The unfolding of events in this cautionary tale relates the story of a young woman named Offred in the newly formed Republic of Gilead. She is a Handmaid, in this context, an indentured servant whose sole function is to produce a child for the state. This theocratic republic, built on fundamental Christian nationalism, is located in the former northeastern part of the United States. Some catastrophic event unknown to the reader has occurred, making most citizens unable to have children, a situation which puts the blame on young women instead of the likely infertility of the men in control. These religious fanatical men have come into power after overthrowing the United States government.

The title of each section (with the exception of “Jezebel’s,” “Soul Scrolls,” and “Salvaging”) conveys what would normally describe the mundane life of any citizen. For Offred, however, there’s a bitter irony for each situation since any freedoms she once had before the coup have brutally ended.

For example, each “Night” section creates a time of reflection for Offred, a struggle between holding onto the past while also trying to put it behind her. “Chapter 1” is the only chapter told in the past tense, meant to help the reader understand the beginning of her current dilemma, when she was rounded up with the rest of the possibly fertile young women of Gilead and effectively put into bondage. We learn that the Handmaids will be brutally controlled by the Aunts, the few women who have any power within the regime. This section also creates the pathos for the rest of the novel. The “Night” sections are the only ones that are a single chapter unto themselves, perhaps placing more importance onto those desperate moments of self-reflection—or encounters with men.

The “Shopping” sections help establish the fear created among fellow Handmaids and how the state can still retain control of citizens even as they are moving “freely” about their own neighborhoods. There’s ever the possibility that the Handmaid you are paired with is a spy for the state, known as Eyes, and will report you to the police—a sure way to get someone hung on the wall or banished to “the Colonies,” an area of the republic affected by radiation, being cleaned in order to one day be reinhabited. If banished to the Colonies, death by radiation is an inevitability.

The sections “Waiting Room” and “Birthday” entail their own bitter ironies, highlighting the brutality of the Handmaid’s existence. The reader learns how they are merely “wombs with legs” and always subject to coercion and sexual harassment by all sorts of males in powerful positions. “Jezebel’s” further conveys the hypocrisy of those in power, nonchalantly breaking all the rules of the society which they themselves have created, especially those of fidelity and adherence to religious principles. The “Salvaging” section salvages nothing material or spiritual but instead proves to be an alternative means of controlling the Handmaids by allowing them an outlet for their anger, having the same function of the Two Minutes Hates in George Orwell’s 1984.

Also, DO NOT neglect the “Historical Notes” section as it is also part of the fictional narrative and not Atwood’s own notes about her research. It creates a frame tale for the story, even though it comes at the end of the tale, relating how the narrative of this particular Handmaid was acquired. It provides the notes of a historical and anthropological symposium (or conference) well into the future after the events of the story proper take place. The most interesting aspects are the speculations Atwood makes about North America in a post-United States, some two hundred years after Atwood’s novel was written. The reader may find that, though the geo-political landscape may change, human nature does not.

Flashbacks throughout the novel

There are three main reasons the narrator, Offred, flashes back to the past:

1. She’s escaping her current terrible circumstances in a dystopian society.
2. She can’t help remembering her time in the Red Center (formally called the Rachel and Leah Center) where she was re-educated, or essentially brainwashed — most often by Aunt Lydia. This happened just after her family was torn apart, changing her life completely.
3. All the other times she flashes back are because she can’t help thinking about her husband Luke, her daughter, her mother, her friend Moira, or her life before in general.