THE HANDMAID'S TALE 

by Margaret Atwood

Welcome to our first book of the month! Our first pick is a modern classic, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Not to get all high school English teacher on you, but this is such an important read. Especially with the way the world is looking right now... Whether you're a first-time reader, or revisiting this book, I hope you'll join us in this read-along, and reflect on the power of literature to challenge, inspire, and provoke. So find a copy, and let’s get started!

BEFORE YOU READ

A NOTE ON BOOK BANS

Ever been to a bookstore and saw a table labeled "banned books", and wondered what that meant? Book bans aren’t just a thing of the past—they’re happening right now. Across schools and libraries worldwide, certain books are being challenged or removed because they address topics deemed "controversial." But here’s the thing: banned books often tell the stories that need to be heard the most. They challenge power, expose uncomfortable truths, and make us think critically about the world around us.

The Handmaid’s Tale is one of those books. It’s been challenged for its discussions of gender inequality, religion, power, and authoritarianism—ironically, the very themes that make it so important. When books get banned, it’s usually not about “protecting” people; it’s about controlling what people can and can’t think about.

That’s why we read. That’s why we talk about books. Because reading is power, and knowledge is power. And no one should get to decide what stories we have access to.

MOOD BOARD

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale between West Berlin and Alabama in the mid-1980s. The novel, published in 1986, quickly became a best-seller. The Handmaid’s Tale falls right in the middle of the twentieth-century tradition of anti-utopian, or “dystopian,” novels, along with classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984. Novels in this genre present imagined worlds and societies that are not ideals, but instead are terrifying possible futures. Atwood’s novel offers a strongly feminist vision of dystopia. She wrote it shortly after the elections of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain, during a period of conservative revival in the West, partly fueled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized what they perceived as the excesses of the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s. The growing power of this “religious right” heightened feminist fears that the progress women had made in previous decades would be reversed. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood explores the consequences of the reversal of women's rights. 

PLOT SUMMARY

The Handmaid's Tale takes us to the dystopian world of Gilead, a place where women have been stripped of their rights, and the government has set up a strict, oppressive society. (Not too hard to picture, huh?) At the heart of the story is Offred, a woman who is forced into the role of a "handmaid"—basically, a baby-making machine for the elite. It’s all about survival, navigating a world of strict rules, surveillance, and absurd rituals. As Offred reflects on her life before Gilead, we get flashes of rebellion, hope, and a search for freedom. It’s a dark world, but there are glimmers of light in the way people resist the system, even in the smallest ways. It's a story of resilience. It may sound heavy, and I'll be honest with you, it is, which is why it's so important. It's an alarming reminder of how easily societies can slip into oppressive systems, and how vital it is to fight for our freedoms.

THEMES TO LOOK OUT FOR

Power and Control

Language as a tool of power

Hope and Resistance

Gender and Patriarchy

AS YOU READ

READING PLAYLIST

GENERAL QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHILE READING

1. What seems absurd about the way Atwood imagines a dystopian society? What seems convincing to you and possible today?

2. Women are forbidden to read in Gilead. Books are kept under lock and key. Why do you think this is?

3. If you read this in 1986 when it was written, would anything resonate differently for you? Did anyone read this long ago? Is history repeating itself, or why has this story made a comeback?

4. What means of effective oppression previously used in history did the rulers of Gilead use to keep their system in place?

5. What do you believe is the purpose of having such visible uniforms for everyone?

6. Do you think there is any love left in Gilead?

7. Why do you think the handmaids are not allowed to have names?

8. Why do you think that only men are allowed to read the Bible in Gilead? 

9. How does this novel make you feel about the present day?

10. How does this novel make you feel about the future? 

AFTER YOU READ

WHAT TO WATCH

WRITING PROMPTS

Here are some journal prompts and some creative writing prompts to help you reflect, or help you flex that creative muscle. Feel free to DM us your responses on Instagram @yappyhourr for a chance to be featured at the end of the month!

Journal Prompts:

1. Think about a time when you’ve felt controlled by an external force—whether it was a person, a situation, or a system. How did you respond?

2. Offred spends much of the novel thinking about the ways she’s lost her sense of freedom. Reflect on your own sense of personal freedom. When do you feel most free? How would you feel if you lost that freedom?

3. Reflect on a memory that is especially meaningful to you—one that gives you strength or helps you make sense of your current life and the current state of the world.

Creative Writing Prompts:

1. Write a letter from Offred to her younger self, before Gilead took over her life. What advice or words of warning would she give herself, knowing what’s coming?

2. Write a scene of your own imagined dystopian world. What does it look like? How did it come to be?

3. Come up with your own prompt!

MORE BY MARGARET ATWOOD

In case you discovered a new favorite author :)

POETRY:  Fun fact, Atwood actually considered herself primarily a poet, even though the general public would call her a novelist. Here's one of my fav Atwood poems.

THANKS FOR READING WITH US! SEE YOU NEXT MONTH!