This thesis examines Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) in the context of the social, political, and scientific circumstances of the United States in the 1980s. To reflect upon the strong connection between the end-of-the-century US and the dystopian culture of Gilead, besides analysing particular passages from the novel itself, I also employed supportive scenes of the television series adaptation of Atwood’s novel by Hulu (2017- ). Although the TV series is mainly related to the contemporary problems of the US, its close relationship with the original narrative makes it possible to interpret many of its elements within the frame of the late-20th-century America. Therefore, the issues of women as decision makers and ambitious careerists as well as the infertility crisis of the 1980s draw a clear parallel between Atwood’s then contemporary environment and the fictitious Republic of Gilead. My thesis explores these common features of the two aforementioned societies, arguing that the complexity of the misogynous socio-political climate depicted by Atwood can be interpreted as the mirror image of the US at the end of the 20th century.