Time period and Socio-economic reality
Time period
The story takes place in the late 90s to early 2000s with flashbacks ranging from 20 years earlier to just a few years before. It was set to be in the near future of the year 1985. It is set in an indeterminate dystopian future. Some speculated to be around the year 2005.
The novel is structured in two parts: one that happened at night and the other that happened during various times of her life as a Handmaid. At night, it is mostly the protagonist's past and her struggles while day times are mostly describing her new life. The story jumps between past and present.
When Gilead roses up, the protagonist was perhaps in her early thirties. In her flashbacks, she may be in her twenties around the 70s.
Setting
It is set in Gilead, New-England. It is a totalitarian state that has overthrown the United States government. Indeed, the United States were changed into a military dictatorship called The Republic of Gilead. The former president and most of Congress was killed by a staged attack directed by a radical political group called the "Sons of Jacob".
The new regime took control of everything quickly. Everything changed. They had a quasi-Christian ideology yet, when they overtook all other religious groups, they included the traditional Christian denomination because it was not completely their ideology. Everything was bad, except their views on the world.
Since then, the regime reorganized everything based on the Old Testament. An interpretation of it where society is reorganized in a new militarized, hierarchical model of social and religious fanaticism. The social classes have changed. But, let's not forget about the biggest change : the severe limitation of people's rights especially those of women. Indeed, women are deprived of everything : their reproductive functions, their liberty, their body, their will...
It's a speculative fiction, not a science-fiction novel. Atwood wanted to prove a takeover like this - a takeover by an oppressive, totalitarian and religious government - could happen in the United Stated. It was a possibility. It still is. It was her response to all the trends in the 80s where the religious rights had a lot of power, and they were debating on women life's, etc.
In the novel, women are inferior to men, and they have social classes categorized by color. Everything is categorized. Even the unwomen are categorized as unwomen. They may not have an identity, but they have a social class to represent how much they are nobody.
The Handmaid's tale is a feminist dystopian novel, but it also has some characteristic of a dystopian fiction. The novel explores themes like "subjugated women in a patriarchal society", "the resistance", "gain of independence", etc.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid%27s_Tale#:~:text=The%20Handmaid's%20Tale%20is%20a,overthrown%20the%20United%20States%20government.
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