Lit Circle Responses #1

When I read The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margret Atwood, I picture a world very different from our own. I picture a world that thrives off solidarity and hostility. I don’t think that this is a strange view to have of the book. The way Atwood describes the world of Offred, Rita, Nick, and Cora is clearly an exaggeration of an already twisted view of our society. I say this, because when reading The Handmaid’s Tale, it is easy to see a lot of connections between the book’s setting, and the setting of our lives. One example of this is on pages 82-84. The whole household (with the exception of the commander) is watching the nightly news in the sitting room. As Offred watches the old man behind the anchor’s desk, she describes his cheerful features and his trustworthy aura.
She listens to him reassure her of her own safety and the safety of the country. “The anchorman comes on now. His manner is kindly, fatherly; he gazes out at us from the screen, looking, with his tan and his white hair and candid eyes, wise wrinkles around them, like everybody’s ideal grandfather. (Pg. 83)” Lets rewind a couple decades. Not much is different between the mass media of the 80’s, and the mass media of The Handmaid’s Tale. There are still sympathetic yet determined looking anchors peddling lies and false fronts to promote social comfort and prevent unrest.
So, is it just a coincidence that Margret Atwood’s book was published in 1986? Was it a coincidence that the two worlds are so similar? Or was she simply stretching and illuminating the scary world around us? What an interesting realization to have after a week of “isn’t this book freaky…” and “imagine if we had to live like this!”. Now I am starting to think that ‘freaky’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.