Something to Move the Soul: A Handmaid’s Tale

Samantha Zink, Reporter

A Handmaid’s Tale, which aired recently on Hulu ,is based after the best selling book by Margaret Atwood, and has received many awards for its fantastic adaption of one of America’s most loved dystopian novels.

The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a dystopian world where women are captured and forced into being either a “martha” (maid/cook of household) or a “handmaid”, someone who must bear children for the Man and Lady of the household. It follows the story of a maid named Offrend, who has flashbacks to her life before The Eye (the government system in the story) took over and forced many Americans into their new government.

“What I most enjoyed was how real it was,” said alumna Sandy. “Every moment felt real and raw. It was hard to watch at some points because it just touched me too deep.”

Throughout its first season, the TV show mostly stayed true to the book, and when they added something new, the writers made sure it still connected to the plot. Everything flowed together well, even if it wasn’t completely true to the book.

“I sobbed during one episode,” said junior Leah McIntyre. “I am usually good about watching TV shows and not crying, but this one, this one got me.”

The TV show dug into the themes of control and manipulation of power. It was able to depict Gilead (the country where the story takes place) as a theocratic dictatorship, as well as show the complete lack of power that handmaids have in their households. It would build on this theme of control and power by showing scenes of the ceremony, where the master of the house would forcibly copulate with a handmaid in hopes of impregnating her. This is where the handmaid’s truly lost any control they had.

The Handmaid’s Tale won multiple Emmys including outstanding lead actress in a drama series, outstanding drama series, and outstanding supporting actress in a drama series. It also received multiple other Emmy nominations.

Season two of The Handmaid’s Tale will not air until April of 2018. Speculation has been going around that this next season will be even more brutal than the last.