Iris Denner: The Handmaid’s Tale (Outside Readings)

The Handmaid’s Tale is a book and a Hulu TV series. In the book, the main character is never named. She is only referred to as the property of Fred (Offred). In this alternate society, all the handmaids are forced to submit to a family with the sole purpose of producing a child. They have to give up all children that they birth and are not allowed to use their given names. They still remember a life before this new government and religion was established, making it difficult for the main character to accept this strict lifestyle. Not only does not giving her a name not give her an identity but, having a main character that does not have a name allows the reader to self-identify with the character. In art this is called a repoussoir figure where a figure is facing away from view, allowing the viewer to feel as though they are a part of the scene. This truly involves the readers in a journey in a way that is more effective than storytelling since it is firsthand. In this way I believe having books like this educates the general population more, it eliminates the bias listener/reader because they feel like it is them creating a journey, not following what has already been written for them. 

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