The Handmaid's Tale

Analysis:
The Handmaid's Tale makes a statement of desired equality between males and females.  The novel does so by showing that extremist groups of any kind can lead to problems.  The whole society in The Handmaid's Tale is an example of too much power given to males.  Throughout the novel it is clearly seen that that is the wrong way to go.  The example of extremist feminism in the novel is the book burning.  Notoriously, book burnings are meant to send strong messages.  Another message sent by book burnings is one of ignorance though.  When a group reaches a point where it performs book burnings it displays a lack of rational thought.  This lack of rational thought is meant to show that extremism in any direction, is bad extremism.

Favorite Passage:
My favorite passage in the novel was, "I almost gasp: he's said a forbidden word. Sterile.  There is no such thang as a sterile man anymore, not officially.  There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that's the law."  This quote is a drawback to times where culture was much more misogynistic, it references the times of King Henry the VIII, among most other points in time up until now.  The whole concept of men not being sterile is what lead King Henry the VIII to create his own religion so he could have a child.  The man-centered frame of thought is so absurd to me that this quote added humor to the otherwise bleak and sad novel.

Thoughts on the Novel:
I really enjoyed the novel because the allusions and how they were used were quite interesting.  In this novel, the allusions made were quite clear and they were also used ironically.  In some novels finding allusions is a stretch, however in this novel they were not hard to find, the allusions in the novel were definitely intended.  I enjoy the allusions because they can add depth and meaning to a seemingly simple sentence or concept.  For example, the secret police being called the Eyes.  Without the allusion the image would simply be portrayed that the secret police see things.  However, with the addittion of the allusion, the Eyes, meaning the Eyes of the Lord, can see everything, this adds an oppressive and frightening power to the Eyes in this context.  In the real context it is supposed to be meant comfortingly, however, in this case the allusion was also used ironically.