The Handmaid's Tale Questions

Anti-Utopian novels are generally used as a call to action. Is that true here or doe sthis novel have another point? Discuss its goals.

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I think you need to go with what Margret Atwood meant. She certainly has, over the tears, not been shy about her motivations for writing this novel. Certainly women's' bodies as a tool for politics and power is a main idea. Historically most societies have been heavily patriarchal. In terms of a dystopia, Atwood believes men will strip women of everything making them merely tools to further their agendas. THis would be most particularly acute if reproduction is difficult. Men often use the patriarchal rhetoric of the Old Testament to guise their control over women. As well Atwood has stated that complacency is exchanged for minimal amounts of power if a certain population is exploited and raped of all dignity. We have seen this type of exploitation throughout history and continue to see it even today.