Vocabulary in The Handmaid's Tale

A piece of fabric worn over the face or head, used here as part of the Handmaids' required uniform to conceal their identity and restrict their vision.

The stiff white side-pieces of the Handmaids' headdress that block peripheral vision and hide the wearer's face from sideways view.

A distinctive set of clothing worn as a uniform, here referring to the Handmaids' prescribed red dress and head covering, like a religious order's garb.

Something altered or reused but still bearing visible traces of an earlier form; used to describe how the present dystopian world overlays the remembered past.

A state-sanctioned public execution ceremony in Gilead, framed as a ritual act of moral cleansing, at which Handmaids are required to participate.

A portmanteau of 'participation' and 'execution': a ritual in which Handmaids are ordered to kill a condemned man with their bare hands as a group.

A large compulsory public religious ceremony in Gilead, blending prayer and pageantry, used to celebrate events such as mass weddings or military victories.

Women in Gilead who are married to lower-ranking men and must perform all domestic, sexual, and reproductive roles themselves, wearing striped dresses.

A class of women in Gilead assigned to domestic service — cooking and cleaning — in the households of the elite, named after the biblical Martha.

Women in Gilead who serve as enforcers and indoctrinators of Handmaids, running the Red Centre and wielding cattle prods to maintain discipline.

The secret police and surveillance agents of the Gilead regime, who spy on citizens and report or arrest those suspected of disloyalty.

Lower-ranking male soldiers in Gilead who perform guard and policing duties; they are considered not yet worthy of full Commander status.

A high-ranking male official in the Gilead hierarchy who heads a household and is assigned a Handmaid for reproductive purposes.

The monthly ritual in Gilead during which a Handmaid is required to have intercourse with the Commander in the presence of his Wife, intended solely for reproduction.

Machines in Gilead that print out prayers automatically; citizens can pay to have prayers generated, giving a public appearance of piety.

A secret, state-tolerated brothel in Gilead where Commanders entertain themselves with women who have been forced into prostitution, hidden from official ideology.

The code word used by members of the underground resistance network in Gilead, derived from the French 'm'aidez' (help me), to identify one another.

In Gilead's usage, to execute a condemned person in a public ritual; the regime repurposes the word to make killing sound like an act of rescue or preservation.

Women in Gilead who have been stripped of all social status and are sent to the Colonies to perform dangerous labour, including cleaning up toxic waste.

Toxic or barren areas outside Gilead's main territory where unwomen, dissidents, and other outcasts are sent to perform lethal forced labour.

To give a formal spoken account, here used in the context of the Handmaid bearing witness to her own experience, with overtones of religious confession.

A reference to the Gideon Bible placed in hotel rooms; used in the novel to evoke the way religious texts are co-opted and repurposed by the Gilead state.

Gaps or missing sections in a text or record; used in the epilogue to describe the breaks and silences in Offred's taped narrative.

The quality of seeming true or believable; used in the epilogue when scholars debate whether Offred's account is authentic or fabricated.

Of lower rank or subordinate status; in the epilogue, used in an academic sense to describe those whose voices are suppressed or marginalised by dominant power structures.