The Handmaid's Tale
In a New England republic founded on Old Testament law after a coup and a collapse in fertility, a woman assigned to a Commander's household may own nothing, read nothing and leave only to shop, in a red habit announcing what she is kept for. She sets down the household, the ceremony, and the life she had before. Atwood's rule was to put in nothing that had not already been done somewhere, which is why it reads less as prophecy than as inventory.
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Lineage
- takes its title from ↑ The Canterbury Tales
- alludes to ↑ Genesis
Attributes
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Plot structure
Symbol / motif
Conflict
Culture / tradition
Closest analogues
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- 47% · 12 shared