Postmodernism In The Handmaid's Tale

How postmodernism defines ambiguity in The Handmaids Tale Postmodernism in art and literature includes many aspects that define a novel or piece of writing to be “postmodern”. A postmodern novel leaves the reader ambiguous to some of the most obvious forms of literature, but this ambiguity serves a purpose to the postmodernism in the metafictional story that includes the theme or the purpose of the novel. One of the greatest examples of postmodern fiction/literature would be The Handmaids Tale by Margret Atwood. Certain aspects of this novel allow this novel to be characterized as “postmodern”, this novel was also written in a time when postmodernism has been on a moral zenith in people’s consciousness. The main narrative from of this novel …show more content…
The ending of Handmaids tale is not common unlike other narrative fictions. The novel exudes its theme and purpose interactively with its readers. Atwood leaves the ending up to the reader to interpret which creates ambiguity in the reader’s mind. The ending of the novel is not so mainstream and stereotypical like other novels with a “happy ending”, literature critic, Lloyd Spencer quotes “One way of drawing the line between postmodern and its critics is to focus on postmodernism and its refusal of the utopian, dream like elements which have accompanied the constant change of modernity”. This is seen in The Handmaids tale, where a constant flow of problems is set in the main character’s life, to such extent that the setting is described as a dystopia (opposite of utopia). The author of this novel ends the novel rather abruptly and with a risk, she includes Historical notes through which the reader can interpret an ending. This type of ending creates lots of ambiguity; therefore the specific nature of this book can be categorized as a postmodern form of writing. Ambiguity is set in place for the whole purpose of this book, this ambiguity captures the way readers approach a narrative fiction novel and forces the reader to think about the ending and purpose from interpretations of the experiences in the book, …show more content…
The projection of postmodern aspects in its form, purpose, and meaning create a relation into which the reader can actively participate to understand the theme while relating it to her/himself. The theme of the story is manifested through the ambiguity the plot embeds, questioning and challenging the moral beliefs the reader knows. The postmodern aspects this novel that construct the meaning are, the unusual ending that forces the reader to question and interpret the purpose of the ending, piecing together the structure of the narrative that constantly interacts with the reader to question the actual meaning of narrative fiction, and finally using all that knowledge to understand the main theme and meaning of the novel through its postmodern aspects that exhibit some kind of ambiguity for the reader. Margret Atwood uses these postmodern characteristics as a base or part of the novel, manipulating the form to create ambiguity in the novel’s purpose, form, and meaning ultimately for the reader to realize the