g a period of conservative revival in the west. This revival was partly fuelled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized what they perceived as the excess of the "sexual revolution" of the 1960's and 1970's. The growing power of this "religious right" heightened feminist fears of a reversal of the gains women had made in previous decades, such as widespread access to contraception, the legalisation of abortion and the increasing political influence of female voters. Because of all these wonderful feminist movements, there was a fear that, one day, all their hard work could be demolished and all their efforts wasted.
             The Handmaid's Tale is the development of this fear, therefore fitting in to the feminist dystopian tradition. Dystopian novels are usually extremely controversial because they are based on political ideology. In The Handmaid's Tale, religious connotations are used for political purposes. Gilead has a form of government in which there is no separation between state and religion, and through the use of religious terminology, it disguises the political aspects. Domestic servants are called "Marthas" in reference to the domestic character in the Bible; the local police are the "Guardians Of Faith"; soldiers are "Angels"; commanders are officially " Commanders of the Faithful." All of the stores' names have religious connotations "Loaves and Fishes" and "All Flesh", and the cars have names like "chariot". Politics and religion are seen as the same in Gilead, which is clearly represented in the slogan "God is a National Resource".
             The Handmaid's Tale is extremely controversial because religious connotations are used in the attempt to make the citizens of Gilead believe that what is being done politically is the right thing to do, and to believe and idolise that...