Gileadean Colors

In Gilead colors play a huge role in society. We see this in our own society too, and in every society throughout time. Blue for boys and pink for girls, red for stop and green for go, the association of red with communism, white with purity and innocence, mourners wearing black. However sometimes colors represent very different things in different cultures or parts of the world, for example, most Western cultures associate black with death and white with life, but in some Asian cultures white is actually associated with death and mourning. No matter what they represent though, colors are undeniably a universally easy way of identifying things one way or another, and have been used so all throughout history. As Atwood says in the introduction to The Handmaid’s Tale, “Many totalitarianisms have used clothing, both forbidden and enforced, to identify and control people- think of yellow stars and Roman purple- and many have ruled behind a religious front, it makes the creation of heretics that much easier.” Here she is referring to the yellow stars that Jewish people were made to wear by the Nazis during the Holocaust in some European countries, both inside and outside of ghettos and concentration camps so as to be easily identified, and the color purple signifying high status in ancient Rome since it was so hard and expensive to make the purple dye.

The colors each person can wear is entirely dependent on their station in Gileadean society, and makes each person easily identifiable. The assigned colors are just another contributing factor to the absolute control and lack of individuality in Gilead. We get a sense of this very early on in the book as Offred explains every detail of her suffocating red outfit that she must wear, and how even the umbrellas have specific colors, “black, for the commander, blue, for the commander’s wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red.” This control of everything by the government is part of the erasure of individuality in Gilead, which is the goal of the government because it makes the people easier to control.

These colors don’t only have significance in Gilead though. In the introduction of The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood explains her inspiration behind some of the themes of the book, including the assigned colors. “The modesty costumes worn by the women of Gilead are derived from Western religious iconography- the wives wear the blue of purity, from the virgin Mary, the Handmaids wear red, from the blood of parturition, but also from Mary magdalene.” The color coding of people in Gilead is just another reinforcement of the totalitarianism of the regime for the people of Gilead. It reminds them every moment of their day that they are not defined by who they are as people, but rather as what their station is. It is also a psychological manipulation tool. It has been proven that certain colors make you feel a certain way, and also it ensures that everyone is associated with their color and station, and not with who they actually are.

There is also the practical element of color coding all the people in Gilead. As Atwood says in the introduction, “red is easier to see if you happen to be fleeing.” This is mentioned several times throughout the book, with Offred thinking about how she sticks out like a sore thumb in her bright red, which would make it much more difficult for her to run away and not be seen. The color of the outfit is not the only element of control though, the heaviness and lack of form is obviously meant to hide the Handmaids bodies to prevent any temptation. And the big white headpieces with blinders are a clever way to isolate the Handmaids even more, preventing their faces from being seen and them from seeing other Handmaids faces, and also preventing them from making eye contact, which is a very big part of human connection. It is reminiscent of some forms of religion that use similar things to oppress women, labeling them as temptations and therefore making them hide their bodies and dress very modestly. There are of course women who are not forced to do this and actually find liberation and power in dressing modestly, but when something is forced upon you it is usually not empowering.