Topic 3- Five Word Spine Summary Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaids Tale, features many concepts. Prevalent issues concepts include a dystopian place, flashbacks, reproduction, rebels, and a hierarchical system. Offred lives in a dystopian place, Gilead. The dictionary defines dystopia as “An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror.” (The Free Dictionary). Offred is told what to do and has no freedom. She lives in confinement, and unable to have her own identity. The word “dystopia” is poignant in capturing the reader’s attention because if the reader is literate, than presumably they do not live in a dystopia. Reading about a dystopia can change a reader’s perspective
