Anita

Anita is a professional colleague of Aunt Lydia from the time before Gilead, a fellow judge who is arrested alongside Lydia during the Sons of Jacob coup. She appears only in Lydia's holograph narrative, where she serves as a brief but significant companion during the early days of the regime's consolidation of power.

Arrest and Detention

Anita is one of the women taken from the courthouse on the day of the coup. She and Lydia are handcuffed and loaded into a black van together, then deposited in the stadium where hundreds of professional women are being held. Throughout the first days of their captivity, Anita and Lydia contrive to sit next to each other and sleep in proximity, drawing comfort from the presence of someone who personifies their previous lives and achievements. Anita whispers to Lydia on the third day, "You were a damn fine judge," and Lydia whispers back, "Thank you. So were you." The past tense is chilling to both of them.

Bonding and Deterioration

In the stadium, Anita and Lydia endure the same degrading conditions: no food except sandwiches, no bathroom facilities, no change of clothing, and the constant threat of execution. They witness the daily spectacle of blindfolded women being led into the center of the field and shot. Anita is present when the female shooters in brown robes first appear, and she whispers to Lydia, "Monsters!" and "How could they?" The two women share the same horror at the regime's methods, and their whispered exchanges become a lifeline in the midst of the unfolding terror.

Removal and Execution

On the sixth night, Anita is taken away. Lydia is asleep when it happens, and she wakes to find Anita simply gone. A fellow prisoner whispers, "I'm sorry about your friend," and Lydia whispers back, "I'm sorry too." But she is already hardening herself against what is almost surely to come. Anita's silent removal has a demoralizing effect on the remaining prisoners, as it demonstrates that one can vanish without a ripple of sound.

Significance in Lydia's Test

Anita's death is later revealed to be part of Commander Judd's test of Lydia's loyalty. After Lydia is released from the Thank Tank and agrees to cooperate, she is forced to participate in an execution. One of the targets is Anita. Lydia speculates that Anita must have said no instead of yes, choosing a quick exit rather than collaboration. Lydia throws up afterwards, a sign of weakness that she cannot fully suppress. Anita's execution marks the moment when Lydia's complicity becomes irrevocable, and her memory haunts Lydia's nightmares, where she appears among the faces of the condemned women who smile at Lydia as she raises her rifle.