In the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" written by Margaret Atwood, the color red is a recurring and significant symbol throughout the book. The dominant color of the novel, the color red, is paired with the Handmaids. The Handmaids are always seen in their red uniform, even with the red shoes and red gloves. From the first pages of the novel we are informed that they are being trained at the “Red Center” and we are introduced to the importance of red images as Offred, the narrator and protagonist of the novel, describes herself as she dresses: “The red gloves are lying on the bed . Everything except the wings around my face is red. Which reveals to us how Handmaids are required to wear all red, representative of the way they are visually defined, and therefore confined to their role in the caste system as sexual servants of their Commanders. Red is worn only by handmaids; the red color indicates sexuality, fertility and childbirth, thus outlining its function as a sexual object; their sole purpose was to have children for their commanders. One of the most recurring symbols throughout the novel, red correlates to all things feminine (the Handmaids). Conversely, red is also a symbol of death, violence, and blood, which Offred portrays as a color that "defines us." The recurring appearance of the color red creates a thought-provoking parallel between femininity and power, as it points to the religious "sinfulness" of promiscuous sex between the handmaiden and their "married" commander. Offred later states, “I've never looked good in red, it's not my color,” implying the sacrifice of her individuality due to the roles Gilead has forced her into. It's not their intelligence... middle of paper. .. tulips in their place and keeping them alive, there are humans under the white bags, but Offred is starting to overlook what's underneath her red dress. Offred desperately wants to remember the life she once knew, but now the images have taken hold in her mind and she understands how her cult/society now requires her to perceive this different world. Red is a scandalous and dishonorable color, which outlines the Handmaids as such handmaids is red; Offred's very name, for example, which so distressingly embodies dualism, can be read as "Of Fred", signifying her ownership of her commander, but it can also be read as "Off Red", alluding to the red dress, symbolizing her desire for nonconformity from the red dress and all the red-related afflictions in her life: blood, death and violence, which have come to “define her”.