The Handmaid's Tale: A Biblical Allusion Imagine a country where choice is no choice. One is labeled based on age and economic status. Deep red cloaks, blue embroidered suits, and pinstriped clothing are all uniforms to define a person's position in society. Being judged not by beauty, personality or talents, but by the ability to procreate. Not believing in the Puritan religion is certain death. To read or write is to die. This definition turns out to be true in the book The Handmaid's Tale (1986) by Margaret Atwood. It is the heartbreaking story of a young woman and her transformation into the society of Gilead, the society described above. In the book we meet Offred, the narrator of the story. This story is not the first to create a society where the only two important beliefs in a society are the ability to procreate and a strict belief in God. It is seen time and time again in the Old Testament, in the Bible. Biblical society is not as rigid as the Republic of Gilead, built by Margaret Atwood, but it is very similar. The Handmaid's Tale contains several biblical allusions. The first biblical allusion is to the Republic of Gilead. Gilead is mentioned several times in the Bible as a place of fertile lands. The Bible states, “In the east they [the Israelites] occupied the land…, because their livestock had increased in Gilead” (Numbers 32:1, NIV) and “The [tribes], who drove very large herds and flocks, he saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock” (1 Chronicles 5:9, NIV). The biblical land of Gilead was a land of prosperous livestock. Families and tribes came to Gilead because of the land's lush, green, fertile soil. The Republic of Gilead was also...... center of the card......n individual, but each person is only noticeable by the clothes they wear. Imagine a country where the husband is the head of the family and no other family member holds any rights. Imagine a country where reading and writing are crimes punishable by death. One can imagine, but no one can understand the pain, suffering, and emotional death one must acquire to live in a society like the Republic of Gilead. This story of the future may well be a story of the past; a story based on the principles contained in the Bible, but taken so literally and applied so rigorously that the country becomes a theocracy to be hated. Bibliography Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986. The NIV Study Bible. Barker, Kenneth: General Editor. Grand Rapids, Michigan: The Zondervan Corporation, 1995