RUNNING HEAD: MARXISM: A HANDMAIDS TALE

Marxist View: A Handmaids Tale

Baker College

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 2

Marxist View: A Handmaids Tale
A Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood takes the reader on a journey through her
dystopian fictional Republic of Gilead. The separation of classes, particularly where women are
concerned, define the lives of the citizens of Gilead. The political pre-destiny of the characters
lives, coupled with the extreme oppression of the handmaids, allow a Marxist comparison
between the fictional world which Atwood created and the real world in which she lived during
the time the story was written.
Margaret Atwood Feminism and Dystopia
The rise of religious conservatives was likely a major contributing factor to the dystopia that
is the Republic of Gilead. Gilead as a society is a totalitarian theocracy. Atwood uses A
Handmaids Tale to explore different themes of female subjugation. Many of these themes have
basis in the real world at the time the book was written. Atwood also uses the first person
narrative of her protagonist Offred to demonstrate not only how women are oppressed but also to
give women agency. Atwood also uses strongly Marxist themes to evoke morally empowered
language of critique against dominant capitalist society (Veneziani, 2012) as she builds her
dystopian society for the reader. The blending of Feminism and Marxism result in a situation that
leaves reader terrified at the possibilities. There is always a certain angst for the protagonist.
Woman in Gilead have few choices and are clearly pushed out of the upper echelons of society
and down into the working class. The extreme sexism and oppression of women in the story
leads the reader to not only sympathize with the protagonist through feminist lens but also to
understand the dangers of unchecked capitalism. Fertile women in Gilead are given the choice of
either directly serving the powerful Bourgeois elite or joining the Unwomen, and starve to
death and lord knows what all (Atwood, p. 10). The very relationship between women and men

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 3

in Gilead could answer one of the questions essential to a Marxist analysis, How do characters
from different classes interact or conflict? (Brizee, 2010). Even though the difference is gender
related there is clearly an allegorical parallel drawn between gender and social class. The men
are the elite and the women the lower working class. Marxist class theory describes the
differences in classes as being structured by mechanisms of domination and exploitation, in
which economic positions accord some people power over the lives and activities of others
(Veneziani, 2012). The Marxist gap between genders and classes is obviously at an extreme to
the point where not only does the ruling male class have power over the working female class
but the female class is treated as property. There is such conflict between the values the work
champions and those it portrays (Brizee, 2010) which is represented many times by Atwood
throughout the novel.
Gilead and Bourgeois Capitalism
It is easy for the reader to draw parallels between society at the time of the books writing
and the climate in Gilead. Declining birthrates in Gilead parallel the declining birth rates in the
United States in the 1980s. Atwood obviously fears the rise of the religious conservatives and
the book demonstrates a plausible future if the advances of the feminist liberal movement are
rolled back by the religious conservatives. As Atwood designs her dystopia she ingrains elements
of Bourgeois Capitalism deep within the roots of everyday life in Gilead. According to Marxist
theory, the class structure of a society is central in the explanation of individual economic
outcomes and life opportunities (Veneziani, 2012). The Handmaids have had all of their
potential opportunities restricted by a total loss of identity. The Handmaids are not even allowed
to keep their name. This is a mechanism that the Bourgeois elite use to maintain the absolute
power of their station. After all, the division between classes in Gilead represent the extreme

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 4

final stages of Bourgeois Capitalism according to Marxism (Brizee, 2010). The privileged rely
on the labor force for survival and it is the view of the privileged that ownership of capital, in
this case women and all physical things, justifies their position of power (Veneziani, 2012).
Thus the reader is ready when Offred and Ofglen are speaking outside the building where the
Eyes hold their banquets (Atwood, p.202). Who told you? The grapevine(Atwood,
202) and suddenly there is hope that the working class is starting to rise up. Marxist criticism
would assume that continuing conflict between the classes will lead to upheaval and revolution
by oppressed people (Brizee, 2010). The oppressed women have started their movement against
the Gilead elite.
Political Oppression From Feminist to Subservient
Margaret Atwood lived the feminist movement through the 1970s. The political goals of
the extreme religious conservatives sought to undue this progress. Gilead is a representation of a
time and place where all of that progress has been undone. As a proponent of feminism it stands
to reason that A Handmaids Tale was born from a need to express how bad the world could be
if the progress of the feminist movement were rolled back.
Life in the Rachel and Leah Center, or the Red center, are designed to brainwash the
women into accepting their new role in the world order. Smoking is not permitted. The
environment is oppressive with the pungent smell of sweat, (Atwood, 1986) which seems
designed to put the newly designated working class in their proper place. Language is used as a
tool of power and one meant to justify the actions of the male ruling class. Any accepted action
that would be considered politically or socially inappropriate in Atwoods real world is given a
religious name of some sort. Even the sex slaves at Jezebels are blamed simply with the name
Jezebel who was a wicked woman in the bible. At another point the commander attempts to

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 5

justify the need for the new political hierarchy that is Gilead by saying There was nothing to
work for, nothing to fight for (Atwood, p. 210) and nothing for them to do with women which
further objectifies the female gender but in a Marxist view increases the inevitable devide
between the male ruling class and the female working class. The commander continues by stating
that it was not only sex that inspired the creation of a new society, that Men were turning off on
sex they were turning off on marriage (Atwood, p. 210). The implication is that ownership of
womens sexuality and the excitement of sneaking around for it were a natural evolution of
things. The Marxist analysis shows the injustice grow so far that the reader feels rebellion is a
just cause.
A Handmaids Tale is a prime example of an attempt to reveal the ways in which or
socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience (Brizee, 2010). In this way the
work displays the Marxist belief that the social structure of the 1980s was threatening to control
the experience of women of that time.
The Reality of Gilead
At the end of the book the reader is left without knowing the fate of the protagonist.
Focus is placed on the importance of her story and how it is an important reminder of dangers a
society like Gilead pose. The audience is also warned not to judge Gilead to harshly. Atwood
uses our humanity to add to the believability of the story. From a Marxist view, the believability
that the current capitalist situation in which Atwood lived could evolve into government with a
class gap like Gilead adds to the intrigue. It is said that a book about the future can interest us
only if its prophecies look as though they might conceivably come true (Beauchamp, 2009).
Although The Handmaids Tale represents an extreme swing towards totalitarian capitalism,

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 6

the themes of the story are grounded in such a way that the reader can believe the possibility of it
being true.
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood certainly deserves its place in literary
history. Atwoods fear of the dissolution of the feminist movement, and the subsequent rise to
power of the religious conservatives, paved the way for her version of the future. A dystopian
world named Gilead where Bourgeois Capitalism and gender inequality are extreme. Thankfully
Atwoods version of the future is fiction for the moment. With any luck the message she so
elegantly portrays in The Handmaids Tale will serve as a warning that will prevent a Gilead in
the future.

A MARXIST VIEW: HANDMAIDS TALE 7

References
Atwood, A. (1986). A Handmaids Tale. New York, NY: First Anchor Books.
Brizee, A. (2010). Marxist Criticism (1930s present). Retrieved from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/05/
Beauchamp, G. (2009). The Politics of The Handmaids Tale. In The Midwest Quarterly.
Autumn, 2009, Vol.51 Issue 1 p11. Pittsburg State University
Veneziani, R. (2012). Analytical Marxism. In Journal of Economic Surveys. Sept. 2012, Vol. 26
Issue 4, p649-673. Business Source Complete