Nightmare —On The Dystopian Themes In The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood (1939- ), a prestigious contemporary Canadian woman writer, is regarded as the"queen"of Canadian literature. Her writing deals with contemporary issues, such as feminism, sexual politics, the fate of Canada and Canadian literature, and the intrusive nature of mass society. Her novel, The Handmaid's Tale, falls squarely within the twentieth-century tradition of anti-utopian or"dystopian"novels. The details in The Handmaid's Tale have their own relevant archetypes in the real society, which maybe happened in the history, or maybe the current society is undertaking. Exaggerating and amplifying the real social problems is a means for the dystopian writers to connect the real society and the fantasy world. Meanwhile it is this method that the writers utilize to strengthen the function of implying the society and moralizing and educating. Due to the realistic meaning, this novel has received great popularity. This thesis attempts to analyze the three themes represented in this novel: the totalitarian ruling, women's suffering and the ecological concern.The body of this thesis consists of four parts. The first part is the introduction, which focuses the features of dystopian literature and its realistic significance, then the reflection of this tradition on the novel, The Handmaid's Tale, as well as the realistic meaning of this novel.The Handmaid's Tale inherits the tradition of dystopian literature's presenting totalitarianism, depicting a panorama of dark, horrible society. Combining with Puritanism in American history, the German Nazi ruling and Great Purge in Stalinist Soviet Union in the 20th century, Margaret Atwood shows the readers a post-US Gileadean theocratic ruling country. Chapter one of this thesis tries to use Michel Foucault's supposition of microphysics theory of power, as well as his power—language theory to analyze the totalitarian ruling in Gilead, thus to prove the realistic significance in this aspect.The Handmaid's Tale is called feminist 1984. The reflection of gender relationship is the biggest theme in this novel. Through depicting the suffering of Handmaids, Atwood powerfully criticizes the patriarchal society. Meanwhile, through the novel, she presents her different idea from the radical feminists. Chapter two of this thesis mainly analyzes the issue of women's status in Gileadean ruling, as well as the relationships between men and women, between women and women, and then analyzes the social meaning of this theme.Another theme of this novel is the ecological concern. The deep root of the founding of Gilead Republic is the deterioration of the environment, which causes the current society unlivable for human beings, makes human beings face the danger of extinction. Many examples in the novel are on the basis of reality. Due to this, the ecological theme of the novel becomes very striking, tolling the alarming bell for the whole society.Using the tradition of dystopian literature, basing on realistic elements and then prolonging it, Atwood shows the readers a genuine nightmare. Warning is the striking realistic significance of this novel.