Handmaids vs. Aunts

The Handmaid's Tale

The conflict between the Handmaids and the Aunts who indoctrinate and control them.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Indoctrination at the Red Center

Indoctrination at the Red Center The Lessons Aunt Lydia teaches the Handmaids to be submissive. They are told they are seeds, vessels. They learn to chant and pray. The Punishments Moira is beaten for trying to escape. Janine is humiliated. The Aunts use fear and shame to control. The Resistance Moira escapes, a blow to the Aunts' authority. The Handmaids whisper and form alliances. The conflict is constant.

The Aunts' Power The Aunts' Power from "The Handmaid's Tale". The Aunts' Power The Surveillance Aunts patrol the Red Center and attend Salvagings. They have cattle prods. They enforce the rules.

The Aunts' Power from "The Handmaid's Tale". The Aunts' Power The Surveillance Aunts patrol the Red Center and attend Salvagings. They have cattle prods. They enforce the rules.

The Aunts' Power The Surveillance Aunts patrol the Red Center and attend Salvagings. They have cattle prods. They enforce the rules. The Complicity Some Handmaids become informants. Janine is a pet. The Aunts exploit divisions among the women. The Hatred Offred hates Aunt Lydia. She imagines strangling her. The conflict is internalized, but it fuels her resistance.

before the narrative, during Offred's training

throughout the narrative