Using deconstructionism to analyze “The Handmaid’s Tale” we are exposed to binary hierarchies, where mostly men are in power while women are in subservience. Some other binaries are: security/endangerment, power/subservience, control/freedom and men/women. With deconstructionism we are able to examine and deconstruct the regime in the novel and question how far Gilead controls language (book, news/newspaper, etc.) and women.
This text also makes the readers question the origin (like how the society came to be and why), motive (what does the government wish to accomplish by having this type of controlled society), and values (such as do they treat the women equally as they want other to believe) of the totalitarian society that has arose in the novel.
Another question that arose from analyzing this novel with deconstructionism is if Offred was a reliable narrator? In deconstructionism we can assume that the text itself is unreliable, with this assumption we can conclude is that Offred may not be the best narrator. Since, this novel is written from her point of view she decides what is included and excluded from the story; meaning that there could be important facts or events she refuses to share that could be important to the storyline or to the opinion of the people reading her story. Also, since it’s in her perspective and she is a female, we can assume that this text is written with female bias to reveal the struggle of women in the story and relate it to reality.
Marxist Literary Theory 