<P> The Handmaid's Tale is structured into two parts, night and other various events . This novel can be interpreted as a double narrative, Offred's tale and the handmaids' tales . The night sections are solely about Offred, and the other sections (shopping, waiting room, household, etc .) are the stories that describe the possible life of every handmaid, though from the perspective of Offred . In many of these sections, Offred jumps between past and present as she retells the events leading up to the fall of women's rights and the current details of the life which she now lives . </P> <P> The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award . The book has been adapted into a 1990 film, a 2000 opera, a television series, and other media . </P> <P> The Handmaid's Tale is set in the Republic of Gilead, a theonomic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America . </P> <P> Beginning with a staged attack that kills the President and most of Congress, a radical political group calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" and exploiting religious ideology that closely resemble some traits of Christian fundamentalism (and especially of Christian Reconstructionism) launches a revolution and suspends the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order . They quickly abolish women's rights, largely attributed to financial records being stored electronically and labelled by sex . The new regime, the Republic of Gilead, moves quickly to consolidate its power, including overtaking all pre-existing religious groups, including traditional Christian denominations, and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical model of Old Testament - inspired social and religious fanaticism among its newly created social classes . In this society, human rights are severely limited and women's rights are strictly curtailed . For example, women are forbidden to read, and anyone caught in homosexual acts would be hanged for "gender treachery". </P>

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