Margaret Atwood’s iconic The Handmaid’s Tale has long been a chilling warning about the fragility of freedom—but what happens when fiction starts to mirror reality? In a world where political shifts feel eerily similar to her dystopian vision, Atwood herself reveals how real-world events, particularly the Trump era and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, have transformed the way we perceive her masterpiece.
Atwood, a literary titan known for her novels, poetry, essays, and graphic novels, has finally ventured into memoir with Book of Lives, a sprawling 624-page chronicle of her professional and personal journey. From her rugged childhood in northern Quebec to her partnership with fellow writer Graeme Gibson, and her decision to pen The Testaments—the Booker Prize-winning sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale—this memoir offers an intimate glimpse into her life. But it’s her reflections on The Handmaid’s Tale that feel most urgent today.
And this is the part most people miss: Atwood’s dystopian vision wasn’t born in a vacuum. In the 1980s, as she began writing in Berlin, she was already grappling with the rise of the religious right in the U.S. She and writer Eve Zaremba discussed how this movement sought to push women back into traditional roles, stripping them of autonomy and rights. This became the foundation for Gilead, the patriarchal, totalitarian state in her novel. Atwood asked herself a haunting question: If the U.S. were to become a totalitarian dictatorship, what form would it take? Her answer? A Christian theocracy, with the Bible twisted to serve the regime’s agenda.
But here’s where it gets controversial: Before its 1985 publication, Atwood feared backlash, worrying she’d be labeled anti-Christian, a radical feminist, or even a heretic. Yet, as she confessed to fellow writer Valerie Martin, her concerns were met with a blunt prediction: “I think you’re gonna make a lot of money.” And while Martin’s prophecy came true, the novel’s resonance has only deepened with time.
The 2017 TV adaptation, starring Elisabeth Moss, took on new meaning after Donald Trump’s election. Atwood recalls the moment she learned of Trump’s victory while filming: “Nothing in the script had changed, but the frame within which people would view it was now radically altered.” What was once a cautionary tale became a chilling reflection of current events. Women in red Handmaid’s gowns became symbols of resistance at protests, and the book’s defiant phrase, “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”), became a rallying cry.
The controversy doesn’t end there. When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, The Handmaid’s Tale reemerged as a bestseller, its themes of reproductive control and women’s oppression hitting even closer to home. In a recent interview, Atwood offered a stark warning: “The States is not a totalitarianism—yet. Though moving towards a concentrated-power structure. If it were, we wouldn’t be filming The Testaments at all. We’d be in jail, in exile, or dead.”
This raises a thought-provoking question: Is The Handmaid’s Tale a prophecy, a warning, or simply a mirror held up to society? And as we navigate an era of political upheaval, how much of Gilead do we already see in our world? Atwood’s work forces us to confront these uncomfortable truths, inviting us to ask: Are we doing enough to prevent her fiction from becoming our reality? Let’s discuss—do you see parallels between Gilead and today’s society, or is Atwood’s vision too extreme? Share your thoughts in the comments.
