Handmaid's Tale. Is Atwood's novel ultimately a feminist work of literature or does it offer a critique of feminism?

Throughout her novel, Margaret Atwood conjures up a terrifying image of a society that has completely reversed all its ideologies and principles and named it The Republic of Gliead. In this society Ofrred's sole purpose in life is to reproduce for the elite, and failure to comply will result in expulsion to the colonies. The colonies are places separated from society where infertile women are sent. The new society of Atwood is set in the …

…it. Through this novel Atwood shows women as powerless, in a society completely unfamiliar for today's modern society. The author manages to balance the moving tale of one woman and the message of a whole society turned upside down. It is not a prophecy of things to come, but a warning that we must not become nonchalant about feminism and that we must remember that our society can change, and not always for the better.