Analysis on the Handmaid’s Tale
The Handmaid’s Tale
The writer needs to be very familiar with that book.
This pastiche needs to create a personal narrative for Moira. Like Offred’s narrative, Moira’s was transposed from her recording tape, discovered after the fall of Gilead. Viewed by Offred as a symbol of female heroism, Moira is regarded as an overt rebel by the Gileadean authorities. The use of a first-person narrative creates an authentic voice, which expresses her strong dissidence and consolidates such as female independence. Being regarded by Atwood herself as representing the individualistic and pluralized feminisms of the late 1980s and 1990s, Moira stands for what many women would like to do but do not dare. The message conveyed may be feminist but the intended audience is the general public for whom Atwood’s novel is intended to be a cautionary tale about the danger of extremist ideologiesMoira’s cynical tone and sarcastic humor are deliberately preserved to foreground her critique on the absurdity of the Gileadean rule. The use of metaphor vividly demonstrates the oppression of handmaids. The motif of the moon as in Offred’s narrative, acts as a symbol of hope and survival. It also asserts the heroines’ empowerment. The use of bodily imagery confirms how Moira owns her body, and her physical sensations, emotions and desires are subversive to the dominant male order. Finally, historical and biblical allusions are employed to satirize the hypocrisy of Gilead’s patriarchal rule.
