What Does The Flowers Symbolize In The Handmaids Tale

Margaret Atwood created The Republic of Gilead, a society based on fertility and being able to have children, in her book The Handmaid’s Tale. Gilead is in the former United States of America. This area has become highly polluted and has caused the birth rates to significantly decline. Gilead was able to take over the United States’ government by killing off every single Congress member. While in a state of shock and panic, The Republic of Gilead took control by helping to “save” the population. The men are now either a part of the military or are a Commander. Commanders run a household and are responsible to “make” the babies. Women are either shipped off, domesticated servants or walking wombs. The Commanders each receive a Handmaid. Handmaids are the one who becomes impregnated. The Handmaids are heavily protected, since they are the only woman left with viable

ovaries in Gilead. With the birth rates declining, fertility is highly sacred and is vividly depicted throughout the society through flowers in gardens, the color red, whether it is blood or clothing and eggs.
Flowers.

A simple yet complex, beautiful, living, everyday object. One would have never predicted that flowers could hold such a significant value in a society whose population is remarkably declining. Flowers are often considered symbols of beauty or fertility. Coincidentally, flowers are also the part of the plant that contains the reproductive organs. Flowers are grown in the gardens by the Wives. The flowers are constant reminders of the fertility that most of Gilead women lack. The Wives are able to grow fertile flowers, unlike children. They then choose to purposely butcher their flourishing garden. “She was snipping off the seedpods with a pair of shears. [...] She was aiming positioning the blades of the shears, then cutting with a convulsive jerk of the hands” (Atwood 153). One can assume that the Wives destroy the flowers the same way they want to do to the Handmaids. Being envious of their fertility, makes the Wives act in this vicious, aggressive and brutal way to the innocent, delightful and pleasurable gardens. In a way, the Handmaids are the fertile “flowers” of The Republic of

Gilead.
Red is a color that can symbolize love, hate, or blood. It can suggest the blood from the menstrual cycle, which is also known as the failure to become pregnant to each and every Handmaid. “Each month I watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes it means failure” (Atwood 73). Likewise, blood could also portray childbirth. “Another push and it slithers out, slick with fluid and blood, into our waiting. Oh praise. We hold our breath as Aunt Elizabeth inspects it: a girl” (Atwood 126). Red is also the color of the Handmaid’s required clothing. They have to wear red dresses with red gloves and white wings around the face that fully cover them from head to toe. These dresses help to protect the Handmaids from the wandering eyes of the men. They have “protection” from men’s eyes because they are the only fertile women in Gilead and the men that see the Handmaids are forbidden to do any form of sexual acts.
Eggs may seem like something so simple to Offred, but she also ponders the hidden complexity of the ordinary egg. “The shell of the egg is smooth but also grained; small pebbles of calcium are defined by the sunlight, like craters on the moon [...] I think that this is what God must look like: an egg” (Atwood 110). Offred comprehends how important eggs are, whether it is the eggs she eats or the eggs that she produces. “The handmaids have no choice about what they eat and are permitted to consume only that which the authorities consider will enhance their health and fertility. Caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes are forbidden and sugar is rationed” (Parker). All of the Handmaids are strictly required to eat eggs every day for breakfast. They have to eat eggs essentially to help make their own healthy eggs. “Their meals are brought to them in their rooms and they eat alone. By controlling what they eat, the Gilead regime gains direct control over the handmaids' bodies” (Parker). By forcing the Handmaid’s to eat eggs, aids in having dominance over the Handmaids bodies. The authorities make them only eat what they think is healthy and good for fertility.
In conclusion, throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, there are subtle hints of fertility in The Republic of Gilead. These hints could be through eggs, the daily breakfast. Handmaids eat eggs for breakfast to help produce their own fertile eggs. Another hint of fertility is through the color red, which is prominent through the Handmaids’ required red clothing. The blood of the menstrual cycle or during childbirth helps to represent the color red as well. Fertility is also illustrated through flowers that are found in the Wives’ gardens. The Wives are envious of the Handmaid’s fertility, so they destroy the flowers that they grow and fertilize. Fertility is an important part of The Handmaid’s Tale and points to fertility through bits and pieces of the puzzle.