where is handmaid's tale supposed to be set
The Handmaid's Tale The novel is set in an indeterminate future, speculated to be around the year 2005,[13] with a fundamentalist theonomy ruling the territory of what had been the United States but is now the Republic of Gilead. Individuals are segregated by categories and dressed according to their social functions. Complex dress codes play a key role in imposing social control within the new society and serve to distinguish people by sex, occupation, and caste.
The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel[2] by Canadian author Margaret Atwood.[3][4] The book was originally published in 1985. Set in a near-future New England, in a totalitarian, Christian theonomy that has overthrown the United States government.[5] The novel focuses on the journey of the handmaid Offred. Her name derives from the possessive form "of Fred"; handmaids are forbidden to use their birth names and must echo the male, or master, for whom they serve.