The Handmaid's Tale

    The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood portrays a society ruined by extremism and prejudice. Although the society is based on strictly on the Bible its is not an attack on organized religion alone, but extremism overall. The novel exaggerates religious and gender related prejudices not to forecast the future but to display the brutal nature of extremism of any kind.

    The first and most apparent example in the novel is the society of Gilead governed by a misinterpretation of the Bible. In Gilead there is a strict set of Bible based laws and roles that must be followed by its citizens and rulers. The most and absurd role is the role of the Handmaids, which is based on a single line of the Bible. This line designates the Handmaids as sex slaves in order to pro create for Gilead. This exaggeration reveals the nature of religious and sexist extremism. In addition to the laws and roles the routine hangings of heretics provide another example of religious prejudice . The heretics hung by Gilead are hung for offenses that go against the bible, such as: abortions, homosexuality, or practicing a different religion. These executions even extend to people who committed the "crimes" before Gilead was established. This sheds light on extremist intolerance in religion. The society of Gilead is used to display the potential of extremist religion and prejudicial practices.
 
    Conversely the novel portrays anti-religious and feminist extremism in a negative light too. Offred's mother is portrayed as a strong willed feminist who subjects her daughter to feminist movements without her consent. Although Offred's mother has the exact opposite values of Gilead she still ends up acting similarly to their society. Gilead attempts to restrict lust and "defend" the women of its society by subjecting them to scheduled sex. Offred's mother also inadvertently follows the same code as Gilead when she takes Offred to the feminist rally to burn pornography. This shows that extremism from any side has the potential to be just as harmful as another.

     The Handmaid's Tale reveals the destructive nature of extremism of any kind through exaggeration of religion and prejudice. The exaggeration is used to create a very apparent point not a realistic outcome and to shed light on the faults in extremism. Although the novel leans towards the negative effects of religious extremism it still depicts all extremism as harmful.