What roles do you think Moira plays in the handmaid's tale?

Moira defies the Gilead regime so much that she tries to escape and on her second attempt she succeeds and as a result of this Moira never actually becomes a proper handmaid. This is just another example of Moira being a heroine and showing the reader her revolutionary nature. Even when Moira has disappeared from the scene she is still making a dramatic impact on both the handmaids and the reader. She is even more of a role model “Moira was our fantasy”. She inspires the other handmaids and gives them hope for the future. However, her escape also has a reverse affect it causes Offred to feel lonely and abandoned so much that she begins to reminisce about her time she spent with Moira in college. Even past memories inspire and motivate Offred that she comes to realise that they can control her body but not her mind.

Moira also portrays the motherly figure within the novel an example of this is when Janine starts to cry and wants to go home. If the aunts where to find out she would be punished severely. Moira steps in and takes charge she is the dominant one and is like a mother. However, she is not sensitive or caring instead she slaps Janine. This shows the reader that although she is very rebellious she is aware of the rules and she knows how far she can go. She is also caring but in a violent way, although she slaps Janine she saved her life.

Although the other Handmaids are probably jealous they do look up to her. When she was tortured everyone stole and took a big risk to bring Moira packets of sugar. Moira can’t really do much with packets of sugar but it shows that they care and is also a sign of respect.

When Moira and Offred where in college together Moira was a lesbian, which again is rebelling against human nature, she was an obvious lesbian she wore long dangly earrings. When Moira escaped she manages to get a job at a place called jezebels working as a prostitute. This is everything that Gilead stood against and is now what she has become. This again shows the reader and Offred Moira’s radical nature. Even when Moira stayed at Jezebels she remained a lesbian.

In conclusion Moira is a significant character that plays a major part in the past, present and the future of the novel. She is a clear revolutionary and finds new ways to break the rules. She is an individual, the uniforms that the handmaids had to wear were supposed to take away their individuality but Moira was too passionate and determined and she wouldn’t let it. She was a leader who inspired others and gave them hope for the future. Moira always wanted to be the centre of attention, which may be while she was so rebellious. She lived the dream of all the other handmaids by physically getting to the aunts and then escaping. However, towards the end of the book she was a bit disappointment. She was working in jezebels wearing a bunny costume, which is very demeaning and in a way shows sign of defeat. She is more or less everything that the aunts said that they were trying to protect the other handmaids from. She is almost at the lowest of the low.