Symbols In Handmaid's Tale

In Handmaid’s tale (novel) there are couple symbols such as Handmaid’s red habit, flowers, scribble, and Harvard’s Wall. As we can notice in Novel, Offred often uses the symbols such as different colors. For example, the red color of costumes which were worn by Handmaid’s symbolizes fruitfulness, which they bear a child and it’s also a uniform color for the Handmaid’s. According to Offred” red: the color of blood, which defines us” (p. 8,9). Red also symbolized the menstrual cycle and childbirth. Red is a traditional marker of sexual sin according to Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tale of Puritan ideology. (p.64). in addition, Offred gives extra attention to flowers. They are symbols of fertility and beauty. It is interesting that the flowers were in those parts of the plants where a reproductive organ could be
"I'd like you to play a game of Scrabble with me," he says. (p. 138). When Offred and Commander became closer, commander invites her to play a game “scrabble”. The purpose of this game is to show the competition over language between Commander and Offred. Who is the most skilled at creating words, wins the game. This shows how the Gilead society manipulates the words to extract the political ideologies and therefore they did not allow women to read. “They put out books on birth control and rape and things like that” (p. 178). Instead of that they use the terms like “unbaby” and unwomen” in society. Another symbol is Harvard University. The Republic of Gilled transformed Harvard University into a detention center. It’s shows totally mess in Gilead society. A place where people used to get knowledge has completely converted into a place of excruciation. For example, the Eyes of God give punishments to people by using the university rooms and afterwards hang them into Wall as “hook”. According to Offred “What they are hanging from is hooks. The hooks have been set into the brickwork of the Wall, for this purpose” (p.