Choose a symbol that the author has created in the novel. What is the symbol, what does it represent, and why do you think the author incorporated it in his/her novel?

The author, Margaret Atwood, put multiple symbols throughout the whole book. Two symbols really stood out to me. One of the symbols was the handmaids had to wear the color red. The other symbol was the wings that the handmaid’s vail had that help cover their face. People in the dystopia were made to wear different colors that coordinated with their job/statues. I think the author made it so the hadmaids wore red because of the consequences they would have to pay if they did not complete their job. The author repeated it multiple times when Offred or other characters thought about a handmaid’s duty. Offred often thought, “We must do our job or die. It is what we signed up for”, except she would think of it in other words each time. Aside from symbolizing possible failor, the color red could also symbolize that handmaids are off limits to any man other than their “commander”. Margaret Atwood would write how Offred and/or other handmaids would taunt the soldiers/other men because they could only see, not touch. This occurred more in the beginning. The color red often means no or stop. The other symbol that stood out to me was the white wings that help cover the handmaid’s face. I think the author chose wings because of how she was going to make the story end. When thinking of wings, I think of being free to roam and do what you want because you can. It is hope. In a dystopia, you do not have the freedom to do what you want or feel what you want. The author may have wanted the reader to interpret the wings this way and wanted to foreshadow the hope that Offred would gain within herself. It could also be the hope and freedom that Offred wanted and tried to get.