How Does Margaret Atwood Manipulate Time In The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale by Magaret Atwood manipulates time creating a distorted reality where a tyrannical society uses time as a weapon to oppress and control the people of the Republic of Gilead. The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a totalitarian society based on religious Puritanism where women are forced into strict social rules and enslavement. The novel follows the account of Offred as she recounts her tragic experiences as a handmaid. Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale challenges the reader’s perception of time through the use of analepsis that creates a non-linear narrative severing Offred’s connection with the past. This manipulation of time reveals Offred’s dissociation from her identity highlighting the importance of a connection with personal

Instead of all the events in the novel happening in chronological order, a linear narrative, Atwood makes use of flashbacks to create a non-linear narrative. The non-linear narrative represents how the totalitarian government manipulates time to sever Offred’s connection with the past. Atwood uses the non-linear narrative to allow Offred to reflect on her past throughout the story through flashbacks. Each flashback reminds Offred of an aspect of her past that has been stripped from her slowly revealing her loss of identity. For example, in chapter 9 Offred states “Luke was still in flight from his wife…Before we were married and I solidified.” (Atwood 50). Also in chapter 28, she reflects on the night she lost her job “So Luke, what I want to ask you now, what I need to know is, Was I right? Because we never talked about it. By the time I could have done that, I was afraid to. I couldn’t afford to lose you.” (Atwood 182). Atwood takes more than half of the novel to have Offred realize that she’s lost her identity through Luke. As someone’s past experiences and relationships are often indicative of their identity. Offred’s identity is tied to her marriage with Luke and the love they had for each other. However, the trauma and control Gilead instituted on Offred have severed her connection with Luke, thus her past and identity are lost. From the flashbacks in the novel, Offred realizes just how much her life has changed that she had a husband, child, and love all of which are now gone. With Offred stripped of her past, she has no identity and lives a miserable life as a handmaid where she considers suicide “I could noose the bedsheet round my neck, hook myself up in the closet, throw my weight forward, choke myself off.” (Atwood 292). However, what keeps her alive is her connection to the past