The control over people’s lives was so powerful that it took away peoples individuality. Everyone in Gilead has a clearly, defined role and they are colour coded according to their status. This made it easier to control them but it also took away their individuality. The Handmaid’s are at the bottom of society. Each Handmaid is dressed head to toe in red ‘the colour of blood,’ which represents childbirth or their monthly cycle. This signifies the Handmaid’s role in society because their function is to produce children. Martha’s were recognized for wearing a ‘dull green’ dress ‘like a surgeon’s gown.’ Their role in society is to cook and clean like a maid so the colour they are dressed in could suggest that they do everything because it is a natural, earth colour. The commander’s wives wear blue and the commanders wear black. Blue is not as bold as black so this could illustrate they have some authority but not all. Black is an important strong colour which shows the commanders are the most powerful people in society. The Handmaids must live by a strict routine where sexual relationships are replaced with ‘the ceremony.’ The Handmaids must perform this duty once a month, it must be impersonal and ‘nothing to do with passion, or love or romance,’ it is their responsibility to produce a child so there must be nothing sexual about it. Offred even discards the more animal terminology ‘copulation,’ because the word implies the involvement of two people. Anything sexual is outlawed so people become ‘hungry’ for sex and for someone to love them. When a Handmaid gives birth all of the Handmaids in the district plus all of the wives attend the birth and turn the event into a part on this day the handmaids can ‘do anything we want,’ because a child is seen as a gift and this becomes a special day. An emerge van is parked outside the house of the birth, full of equipment and doctors, who play cards and are unlikely to be called in except for a full emergency, in this field women reign supreme. Handmaids are forbidden to talk to each other except for set phrases that they have. They must greet each other by saying ‘blessed be the fruit,’ and the accepted response to this would be ‘May the Lord open,’ Handmaids are only allowed out when they go shopping but must be accompanied by another Handmaid. The truth is ‘she is my spy and I am hers,’ so if one of them fails to meet any of the regulations it is the other Handmaids responsibility to report them. However in reality each is waiting for the other to branch out with a true exchange of confidence after all they are both experiencing the same thing and must long for somebody to talk to about it. In chapter 6 it describes how executed bodies are ‘hanging by their necks,’ on the wall. The government displays these bodies to the public to show they have committed ‘crimes.’ Each body has a ‘placard hung around his neck to show why he has been executed.’ One of them has ‘a drawing of a human foetus,’ to show he has been killed for giving somebody an abortion. However this ‘crime,’ was legal in previous existence. These men are like ‘time travelers, anachronisms.’
Gilead uses the bible to justify patriarchal authority because they believed it originated from the bible. The idea for ‘Handmaids,’ came from the ‘Rachel and Leah stuff,’ in the bible. Rachel was unable to have children so she used her maid as a stand in
‘Behold my maid Bilhah, she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.’
This was a biblically sanctioned tradition; therefore it is the law of God so it should not be questioned. A Handmaid must wear a habit. This nun-like appearance suggests that that they are serving God, but in this case, by procreation, not virginity. Religious language is used throughout the novel, which is an effective form of control. For example the shop that the Handmaids buy their dresses from is called ‘Lilies of the Field,’ which comes from the New Testament. The lilies are for adornment, do not work and have no ambitions. This could be a clever way to resemble the women of Gilead. They are told that they can’t have any ambitions because the government controls their lives now. The ‘family’ reading of the bible is also an effective form of control, because the text is ‘drummed’ into the minds of the Handmaids before the monthly ceremony, which reminds them each time that their function in society comes from the bible and is the law of God. Religious language is also used for the names of people’s roles such as the Martha’s. Martha in the New Testament is the sister of Mary who worked in the house while Mary had a more exciting role following Christ. Therefore the name Martha was given to the servants to show that their place is in the home because that’s how things were in the bible. Aunt Lydia reads a quote from the bible
‘From each according to her ability. From each according to his needs.’
This quote is explaining to the Handmaids that in Gilead men have authority over the women and his desires are important whereas her needs are insignificant.
In the Red centre propaganda is used as a brainwashing technique. Aunt Lydia showed the Handmaids ‘old porno films,’ which showed ‘women hanging upside down, naked with their legs apart,’ this was to illustrate ‘what they thought of women then,’ Aunt Lydia is influencing them to believe women used to be sluts and their naked bodies were disgusting which is why they are forced to cover themselves up now. Ever since the Republic of Gilead took over they took control over women’s lives and took away their right to communicate with other women. At night there were ‘spaces between’ the Handmaids beds at the Red center so that they could not talk to one another. So they had to learn to ‘lip read’ if they needed to communicate. They would also ‘touch each others hands across the space,’ even this little amount of communication was important because each of them understood what the others were experiencing. However they longed for more contact so that they could help each other. Not only did women lose communication with other women they lost many other things when the new government took over including their own identities. Women are now defined in relation to men, each Handmaid loses her real name and it is replaced by a patronym for example the narrator of the novel is called Offred now because she is the Handmaid belonging to Fred. It is ‘forbidden’ to be called by your original name Offred tells herself her old name ‘doesn’t matter’ but deep down she knows that it really does matter but she doesn’t tell anybody what her real name is because it is sacred to her and reminds her of the freedom she had when people called her by this particular name. The government now also controls what women wear. They must now wear ‘long, concealing dresses,’ with ‘full sleeves,’ so that there bodies are completely covered. In complete contrast to this women wore short skirts, tight tops, high heels, make up and jewellery in the time before. In chapter five Offred and Ofglen see tourists from Japan and are astonished by the short skirts that ‘reach just below the knee,’ because it’s a long time since they seen such a sight and they’ve become used to their new way of life. Vanity became outlawed when the new government took over so they are not allowed to look attractive as it is not relevant for their function. Even when a Handmaid goes for a medical examination they must be completely covered up the doctor ‘deals with a torso only,’ because this is the only important thing he should be seeing if he sees the rest of her naked body he may be attracted to her and this is not allowed. Also Handmaids must eat a strict diet of ‘vitamins and minerals’ to produce a healthy baby. A Handmaid’s only role in life is to breed they are a ‘vessel’ to carry a child and nothing else. There only use is their body; it’s as if they’re no longer a person just a walking womb. When Moira was punished they damaged her hands and feet because ‘feet and hands are not essential,’ for the purpose of a Handmaid it is only the womb that is important.
When The Republic of Gilead took over many methods of control were created. The government took control of what was broadcast on the news to boost morale to keep spirits high. They also decided to get rid of universities because this gave people the freedom to choose what life they wanted to lead and this was no longer necessary because the government decided this for you. People were also given a defined role in society and were made to wear a colour coded outfit according to your status. This made it easier to control people but it also took away their individuality. Religion was a major form of social control; it justified patriarchal authority because it originally comes from the bible. Brainwashing was also used as a form of control to persuade women that their bodies are disgusting and their only function in society is to produce children. Atwood presents all of these methods of control as a realistic possibility to frighten us and to get us to think about our own lives. This dystopian science fiction novel presents a nightmare world which came about due to the attitude of people in society. People began to neglect the environment and they had no morals therefore a new regime was introduced to control the way people lived and take away their freedom because the government believed the way they were living their lives was wrong and this new regime would control how they lived. Atwood intends this novel to be a wake up call to us. She criticizes modern day society because she wants us to consider problems that exist in our world today. This tale is one of a warning, if problems in our society become uncontrollable Gilead could happen to us too one day.