’s relationship with Offred characterizes female friendship throughout the novel. The kind of relationship that Moira and Offred maintain from college onward does not exist in Gilead. Gilead claims to promote solidarity between women, but in fact it only produces suspicion, hostility, and petty cruelty. Looking at Offred we see how she continuously thinks of her old friend allowing her to escape from her unpleasant reality. We see this when Offred says, “Moira, breezing into my room.” The use of the verb, “Breezing.” Implies to the reader that to Offred thinks of Moira much like a breath of fresh air in this case when she not only enters the room but when she enters Offred’s thoughts reminding her of a better time escaping her from the harsh reality. This is why they have such a thoughtful friendship as they save each other from difficult time helping each other through Gilead society even though Margaret Atwood has created them to have contrasting roles in the modern society and these are seen in Offred’s memories.
In Offred’s flashbacks, Moira also embodies female resistance to Gilead as she is a lesbian, which means that she rejects male-female sexual interactions, the only kind that Gilead values. This is why because of these objections she is the character in the novel whom everyone idolise as she continuously rebels and she tries escapes giving hope for others which they are scared to achieve themselves. For Moira’s first attempt at escaping from the Centre, she is beaten with steel cables on both of her feet and the other handmaids have to carry her because she can’t walk. This enables the Aunts to warn everyone that they are very honest about their willingness to use violence to accomplish their goals as we see when it is said, “Remember. For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential.” This surprises both Offred and Moira as they are unaware how well respected the Aunts are. They feel this because from before Moira explains, “What I didn’t know of course was that in those early days the Aunts and even the Re-education Centre was hardly common knowledge. It was all secret at first, behind barbed wire. There might have been objections to what they were doing, even then. So, although people had seen the odd Aunt around, they weren’t really aware of what they were for.” This shows how they are both unaware of the extent Gilead society would take over. Margaret Atwood does this so that even for a strong woman like Moira escaping this environment is excoriatingly hard as we see she is caught before she can get out of Gilead. The reader later sees after embodying resistance for most of the novel, Moira comes to exemplify the way a totalitarian state can crush even the most independent spirit. Her fighting spirit seems broken, and she has become resigned to her fate. However this only occurs after a successful escape.
Margaret Atwood by making Moira fail in her first attempt to escape it adds that extra strength to the character of Moira. Making her even more determined to be the influential feminist and escape this captivity being the only character who stands up to authority directly by making these two escape attempts rather than passively accepting her fate as a Handmaid. The manner in which she escapes is also very symbolic and cleaver of Margaret Atwood as Moira escapes by taking off her clothes and putting on the uniform of an Aunt. This is a strong symbol of her rejection of Gilead’s attempt to define her identity. Also this enables Moira to have the control of tampering with the hierarchy of the whole Gilead society and as she says, “I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get out of the Centre. In that brown outfit I just walked right through. I kept on going as if I knew where I was heading, till I was out of sight. I didn’t have any great plan; it wasn’t an organized thing, like they thought…” Even though this leaves the reader and the Handmaids with and idolised and influential image of this woman this changes as the reader soon sees. Later, Offred encounters Moira working as a prostitute in a club for the Commanders. At the club, Moira seems resigned to her fate, which shows that Gilead society can grind down and crush even the most resourceful and independent people.
Moira is a key feminist idol to not only Offred but to most handmaids that know her throughout the book. The imagery and sense that Margaret Atwood portraying her to be a breath of fresh air is a symbolic image of a best friend from Offred’s better time. She is a strong character throughout with high opinion and believes that freedom will be restored however in the end Moira’s spirit is also grinded down, destroyed by a controlled society.
