The book I chose for my “Law in Culture” review is called The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The book was published in the year 1986. Anchor Books released its edition of the novel in the year 1998. The ISBN for the book is 978-0-385-49081-8.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a book set in a dystopian America. Where The Republic of Gilead has taken over parts of the country. The objective of the state is to have females reproduce for the sake of the government. The government will do everything in its power in order to try and achieve its goal. The protagonist of the story is Offred. Throughout the novel, Offred recalls stories about her past, stories about her time spent at the Red Center (an educational institution for prospective Handmaids), and stories about her time with her assigned Commander and the household. Offred endured many hardships with the government, but she has received her luck of shares as the novel progress.
In this novel, we as readers can see how a government creates a society that favors them and not the people. In this case, we can see how women’s rights have been abolished and their right to freedom is no longer capable. The right to abortion is no longer in their favor (In today’s world we are experiencing how females’ rights are being abolished in certain states). There is no longer a need for courts in this book, if the government finds a person deemed to be a threat to the state they would simply be hanged on ” the Wall” (31). For example, doctors have deemed criminals in the novel and the government would consider the practice of abortion illegal. This sort of action from a government will destroy all past precedents and gouge case laws that were established.
After reading this novel, and seeing what is happening with women’s rights. I feel that it’s important to implore future judges and lawyers to fight for an equal society. I encourage my classmates to read this novel, so they can read what sort of struggle a woman will go through if their rights to freedom have been stripped from them. Lawmakers should be wary of how decisions on the sort of law to create could impact society. We all come from a woman’s womb, some are grateful for the life they have been given, others not so much. In the end, we as a society have to at least understand that all women should have the right to choose to have an abortion or not.
