LibGuides: The Handmaid's Tale: Home

Historical Context-The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale was written in 1985 during a time of rising religious conservatism and backlash against women’s rights. Margaret Atwood based the society of Gilead on real historical examples, like the strict Puritan colonies in early America and modern theocratic regimes that limit women’s freedoms. She was also influenced by fears in the 1980s about environmental damage, falling birth rates, and growing political control. The novel warns what could happen if women’s rights and individual freedoms are taken away by an extreme religious government.

Finding Resources in Accessit

Here are some books that you may find useful during your studies. Search the Bennies catalogue Accessit for more, or browse the Non-fiction collection NFS..

The Handmaid's Tale by Attword, M.
Call Number: F ATW

ISBN: 9780099511663

Publication Date: 2010

This is the story of Offred, one of the "Handmaids" under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred's persistent memories of life in the "time before" and her will to survive are acts of rebellion.
The Handmaid's Tale- Graphic Novel by Nault, R.
Call Number: F ATW

ISBN: 9780224101936

Publication Date: 2019

Everything Handmaids wear is red: the colour of blood, which defines us. Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships. She serves in the household of the Commander and his wife, and under the new social order she has only one purpose: once a month, she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if they are fertile. But Offred remembers the years before Gilead, when she was an independent woman who had a job, a family, and a name of her own. Now, her memories and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. Provocative, startling, prophetic, The Handmaid's Tale has long been a global phenomenon. With this stunning graphic novel adaptation of Margaret Atwood's modern classic, beautifully realized by artist Renée Nault, the terrifying reality of Gilead has been brought to vivid life like never before.

Infographic

LitCharts

The United States has fallen, overthrown by a theocratic regime, founded on rigid Christian principles and the disempowerment of women, which has installed a new nation called Gilead in its place.

Britannica

The Handmaid’s Tale, acclaimed dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 1985. The book, set in New England in the near future, posits a Christian fundamentalist theocratic regime in the former United States that arose as a response to a fertility crisis.