Anna Sheffer
Aug 22, 2017 · 1 min read

While I do think that certain Muslim-majority nations oppress women, I did not think a discussion of those human rights violations was relevant to “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The novel deals with a conservative Christian regime in the U.S., so I felt like discussing Islam didn’t really have a place in the essay. I also did not intend to treat a fictional story as if it was real life, but I think that in this novel, as is the case in many works of speculative fiction (“1984,” “Fahrenheit 451”), Atwood is critiquing the culture of America.

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    Anna Sheffer

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    Denver-raised, Indiana-educated, currently figuring out Los Angeles. Sometimes I write things.