument regarding the
complex religious bases that underlie all politics, and the possible manifestations of
those influences in 1980’s America.
Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious
Right: a Brief History With Documents (2013), offers insight to the birth and rising of

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the Moral Majority. Founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell and a small group of activists,
the development of what would be the Moral Majority (now defined as a “action
group formed […] to further a conservative and religious agenda, including the
allowance of prayer in schools and strict laws against abortion” (“Moral Majority”))
began as a small platform “that agrees about the basic issues” (Sutton 21). Sutton
notes that “[t]he 1980 Presidential campaign seemed to be a godsend to leaders like
Falwell,” with both parties reaching out to conservative voters, bringing thousands
of conservative Christian voters to the polls. Falwell’s mission statement to
Christians was three-fold, “to get people saved, to get them baptized, and to get
them registered to vote” (Falwell 21). The intent to incorporate Christian ideology
into the political realm of the United States was unmistakable. Falwell believed that
with Christians filling the polls, “they would turn the tide in the nation” (Falwell 21).
With the newly elected President Reagan - a strongly religious, practicing Christian -
now running the White House, the fear of a possible Republican theocracy was
becoming real to many. In just six short years, Falwell’s small group of supporters
had grown into a political movement with bases in eighteen of the fifty states.
Falwell was convinced that the Moral Majority influence “was now formed and [will
be] in place forever,” which is exactly what Atwood is afraid of, and addressing in
The Handmaid’s Tale (Sutton 21).
Mixing political ideals with Judeo-Christian ideology, Atwood uses the
overpowering theocracy in The Handmaid’s Tale to show the possible future of a
patriarchal America governed by Christian, traditionalist ideals. The slogan of The
Republic of Gilead, a theocratic nation rising after forcibly overtaking the United

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States, is “[f]rom each […] according to her ability; to each according to his needs”
(Atwood 117). Interestingly, this slogan is communicated to be a Bible verse, spoken
by the apostle Paul in the New Testament book of Acts. However, not only is this
verse being taken out of context, it is partially fabricated. When completely
understood, this verse in Acts discusses the endeavors of Jesus’ disciples to bring aid
to other Christians spreading the gospel in Judea. The real verse reads, “So the
disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the
brothers living in Judea” (Acts 11:29). In actuality, the Gileadian motto is a quote
from Karl Marx, and is part of the philosophical basis for communism. It reads,
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Marx). Yet, even
this has been altered from its original form to become propagandas, intending to
reduce women menial positions. The word “each” in the above phrase has been
replaced with the word “her,” turning the quote from a statement about Marxist
ideals to a sexist declaration, to provide a better fit with other Gileadian ideologies.
Beginning Offred’s story shortly after the fall of the U.S. and the
corresponding return to traditionalist values through the rise of the Republic of
Gilead, Atwood offers commentary on Moral Majority influence. Offred vividly
remembers the transition of power, “when they shot the president and machine-
gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency” (Atwood 174).
Soon, everyone was carrying an Identipass (a Giliadian form of identification, similar
to a driver’s license) and submitting to those in power in the newly formed republic.

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Offred notes that the takeover happened “all at once, without anyone knowing
beforehand” (Atwood 174). This is nearly identical to Sutton’s observation that
“In particular, [fundamentalists] realized that the federal government, the
country’s most influential journalists, and the large radio networks all had
relationships with established Protestant groups. In forsaking traditional
denominations, fundamentalists ceded their ability to speak to those in
power on behalf of U.S. Religious communities” (Sutton 7).
This is exactly what happens in the premise of Atwood’s novel. Gilead’s rulers
realized that in order to have their un-conventional message heard, and enforced on
a federal level, they must find a way to control the communication genres reaching
the masses. Offred remembers that after the state of emergency was declared,
people were encouraged to remain calm, and told that situation was a temporary
condition while the shootings were investigated. U.S citizens glued to their TV’s
were abruptly told the U.S. Constitution was suspended, and censorship and
security began to slowly increase on a federal level, mirroring Sutton’s observations
about the Moral Majority.
When discussing the takeover, Offred recalls, “there wasn’t even an enemy
[we could] put [our] finger on” (Atwood 174). Weeks after the presidential shooting
and corresponding chaos, the targets of the attack become known when Offred finds
that her bank accounts have been frozen, her Compucard (credit card) does not
work at any establishment, and she is unable to reach the card provider for help.
That same day, Offred and a number of her female coworkers are “let go” from their

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jobs, their director ensuring they know they’re “not fired” just let go, repeating, “you
can’t work here, it’s the law” (Atwood 176). Offred remembers this “sounded false,
improbable, like something you would say on television” (Atwood 176). But the
armed men waiting to escort the women from the building made the situation all too
real. Offred questioned, “what was it about this [abrupt end] that made us feel like
we deserved it” (Atwood 177)?
The same day Offred and all her female coworkers were let go from their jobs,
Moira, a friend of Offred’s reveals that “any account with an F (for female) on it
instead of an M [for male]” is frozen, and “[w]omen can’t hold property anymore”
(Atwood 178), introducing the first of many new laws forcing women into
subjugated roles. Offred begins to notice changes in her immediate surroundings,
like the patronizing way her husband Luke speaks to her, remembering, “Luke said
it would be futile [to fight for her lost rights] and I had to think about them, my
family, him and her” (Atwood 180). Offred remembers that despite her feelings of
fear and helplessness after being laid off, it seems as though her husband Luke
“doesn’t mind it [her loss of independence] at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not
each other’s, anymore. Instead, I am his” (Atwood 182). She recalls Luke telling her
“it’s only a job [….] you know I’ll always take care of you” (Atwood 179), hinting at
the subjugation to come, which Offred realizes and reflects on, saying “already he’s
starting to patronize me” (Atwood 179).
After the power shift in her and Luke’s marriage, there were a few protests
and marches, Offred remembers, mostly women rebelling against the social and

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legal subjugation thy were being forced into. But, “the police, or the army, or
whoever they were, would open fire as soon as any of the marches even started”
(Atwood 180). With the recent suspension of the Constitution, the squelching of
personal, civil rights was a non-issue, woman like Offred had no support in their
fight for their rights, and their opposition, now formally in power as the Republic of
Gilead, had help on both the legal and militarily fronts. Although she has less than
accepted the role Gilead was forcing her to adapt, Offred recognizes that her
independence, and very state of being, has changed. Women can no longer work
because “it’s the law,” and even rights to their personal funds were revoked because
“[w]omen can’t hold property anymore [….] it’s a new law (Atwood 178). Offred’s
freedom is gone, at one point she tells her husband, “I guess you get all my money
[…] and I’m not even dead” (Atwood 179).
After the initial, hostile takeover, everything in Gilead is monitored and
twisted to control the women, and benefit the men; this begins on a less violent
front with the censorship of Newspapers and News channels during the initial rise
to power, eventually spreading to more extreme measures. Women lost their
names, and their families, being categorized according to their biological function.
Instead, they were titled according to these functions, Offred’s name being a literal
reflection of the man she belongs to after Gilead’s rising. She is Of-Fred, belonging
completely to the man after being assigned to him shortly after being removed from
her husband Luke and her familial position. Now, Offred is a Handmaid, a biblical
term reflecting existence, which is solely dependent on her ability to serve Gilead by

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becoming pregnant. Everything in her life is controlled: where she goes and what
she goes, who she interacts with, and even who she chooses to have sex with, all
under the pretense that she is being kept safe by her overseers (Atwood 20).
After the fall of American democracy to Gileadian theocracy, when Offred is
assigned the position of handmaid, every other previously American woman is also
assigned a position in Gilead, and divided into a class. Offred discusses classes of
women, all of which are almost entirely dependent on the women’s biological
abilities. “Wives,” “Marthas,” “Handmaids,” “Econowives” and “Aunts.” The
privileged women, dressed in blue and married to the powerful Commanders who
helped run Gilead are the wives, who are not forced to engage in sexual behavior,
and view handmaids like Offred as “reproach[s][…] and a necessity” (Atwood 13).
The term used for the women who do the menial labor, the Martha’s, is a reference
to Martha, the sister of Mary, two women in the biblical New Testament who were
friends with and served the Christian messiah Jesus Christ (Luke 10). The other
working women are the Econowives, who still service their less important husbands
after the governmental shift, and the Aunts, who care for the valued handmaids. In
fact, Offred is told that although she has no civil rights, and is not even awarded
control over her own body, that her assignment as a handmaid “is a position of
honor,” for her alive, available womb is the most valuable asset in all of Gilead
(Atwood 13).
Not only are the women in Gilead separated as members of different menial
classes, they are forbidden from interacting with women in other groups: even their
conversations among their own kind are extremely limited, specific conversational

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phrases have been instituted to replace conversation among the women of Gilead,
called “universal truths, maxims and slogans” (Atwood 22). This is seen in the
greetings exchanged by Handmaid’s, who have learned “it was best not to speak
unless they [the men] asks you a direct question” (Atwood 23). Offred’s first
communication with another individual outside the confines of her assigned living
quarters are exchanged with another handmaid called Ofglen. She greets Offred,
“Blessed be the fruit,” to which Offred replies, “May the Lord open” (Atwood 19), as
they pass each other on the street. This short exchange reveals the very basis for the
society in which the women live. The fruit they are speaking of is children, which are
described by the Christian bible, the basis for all Gileadian principle, as “a gift from
the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). In addition, responding to the blessing by referencing a
hypothetical act that is preformed by God (opening a womb), the women’s greetings
reveal the underlying theocratic elements in their everyday lives.
Biblical influences are demonstrated throughout the entirety of the tale in far
more than conversational uses. Christian, theocratic passages and prayers
(especially from the biblical books of Genesis, Jeremiah and Job) are used in an
official manner, and many of the places and institutes in Gilead have biblical names.
Drawing specifically from Old Testament books of the Bible, which strongly enforce
the ideology that women are inferior to men. By the biblical account, women were
even created from men, to be their helpers from the beginning of time. Genesis 2:21-
22 reads,
“So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was
sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.

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Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man,
and he brought her to the man” (Holy Bible).
This supposed creation of women is because God observed “it is not good for men to
be alone” (Genesis2:18), seeming to suggest that women have always been an
afterthought, further justifying their treatment according to the Gileadian theocracy,
which takes those pre-existing biblical principles to the extreme.
After Gilead’s rise to power, in addition to being subjugated as secondary
beings, the women in Gilaed are forced to be “re-educated” at the “Rachel and Leah
Centre.” The center’s name is also drawn from the Old Testament, named for two
competitive sisters in the biblical Old Testament, married to the same man, who use
their handmaids to bear children (with their husband) on their behalf’s (Atwood
10). This Bible story justifies the treatment of handmaid’s like Offred, since Gilead is
run according to biblical principles, which seem to support, and even to give
significance to their assigned role in society. Not only are the women in Gilead
categorized without their consent, and reduced nearly to a sub-human level, their
childbearing functions become their identities.
Offred tells of a recent encounter with a pregnant woman, admiring that “One
of them is vastly pregnant [...] There is a shifting in the room, a murmur, an escape of
breath; despite ourselves we turn our heads, blatantly, to see better; our fingers itch
to touch her. She's a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire, we covet
her. She's a flag on a hilltop, showing us what can still be done: we too can be saved”
(Atwood 26). The concept of creating and guarding life is the only responsibility

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given to Offred and the other handmaid’s, yet their very existence depends on it.
Offred and other women are treated like objects under the premise that their
singularly procreative treatment is biblical, and based on justifiable religious
principles. This is even hinted at in the above passage, with Ofred’s comment that by
becoming pregnant, she too “can be saved” (Atwood 18). This is another twisted,
biblical reference that has been drilled the mindsets of women under Gilead’s
oppression. The Apostle Paul wrote in his New Testament letter to the people of
Ephesus that “it is by grace you are saved, through faith […],” speaking about the
pardoning of sins through faith in the Christian Messiah Jesus (Ephesians 2:8). Here,
it seems as though Offred and the women are equating salvation with pregnancy.
Yet, if the entire verse were to be considered, a very different outcome could be
drawn. It reads, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not
from yourselves: it is the gift of God: not by works, so that no one can boast”
(Ephesians 2:8-9). Christians believe their futures depend on their faith in God, and
the women in The Handmaid’s Tale know their futures will be determined by their
abilities to produce life based upon Gileadian principle. But, if the true, entire verse
was to be revealed, and the women to realize that, according to the Bible, their
worth is not determined by their abilities, the entire principal base of Gilead would
fall apart.
This almost primitive, distorted take on the societal roles of women in The
Handmaid’s Tale reflects Atwood’s primary concern about the possible rewinding of
civil and political progress, especially for women, were the Moral Majority to
continue its rise to power. The twisting of biblical principles, evidently widespread

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in the governmental, commercial, societal and even personal aspects of Gileadian
living, could have all too quickly become a reality in 1980’s America if the group
proceeded to spread its influence. Atwood never suggests all Christian principle
should be stripped from all political bases, or even that Gilead is a fictionalized U.S.
She only notes that if unchecked, this decreasingly quiet influence could become a
powerful, oppressive force America is not prepared to handle, yet must work to
reconcile before her dystopian prediction becomes a reality.
Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. New York: Random House. 1986. Print.

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Haraldsson, Hrafnkell. “The Rise of American Fundamentalism- The Year 1980.”
PoliticusUSA’sArcives (2008-2011). 18 August 2011. Web. 10 April 2015.
http://archives.politicususa.com/2011/08/18/the-rise-of-american-
fundamentalism-the-year-1980.html
“Moral Majority.” Oxford Dictionaries Online. Oxford Dictionary, n.d. Web. 10 April
2012.
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Moral-
Majority
Sutton, Matthew Avery. Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right: a Brief
History With Documents. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins. 2013. Print.