control

• " A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze. "


  • Analogy used as a metaphor to show their restriction
  • Can choose the route they take but not their destination (' we could go straight back, or we could walk the long way around. ')
  • Women in Gilead have false sense of freedom
• ' This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. ' - Aunt Lydia 


  • ' transitional generation, ' harder to indoctrinate, remember the time before
  • ' still they'll remember... and the ones after them will... but after that they won't. '
• 'Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison.' 'We meant it which is the bad part.'


  • pressure is powerful in controlling people
  • indoctrinated
  • sense of regret
• ' We had flannelette sheets like children. '


  • infantilisation of Handmaids, regime wants their minds to be as malleable as children's so they can be indoctrinated
  • lack of independence
• ' We aren't allowed out, except for our walks, twice daily. ' - Offred, Chapter 1 


  • large sense of routine, institutionalised - controlled
  • seems like benevolent gesture by those with their 'hands on the levers of power, but to increase fertility and their own gain
• ‘Here’s the crowning, the glory, the head… oh praise.’


  • Conditioned into having an obsession over pregnancy and childbirth.
  • Handmaid’s reaction shows how much it means to them, holy occasion.
  • Suggests healthy babies are rare
  • Deformities or ‘shredders’ are common due to toxic pollution.
• ‘We smile too, we are one smile, tears run down our cheeks, we are so happy.’


  • Shows their relief and how much they value healthy babies
  • ‘We are one smile.’ alludes to their collective identity and purpose as Handmaids.
  • Repetition of pronouns ‘we’ show their lack of individuality.