Narrative Technique In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ written by Margaret Atwood in 1986, is regarded today as one of the most memorable novels of dystopian literature. Perhaps a big part of its appeal is due to the unique narrative technique in which Atwood chooses to divulge the reader in. Reasoning behind such a broken, fragmented story (or as Offred mentions, one that is ‘pulled apart by force’) is due to the fact that this is a novel told as a reconstruction. It is the narrator retelling what she has gone through already; it is a tale- ‘a fictitious or true narrative or story, especially one that is imaginatively recounted.’(Oxford Dictionary). The narrative being labelled “unique” refers to Atwood’s unprecedented decision of displaying the protagonist’s story through

For example, the first ever line in The Handmaid’s Tale is, “We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there…” (pg.13). Right from the first sentence, from the first word, the reader will question instantly who this collective “we” is. Is it a group of three people? More? Are they women? Children? Adults? Are they only men? Atwood therefore creates effective suspension right off the bat. Another effect the pronoun “we” has is creating the theme that it is usually groups of people that are oppressed as opposed to just one. Even the title of the novel is not “Offred’s Tale” but “The Handmaid’s Tale”, removing any trace of individuality. “Nevertheless we are jubilant, it’s a victory, for all of us. We’ve done it... By now I’m wrung out, exhausted. My breasts are painful, they’re leaking a little. Fake milk, it happens this way with some of us.” (pg. 137) This quotation explicitly states that Offred and other women react in the same biological way in which a mother would after birth, even though none of them were with child. This shows that their triumphs, failures, and struggles are