Gender Symbols In The Handmaid's Tale?

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale paints a picture of the United States’ future. The nation has shifted into a religiously focused patriarchy with a low birth rate. The pressure to reproduce creates a harsh, rule-bound environment. The clothing, in particular, becomes very symbolic to the people in the Republic of Gilead. In modern day America, hospitals use colors to symbolize gender of newborns but Atwood’s future takes it a step further to say that the color of women’s dresses and men’s uniforms differentiate their designated roles. Although clothes have had meanings connected to class and occupation, this form of gendered clothing assignment creates the most difficulties. In 1986, Atwood tapped into the reality that when humans are restricted by their clothes, they become ashamed of

Young girls are being taught at that other people the final say in clothing choices and that clothing transform them into sexual beings. In The Handmaid’s Tale, the leaders of Gilead assign simplified, color-coded uniforms for women to prevent any hypersexualization like in the time before. Offred describes the various specific outfits of each kind of woman. For the handmaids, “Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The skirt is ankle-length, full, gathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts, the sleeves are full. The white wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen” (Atwood 8). Her impression of her garb shows how rigid the rules around wardrobe are. It is an interesting paradox that the wings frame her face but she is not to be seen so in addition, she wears a veil over her face. This makes her lose her