How is Margaret Atwood not only a storyteller, but also something of a prophet and a teacher in The Handmaid's Tale?

It is important to remember that in this novel, just as in
her other novels such as Oryx and Crake and The Year of
the Flood, Atwood gives us one presentation of the future. Not only is she a
master storyteller, but what she does in such fiction is, based on the present and
possible trends stretching into the future, create a possible future that comments on
the way that we seem to be heading now and what that could look like if we do not change
our ways now. In The Handmaid's Tale, the particular focus of this
possible future concerns questions of fertility and power, as fertile women have their
rights stripped away from them in a tyrannical theocracy that forces them to become
nothing more than sex slaves which is justified by
religion.

Atwood seems to be commenting on two major themes
that potentially face us in our world today: the decline in fertility of both men and
women due to exposure to pesticides and pollution, and the danger of combining religion
with state governance. Both of these themes are evident in the pages of this wonderful
book but also point towards the way that Atwood assumes the role of a prophet and
challenges us about the decisions that we are making now and how they could impact our
future.