What Are The Colors In The Handmaid's Tale

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood employs symbolic colors and caste systems to create a world where the only significant, defining aspects of any one person are the traits and assigned colors of their respective caste. The removal of any individuality allows characters to conform to the stereotypes and roles placed upon them by this new society, effectively creating the disparities that keep each group from interacting and bonding with each other. This disunion between females is not exclusive to Gilead’s society, as it very much so existed in the previous society, in the ‘time before’. However, women were not split into separate castes, but instead were separated into groups of those who identified with the cause of feminism, and those who did not. The narrator of The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred, belonged to the latter group. Offred’s mother was very involved in the feminist movement, but instead of allowing this to bring her into the movement as well, Offred found herself “skeptical of and embarrassed by her mother’s feminist activism” (Neuman 4). Offred always had an individualistic position when it came to social stances (4-5), as her life was very comfortable and privileged. Despite those around her advocating for feminism, Offred lived, “never identifying with the cause of feminism, never noticing the struggles of
Women were categorized by what they can provide for men, whether that is a functioning, fertile womb, the ability to cook and provide food to the family, or whatever else skill they had. Every individual caste was expected to accomplish their specific responsibilities; there were no opportunities outside that which was assigned to them. Each caste was, “branded as different from males and from other