Eco-Criticism
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 8.1.1
Eco-Critical Reading of The Handmaid's Tale
Human's mistreatment of the environment has had a devastating effect on Gilead and the former United States.
Human mistreatment of the world
- Atwood never points to a particular moment in Gilead's history which caused the widespread infertility rates and the creation of the Colonies.
- But it is clear that human's mistreatment of the environment has had a devastating effect on Gilead and the former United States.
Quotation about the environment
- Atwood gives clues through Offred's recollections as she remembers that: "The air got too full, once, of chemicals, rays, radiation, the water swarmed with toxic molecules, all of that takes years to clean up, and meanwhile they creep into your body, camp out in your fatty cells. Who knows, your very flesh may be polluted, dirty as an oily beach, sure death to shore birds and unborn babies".
Women in the past
- Offred also mentions the "past" when “Women took medicines, pills, men sprayed trees, cows ate grass, all that souped-up piss flowed into the rivers. Not to mention the exploding atomic power plants, along the San Andreas fault, nobody's fault, during the earthquakes…".
Atwood's stance
- Atwood is a well-known environmental activist.
- The Handmaid's Tale could be read as a warning to society about our treatment of the natural world and the terrifying consequences for humans when nature is abused, used and disregarded.