Ironic Realism in Atwood’s the Handmaid’s Tale, Essay Example

Margaret Atwood’s use of relatable sensory details creates an ironic realism in her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. In a society wherein every person must keep his or her actions and awareness affixed only to the religious and social status quo, the author’s writing pushes the smells, sights, emotions, and physical feelings of a woman into the open and into the flinching environment of the reader’s safe space, flipping pages and assured at the distance between the fictional world and their own. However, for female readers, that world may not seem so dissimilar. Nonetheless, every man, woman, and child finds different forms of oppression in constant tension, as highlighted by her literary style.

The opening pages take place in a gymnasium, which immediately bring a host of memories to mind, but Atwood deepens both the character and setting immediately with “varnished wood… the pungent scent of sweat… the sweet taint of chewing gum… old sex in the room and loneliness.” (3) These wonderfully-evocative descriptions set the somber tone and sense of rebellion and rebirth from the very first page. The reader feels lost hope and nostalgia for a youth that might well be described as the best and worst of times in any age.

Atwood continues to develop this sharp contrast between a dystopian theocracy of strict, silent unhappiness and elements of everyday description: white curtains, kitchens, red bricks, birds, and little lies women tell: “Yes, we are very happy” (29). In particular, the colors black, white, and red provide further contrast, symbolism, and visual metaphor which connects the reader to the subtle underbelly of a dry telling. In the religious context, the duality of white to represent purity, blamelessness, and goodness against the black blot of sin and death reoccur regularly. The red coloration of clothing, brick, blood, menstruation, and more sets women apart as bold and distinct in a world which punishes them for that notice. As Aunt Lydia warned: “To be seen– is to be… penetrated.” (28)

This subtlety parallels the slick wit, patience, and resistance of our protagonist, Offred, herself, as if she taunts the reader. These are not the high fantasies nor the big words of a ‘real writer’ as you know them in school or mass media-ready paperbacks. Yet Offred does speak in the often-obscured parallel symbols of the female mind, dwelling on big-bellied sails, swollen bellies, and propelling forward. (93) Her mind wanders from old days of women working jobs to the Book of Job and back again in an intimate word association common to the dissociating and multitasking mind of many women. The night falls, we say, because it was long ago decided that darkness does not rise- even though we trace the galloping shadows as they approach each and every sunset. (191) Though Offred questions the smallest aspects of the expected more and more, she accepts that night has fallen until she herself readies to rise and does just that.

Conclusion

Through Offred’s words, Atwood encapsulates her style succinctly. During the early days of the ceremony, Offred explains: “This makes it bearable. One detaches oneself. One describes.” (p. 93) No kisses, no names- even for herself. One. They all remain just another one. She describes them as an assembly line of men sweating upon her and other women holding her down. She is only one to them at this point. Secretly, she is much more. Atwood speaks to all people and to women in particular as humanity increasingly dissociates from the present and manipulates a future that no one can really live with. The lesson remains ironically realistic.

Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale. O.W. Toad, Ltd., 1985. Print.