A Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood is novel told from the view of Offred, a Handmaid in Gilead. She tells the story in the immediate present tense but frequently shifts to past tense for flashbacks to life before her life as a Handmaid, for example, her time in the Red Center. The novel touches on many themes, such as exploiting women's bodies as political instruments, using language as a tool of power and the causes of contentment. For example, the Republic of Gilead has dominated women and reduced Handmaids like Offred to sexual slavery. The narrator desires happiness and freedom, and finds herself struggling against the totalitarian restrictions of her society. This is all clearly communicated in the novel, and throughout Margaret Atwood uses various methods to further reveal to the reader the nature of society in Gilead.

The structure of The Handmaid's Tale inherently shows contrast in...