Her name is Offred, it literally means ‘of Fred’- she belongs to Fred; as of now at least. We don’t know what she was known before this and surely can’t know her original name. This original name has been erased from the official records when her past was wiped clean. Now, she is a member of the Republic of Gilead and the sole motive of her life is to balance its population by being an Handmaid to one of the elite members of this newly formed State.

We hear this story from her as a first person account of what has happened to her and how she is living her current life. In the course of this narration, we get glimpses of her past life, her family, her best friend- Cora and how she has now resigned to her fate of being a Handmaid whose sole purpose is to Breed.

The story moves forward giving vivid details about the social structure and new hierarchy in the newly formed Republic of Gilead. This involves stringent classification of people into different groups depending upon their social functions such as commanders, their wives, guards, workers, Marthas, Handmaids and mentors of these handmaids. There is rigidity in this order and every one has to follow predefined set of protocols. Everyone including commanders and their wives are bound by the state specified rules and regulations; they can find ways to circumvent certain rules but can’t escape it altogether.

Early in the story, our narrator gives us a fair idea about the real problem being faced by their current society and that is of childlessness, to put it simply. So, the elite ruling class has come up with a legitimate solution of hiring fertile wombs to sire as many children as possible for the sake of continuing the Republic. For this they have referred to the holy scriptures and ancient tales to come up with the concept of handmaidens, who are to be trained & presented as an omnipotent solution to the society elites for bearing children. Of course, Handmaids are just to sire these children and may be nurse them for few months maximum, later to be given away to their Hosts as a life saving gift; no more and no less.

There are other other classes of Women present in the Republic of Gilead too, who are also being classified into different groups as per their functions or uses. Our narrator often recollects her training days (for getting ready as an Handmaid) and which is controlled by some senior women known as Aunts. These Aunts are stickler for laid down rules and regulations and wants nothing less than pure dedication towards their duties from each of their students.

Then there are Marthas, which are more or less utilised as kitchen maids and housekeepers across the high ranking officials’ houses. The Wives, dressed impeccably in Blue, are the ones who are managing both of these Maids. And then there are Econowives who are not a direct part of this social setup but more like living on the fringes and their husbands are the Workers of the republic.

Men are also divided into different groups like Elites/ Commanders, Angeles & Eyes, the most dangerous of them all. There might be more classes here but they are hidden behind the iron wall of codes and secrecies.

The reason for explaining this is without this background you simply can’t understand this story neither the narration would move forward from one person to another or from one incident to another. Case in point being Offred and her Commander forming a secret ‘friendship’ which for her is a risky break from her routine of watching Wall or Garden or her room’s redecorated ceiling and on his part, it’s nothing more than an amusement. In the course of this acquaintanceship, we come across the ugly, hidden nature of this newly formed social order. And sadly like most of the patriarchal societies, there is a separate system catering for the benefits and pleasures of men. Although shocking but not at all surprising for our leading lady, this gives her a chance to understand what has happened and fuels the desire to do something.

Coming from the noted, revered author such as Margaret Atwood, this story doesn’t remain limited only to the fate of Offred but becomes the story of the generations of women to come. As a reader, you get so invested in understanding the causes and consequences that when you reach at this particular point in the book that is of Offred’s inner turmoil to rebel, you have nothing but prayer in your heart to see her get through this. You are acutely aware of all the heartaches, pains, tortures and mental trauma that these women have gone through and somewhere in your heart, there is a hope of seeing a silver lining to all these dark clouds.

Dark narratives or bleak future is what makes dystopian fictions so appealing to all the readers. Like somewhere, there is hope that whatever is happening now is not that bad, there will be better days ahead and we won’t be heading to such a darker future. Unfortunately as the world stands today, facing a global pandemic of unknown origin, with wars raging across all major continents, civil unrest taking place opposing the dictatorship in various parts of the world; we just have to have that collective hope that there will be better days ahead for us, for our children and for this planet.

All in all, a definitely recommended read of a famous dystopian fictional story. This is one of the must read books of our generations and as I said before, not to get all worked up since we will keeping our hopes alive about looking forward to the good days ahead of us.