The Nature of Freedom

The contrast between Nicole's view of freedom as the absence of constraint and Agnes's view as the ability to choose within limits.

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Nicole's Free Spirit

A Modern Teenager The Clothes Hound Nicole grows up in a liberal society. She can wear what she wants, go to school, and protest. She takes her freedom for granted. She is rebellious in a typical teenage way. The Protest She sneaks out to the anti-Gilead protest. She is excited by the cause. She does not fully understand the risks. Her freedom is a privilege she has never had to fight for. The Loss After the bomb, she loses everything. She is forced into hiding. She must pretend to be a convert. She realizes that freedom is not a given; it is a heavy load. She begins to understand the weight of the choice she must make.

Agnes's Limited Choices

A Cage of Rules The Dollhouse Life Agnes grows up with strict rules. She is told what to wear, what to think, who to marry. She has no real choices. Her only freedom is within her own mind. The Aunts' Liberties As an Aunt, she gains some freedoms: she can read, write, and move relatively freely. But she is still bound by the system. Her freedom is conditional. She must obey the Aunts or risk punishment. The Escape Escaping to Canada is the first truly free choice she makes. She chooses to leave everything she knows. She chooses to trust her sister. She chooses to risk death. For her, freedom is not about doing whatever she wants, but about making a meaningful choice.

her life in Canada before the bomb

her life in Gilead, before and after joining the Aunts