Week 13: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (6)

    Handmaid's tale is a classic dystopian novel. Unlike other novels of this genre, this one is always a hard read for me as it relies so much on metaphorical imagery. However, what always comes back to me about this novel is the symbolism used for the colors of their clothing, which, without knowing anything about the characters, allow you to already understand the purpose or nature of each person within the society of Gilead.

    As a matter of fact, if we start with the handmaid's themselves, they are portrayed in red, which is often a symbol of passion, love, or even blood, which can be associated to motherhood. They are objects of desire in society as fertility is rare, they are required for the survival of our species. In contrast, the wives of the commanders are in blue, which show quite the opposite. Serena Joy is always portrayed as being a sad being, with no real purpose in life. Wives are not fertile, which renders them useless in that societal structure.

    Then we have the Commanders which are in black. They lead the households and are responsible to impregnate the handmaid's. There's one scene in particular that also makes the whole ordeal look militaristic, describing the cadence repetitive and orderly. One thing that's also interesting is that black can be represented as death, which can be brought upon if they don't make the handmaid's pregnant, which is an issue as the commanders themselves are often infertile.

    Finally, there's the Marthas which wear green. They are the maids of the house, they are responsible for the cooking cleaning and every house chore essentially. The green can tie them to nature, it can be interpreted as, their existence is on the same level as dirt. They're there to help, but we don't pay them attention as we tend to want them away from our sights.

    In conclusion, Margaret Atwood's utilization of color to describe roles in society was done with great care and is definitely effective in giving you a quick idea of every role in Gilead.

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