Literacy, Education, and Power

One important theme in the novel is the agency that education and literacy provides, especially in an oppressive regime that demands its citizens prescribe to fixed social roles. While the young girls in Gilead receive an education from the Aunts at Ardua Hall, the kind of education they receive is solely geared toward becoming a Wife, as evidenced by Agnes’ descriptions of what they learned in school: “Aunt Lise…taught us manners and customs: which forks to use, how to pour tea, how to be kind but firm with Marthas, how to avoid emotional entanglements with our Handmaid…elementary gardening…and how to judge the quality of food that was cooked for us and served at our table” (164). Because what they learn in school is solely concerned with practical matters, such as how to keep a home, the schoolgirls lack the critical skills...