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“The Handmaid’s Tail,” is a story of one woman and her journey through the newly established regime of “Gilead.” It is written, in the most part, in the genre of ‘stream of consciousness’ and only at the end of the book do we get any variation on this theme. To conclude the book, M. Atwood introduces a section entitled, “Historical Notes,” which takes place two centuries later than when the book is set at a university lecture. Its first and most obvious purpose is to outline certain facts about the account and the circumstances under which it was written. It describes the way in which the narrative was found, that is in a US Army footlocker recorded on tapes, and that they were uncovered in Bangor, in the state of Maine. This informs us as to why we have such an abrupt ending to the book, with no clear resolution at the end of the main portion of it. These notes also give us clues as to how the society itself was formed and devised, in the “…top-secret Sons of Jacob Think Tanks, at which the philosophy and social structure of Gilead were hammered out.” One of many purposes these notes fulfil is to show us that the society has progressed from Gilead. The main speaker, for example, is female and has a name that does not sound of Caucasian origin: “Maryann Crescent Moon.” This perhaps represents how women are again being educated and the need for a multi-cultural society being respected. It is not only the role of the woman, as in as chair, which contrasts with the Gileadean culture. The jokes, the mirth in response, and even the sexual banter, are clearly a huge leap away from the times before.
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