From the opening paragraph it is clear that no verbal communication is allowed between the girls, or to any of the others. This would have probably been stopped as word of mouth may have incited a rebellion. It is evident that the girls have combated this restriction by learning how to lip-read, if only to mime names to one another. This is shown clearly in the following quote:
“We learned to lip-read…In this way we exchanged names…”
This one act shows how the girls may have been rebelling from the society of Gilead and breaking one of the rules set upon them. There are many other traces of rebelling later in the book, for example the Latin phrase “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”. This translated means don’t let the bastards get you down. This was written by one handmaid, to be read by the next.
The colour-coded uniforms the handmaids and marthas wear are used to remove their identity. The uniform Offred wears consists of red, and the writer shows Offred’s views on this in the following quote:
“Everything…around my face is red: the colour of blood, which defines us.”
Offred also refuses to call the room “my room”. This shows she doesn’t accept what is going on in their society, and refuses to admit she belongs there.
When the Marthas are mentioned, Offred mentions that “…Marthas are not supposed to fraternise with us”, which shows that even though the Marthas are servants, the girls are forbidden to speak to them.
In the opening of chapter 3, the wives’ are described. Their gardens are what they “order and maintain and care for”. They knit to take up spare time. These hobbies compensate for the fact that the wives cannot conceive children, and it gives them a sense of purpose.
Offred outlines that she is someone the Commander’s Wife envies for her ability to produce babies, and also dislikes for the fact that the wife becomes useless. This is evident in the following quote:
“I am a reproach to her; and a necessity.”
Atwood uses “reproach” to give the audience an image that the wife wishes to tell Offred off, and “necessity” to outline exactly how important Offred’s ability is.
In the Gilead society there is an apparent rivalry between wives and handmaids, so it is very bizarre when the Commander’s wife invites Offred into the sitting room with her. They both have a very firm, and strictly business encounter, where the wife dictates the rules to the handmaid. In this meeting, Offred appears to be very cautious on what she says and this is very understandable, as the wives have a lot more power than the handmaids. An example of this would be “I didn’t answer, as a yes would have been insulting”.
Offred shows that she would have liked it if she got on well with the next wife if she was in a different situation, but it is obvious that she wouldn’t get on very well with this one. This is evident from the following quote:
“I wanted to think that I would have liked her…”
This could possibly mean that their working relationship could have been a lot better. The handmaids’ relationship with the Econowives is also very bad, as
The guardians in Gilead all have the male jobs such as driving the cars and repairing things, while the women cook and clean. This is a very stereotypical view of a household.
When Offred goes on her walks into town, she is winked at by a guardian. She automatically shows her insecurity by assuming that this guardian could be an eye, just winking to see what they will do. This shows that the interactions between the guardians and handmaids are forbidden, and this guardian appears to be rebelling against this. The narrator never took the wink for its real meaning; instead regarding it as a test or thinking that he is an eye.