The name Margaret Atwood has become more and more known in mainstream circles since 2017 when the TV show first aired on the streaming platform Hulu. After 5 thrilling seasons, the show is now coming to an end. Nevertheless, this gives us the opportunity to reflect upon the author who created the heartbreaking story behind the show.
Margaret Eleanor Atwood is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and environmental activist. She has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, two graphic novels, and a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction.
The Canadian writer is best known for her prose fiction and feminist perspective. However, she is known to the public at large as the creator of the book, on which the TV series The Handmaid’s Tale is based.
Many of Atwood’s poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age. Her works handle a variety of themes which usually include gender, identity, religion, myth, the power of language, climate change, and politics.
Most of her stories center around women, their relationship with the world, and the people who inhabit it. The work that made her so famous, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a clear example of this. The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian story in which a repressive Christian theocracy has seized power in the United States, as a consequence of this, all women able to have children are forced to serve as nothing more than wombs to powerful men. One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that Atwood based the story not only on imagination, but on actual research and records of women living in sexual slavery throughout history.
Margaret Atwood’s work calls attention to some problems that are often overlooked, as it is misogyny and the lack of interest in the environment. While these two things might seem worlds apart, for Atwood, they go hand in hand. In the same way that other dystopian books do it (1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley), The Handmaid’s Tale shows us what the world might look like if we do nothing; by doing this Atwood shows that it is our responsibility to do something about it and prevent it from happening.
Margaret Atwood carries some of her activism through the words she writes. While it is true that there is only so much words can do, there is no denying everything starts with ideas, and Atwood’s ideas are worth analyzing.
