Establishment of the Aunts' System

The Establishment of the Aunts' System was the foundational event in which Aunt Lydia, along with Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Helena, and Aunt Vidala, were recruited by Commander Judd to create the institutional framework for controlling women in Gilead, a system that would grant them power within a separate female sphere while binding them to the regime through coercion and complicity.

Background and Recruitment

The day after Aunt Lydia's trial by murder in the stadium, she and the other three women were ushered into a hotel boardroom. Commander Judd was awaiting them, seated at the head of the table with a tray of coffee. Elizabeth, Helena, and Lydia were still wearing the brown sack-like garments issued after the Thank Tank, but Vidala already had on a proper black uniform. Judd began by congratulating them: "You have passed the test. You are brands snatched from the burning." He poured his own coffee, added creamer, and sipped. He then lectured them on the necessity of separate spheres for men and women, arguing that society had been ruined by the attempt to meld those spheres. He pointed at Elizabeth and demanded a "Yes, Commander Judd," which she gave in a voice squeaky with fright. When Lydia asked directly, "What do you want?" Judd explained that they were to be spiritual guides and mentors within the womanly sphere, organizing it for optimal harmony and offspring. He indicated Vidala as their spiritual instructor, as she had been part of the movement since its inception.

Negotiating the Separate Sphere

Lydia took a risk. She demanded that the female sphere be truly separate: within it, women must command, and men must not pass the threshold of their allotted premises except in extreme need. Their methods were not to be questioned, and they would be judged solely by results. Judd gave her a measuring look, then opened his hands and turned them palms up. "Carte blanche," he said, "within reason, and within budget. Subject, of course, to my final approval." Lydia saw grudging admiration from Elizabeth and Helena. Vidala objected, saying women were weak vessels and should not be allowed to run their own affairs, but Judd cut her off, stating that men had better things to do than concern themselves with the petty details of the female sphere. He left them to their collective deliberations.

The Founders' Dynamics

During these initial sessions, Lydia took stock of her fellow Founders. She recognized that despite their pretense of amity, the underlying currents of hostility were already building. She resolved to be the alpha hen, establishing pecking rights over the others. In Vidala she had already made an enemy, one who had seen herself as the natural leader. Lydia judged that Vidala was blinded by ideology, which gave Lydia a flexibility she lacked in the long game. Helena was the easiest to steer, being the most unsure of herself; she would follow the prevailing wind, and Lydia intended to be that wind. Elizabeth was from a higher social sphere, which would lead her to underestimate Lydia. The Thank Tank had broken something in Elizabeth, making her dithery. Lydia concluded that she could handle them one by one, but if they combined into a mob of three she would have trouble. "Divide and conquer would be my motto," she wrote. She counseled herself to keep steady, not share too much, listen carefully, save all clues, and not show fear.

Inventing the System

Week by week, the four women invented the structures of Gilead's female sphere: laws, uniforms, slogans, hymns, and names. They reported to Commander Judd, who turned to Lydia as the spokeswoman. For concepts he approved, he took the credit, and plaudits flowed his way from the other Commanders. Lydia later reflected on her ambivalence: on some level she hated the structure they were concocting, recognizing it as a betrayal of everything she had been taught in her former life. Yet on another level she was proud of what they managed to accomplish despite the limitations. For a time she almost believed what she understood she was supposed to believe, numbering herself among the faithful because it was less dangerous. She reasoned that it was better to fade into the crowd, to hurl rocks than to have them hurled at her. The architects of Gilead, she knew, had always understood that.

Consequences and Significance

The system Lydia helped create gave her immense power within Gilead, but it also bound her irrevocably to the regime. Years later, after she had tightened her grip over Ardua Hall and leveraged it to acquire extensive though silent power, Commander Judd sought to propitiate her, asking if she had forgiven him for the stringent measures he had been forced to take. Lydia smiled and said nothing. He then revealed that her rifle had contained a blank, a piece of information that did not erase the moral weight of her actions. The Establishment of the Aunts' System was the moment when Lydia chose complicity over resistance, a choice that would define her legacy as both a ruthless enforcer and a secret saboteur of the very regime she helped build.