Vol. 11, Issue 2, Part A (2025)

Abstract
Margaret Atwood is one of the most brilliant writers in contemporary Canadian literature. She has actively participated in Canadian politics and its feminist movement. Her works are mostly related to social and political issues. She considers the relation between men and women and human basic rights. The issue of gender is the author’s major concern. She portrays the women in her novels that always search for their identity which is lost in the patriarchal societies. Oppression is another theme for her novels and it can be seen evidently in her writings. She challenges the inferior status of women in society. Atwood’s representations of gender, reveals the exploitation and oppression of women, particularly women’s body. She portrays the suffering of her female characters confined in their feminine roles in her novels. Moreover, gender is the main concern for examining The Handmaid’s Tale. The present study makes an attempt to read The Handmaid's Tale and analyses how women carve out a distinct female space and retrieve the submerged self.