ENG 4U: In-Depth Analysis of The Handmaid's Tale Reading Journal

This assignment is a reading journal analyzing Margaret Atwood's novel, The Handmaid's Tale. The student explores the epigraphs and their significance, examining the unsettling aspects of the novel's world and the dystopian setting. The analysis delves into the narrative structure, including the use of flashbacks and non-linear storytelling, and identifies key dystopian tropes such as infertility and class/race discrimination. The student provides a review of the novel up to chapter 4, discusses personal connections to the story, and relates the novel's themes to contemporary social issues like public punishment, racial discrimination, and abuse of power. Connections to other texts, such as Alice Walker's The Color Purple, are made, highlighting the themes of oppression and empowerment. The assignment also touches upon the themes of education, language, and survival, and includes a favorite passage with personal reflection and references.

RUNNING HEAD: THE HANDMAID’S TALE

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1. The Epigraph:
Margaret Atwood selected three quotations to put in the epigraph for setting the mood of
her novel The Handmaid’s tale. The first quotation had been taken from the Genesis 30:1-3 that
depicts the crux of the scriptural love saga of Rachel and Jacob. The scripture tells about how
Jacob was deceived into marrying the elder daughter instead of Rachel even after working for his
uncle Laban for seven years. Out of jealousy, Rachel forced him to bed the handmaid Billah. The
citation of the particular event brings in the justification of the twentieth century Gilead’s
handmaid system that is the core idea of the novel. The second epigraph bearing the satire from
A modest proposal by Jonathan Swift speaks about another major issue in the novel which is
about the selling of children among the poor families. The controlled and the sincere tone of the
proposer in Swift’s essay is almost parallel to the fanaticism of the Gilead in Atwood’s tale. The
final epigraph is an Islamic proverb that gives the suggestion that there is no need to pose laws
for the obvious.
2. The world of the Novel:
The sense of troublesome or disturbing incidents in the eyes of a modern reader is
prevalent from the very beginning of the novel. The very first chapter of the novel depicts the
captivated condition of the maids who are yearning for freedom. They are seen to be reaching
out to their sisters for learning their names or just for touching their hands. This disturbing
setting of Byzantine is the images of a pre war period where normal human activities are
eradicated. The strong sense of sexuality in the scene emphasises the condition of the teenagers
of the time. moreover by placing the maid side by side to the aunt who is patrolling them,

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Atwood created a Juxtaposition of innocence and brutality. The brutality and the want for flesh is
more evident in the motif of menstruation and blood as indicated in the second chapter. The
suppressed emotional state in the third chapter while Offerd was recalling college dormitory
scenes and the abduction of her daughter is again a normal happening in the setting which
appears disturbing.
3. Narrative Structure:
The intertwining of the present and the flashback engages the reader in a puzzle game
where the reader would crave to know more to put the exact piece of puzzle in the set. The initial
confusion and disorientation achieved as a result of this random to and fro of narrative soon
gives rise to a deeper interest on the narrator. The use of the first person in the flashbacks helps
the reader in connecting more with the narrator emotionally. The intertwined narrative also helps
the reader to identify all the points of view that is centered around Offerd, the narrator.
4. Dystopian Trope:
Throughout the novel, the sense of a claustrophobic dystopia had been looming large.
The most common dystopian trope used in the novel is the metaphor of infertility. The novel
deliberately creates a world that bears resemblance of the troubled times where the women are
infertile. This infertility is the metaphor for the infertility of the society. the second example of
the usage of the dystopian trope is the dystopian consequences of the class and race. In the novel,
the racial discrimination has been made evident where the refugees are kept in the cages and
guarded by white men with arms.

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5. Halfway review until chapter 4:
The first chapter of the novel introduced the reader with the gymnasium scene where the
maids are given training to be the hand maids. They are seen to be kept captivated like beasts and
patrolled under strictness. The employment of sex as the bartering medium with the guards sets
the tone of the play in the very first chapter. The second chapter introduces the protagonist of the
novel, Offerd who has accepted her fate of being a handmaid. The chapter discusses in detail the
life of a handmaid and the unscrupulousness of the men from high posts or aristocratic family.
The Japanese delegates, who asked them about their lives, stopped them. Both Offerd and Jannie
said no to pictures and kept their speech as short as possible. In the third chapter, the narrator
recalls her past life when she had money and job. She also recalls about her failed attempt of
reaching to Canada and about the abduction of the daughter.
The book is really captivating and disturbing at the same time because of the descriptions
of the unscrupulous society. I would definitely recommend it to my fellow peers so that they can
also experience the message sent by Atwood.
6. Connection to self:
I personally felt the scene where Offerd was trying to cope up with her loneliness. In my
initial days of the college, coming from a totally different type of community, I was having hard
times in coping up with the new culture. Moreover, I used to shy away from my classmates and
others as I felt I was not worthy of their types. My insecurity was raised when I saw my
classmates were so fluent in their studies and smartness, which made me suffered more in
inferiority complex. I deliberately secluded myself from the mass and spent my times on studies.
I nearly exhausted myself as I was always kept drowned in studies to meet the standard of my

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institution. The memories loneliness and the mental and physical exhaustion that I experienced
made me feel the condition of Offerd.
7. Connection to the World:
The images depicted in the Novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood bears the
sense of dystopia that brings the social issues of the contemporary times in front of the reader.
These are:
1. Public punishment and racial discrimination
2. The employment of sex.
3. Pollution of the environment
4. The abusing patriarchy
5. The escape of the affluent class even after committing crimes.
6. the distorted rights of individuals.
8. Connection to other texts:
I can connect the story of The Handmaid’s Tale with another novel, The Colour Purple
by Alice Walker. Both the novel discusses the abuse on the uneducated women. While the
woman from the first novel is a handmaid from Gilead, Byzantine, the woman in the second one
is the African American woman. Both of them however, tries to escape from the confinement
mentally and physically and are looking for empowerment. While Offerd in the former novel

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leaves many question in the end about what exactly happened to her, leaving the readers
pondering upon the consequences, Celia of the later novel overcomes the oppression.
9. Education and Language:
The power game is one of the most influential themes of the novel. The society depicted
is of a theocratic dictatorship where everything is governed and dictated by the state. the
restriction on the education is a power tool that would restrict the restrict the citizens from
understanding and protesting against the autocratic rule. The state had always wanted to impose
orders which would have been possible only the citizens are kept ignorant.
10. Survival
The situation was mentally and physically compelling for Offerd who wanted to escape
from the scenery. She decided to end her physical trauma by suffocating the house on fire or
confessing to the commander for mercy. She also thought of suicide to escape from the mental
trauma by hanging by the bed sheets or attacking on serena. That would eventually end her life
as well. She also thought of running away in her give way red habit.
12. Favourite Passage:
The most captivating passage that moved me in the Novel was “But People will do
anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning. No use that is, no plot.”

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Reference List:
Neuman, S., 2006. ‘Just a Backlash’: Margaret Atwood, Feminism, and The Handmaid's Tale.
University of Toronto Quarterly, 75(3), pp.857-868.Atwood, M., 2006. The handmaid's tale
(Vol. 301). Everyman's Library Classics &.
Stein, K., 1992. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: Scheherazade in Dystopia. University
of Toronto Quarterly, 61(2), pp.269-279.
Stein, K.F., 1996. Margaret Atwood's Modest Proposal: The Handmaid's Tale.