This Is Not A Dystopia-A Posthumanist Reading Of The Handmaid’s Tale

Margaret Atwood is one of the most outstanding contemporary Canadian writers in literary world.Her novel The Handmaid’s Tale first published in 1986 has received worldwide popularity.It is still of great value today for it does not just depict a dystopia full of crises in the 21^st century but predicts today’s terrible reality such as ISIS terrorist organization or the Islamic State.The novel closes with an epilogue from the year of 2195,nearly two hundred years after the Handmaid Offred’s story.Seen from the situations depicted in the story that is similar to the current reality and the time when the story happens that is anastomotic with the 21^stt century,it is no doubt a prophetic novel.The thesis creatively uses case studying approach to make a comparison between the crises reflected in the text of the novel and the problems existing in reality,hence one can find that the world delineated by Atwood in the novel is not a dystopia but a terrible reality.The Handmaid’s Tale shows us posthuman conditions and crises.It is feasible to read this novel from the perspective of posthumanism,which breaks the traditional notion that sees the novel as a dystopian or feminist theme and is more critical than humanism which emphasizes anthropocentric position of human.Posthumanism advocates a political system that contains multiple subjects.It criticizes humanistic“binary opposition”thought pattern and“male subjectivity theory”.This study constantly adds current political issues that are closely related to our life,which is of great research value and practical significance.The thesis consists of seven parts:an introduction,five main-body chapters and a conclusion.Introduction part introduces the author Margaret Atwood,the main plot of The Handmaid’s Tale,a literature review of this novel both abroad and at home,and the significance of the thesis.Chapter One introduces the theory of posthumanism including the rise and evolution of posthumanism,and the core ideas of the two main strands of posthumansim.The theory of posthumanism includes popular posthumanism（transhumanism）and critical posthumanism.The former only seeks an enhancement of the human while the latter disputes that.Chapter Two points out the posthuman crises reflected in the novel.These crises are separately elaborated from natural,social and psychical aspects.It can be seen that Gilead delineated by Atwood is a world that has severe environment pollution;the society of the state is restless and people there almost suffer nervous breakdown.Chapter Three illustrates that what is depicted in the novel is not a dystopia but a reality that really exists in today’s society,such as ecological problems in recent years,the“bride market”in Bulgaria,the persecution of Yazidi women by ISIS militants,which verifies Atwood’s foreseeability.Chapter Four moves on to point out that female as the oppressed group in a“male subjectivity”society that is full of crises will inevitably go to their resistant road.However,in the novel female’s bodily and spiritual“valid”resistance claimed by the previous researchers is not convincing.The thesis starts with the theory of posthumanism,making an introduction of the connection of body and consciousness;then it analyzes the bodily and spiritual resistance in this novel studied by the previous researchers and at last criticizes its invalidity.Chapter Five applies posthumanistic female politics,aiming to help women to construct their subjectivity.However,it does not mean advocating feminism or going to another extreme that opposes men.It advocates that women should be allied with post-anthropocentric men to facilitate the becoming of universal vitality,the becoming of women,or even the becoming of animals,that is,becoming posthuman subject,which means opposing“binary opposition”and advocating the coexistence of multiple subjects,helping all the living beings to coexist harmoniously and develop sustainably.The conclusion part summarizes the above analysis.The Handmaid’s Tale is not a dystopia,but a prophecy of today’s reality.The previous study ends up only at the point where women rebel against men.While reading the novel in a posthumanist perspective may provide some effective theoretical guidance for people in reality.Posthumanism neither advocates patriarchy or narrow feminism;it aims to equalize all living creatures,and it advocates having a broad understanding of all species and living in harmony with animals and environment.