The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaids Tale was written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. Margaret Atwood was born in Canada on November 18th 1939 and is best known for her work as a novelist, however she has published fifteen books of poetry and several shorts stories. 

Atwood began writing plays and poems at the age of six. When she was just 18 she began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where she published poems and articles and graduated in 1961 with a BA in English.

Atwood, who was surrounded by a number of female faculty members at Victoria College, often portrays female characters dominated by patriarchy in her novels. She also sheds light on women's social oppression.

In 1984, when Atwood began writing The Handmaid’s Tale, women in the USA were experiencing a reduction in many of the social, political, and economic gains that they had made during the 60s and 70s. Atwood claims that "The Handmaid’s Tale" is a work of speculative fiction, not science fiction. Atwood argues that all of the scenarios offered in The Handmaid’s Tale have actually occurred in real life—in an interview she gave she stated that “I didn't put in anything that we haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do” Atwood was also known to carry around newspaper clippings to her various interviews to support her fiction's basis in reality. Atwood has explained that The Handmaid's Tale is a response to those who claim the oppressive, totalitarian, and religious governments that have taken hold in other countries throughout the years.