one day she is not able to bear children, she will be killed or sent to the colonies where other infertile women do hard labor. The handmaids are so important to society; they are given many restrictions. This is for their safety, so that they will stay well to bear children.The handmaids are repressed and protected by being forbidden to show their faces outside of the manors. They must wear long red gowns and veils. This is to protect them from being harassed. It is believed that if men cannot see their faces, they cannot be tempted. The advances of the men then cannot tempt the handmaids. This is said to protect them of rape or harassment, which they have been taught they bring onto themselves. The narrator is reflecting back to the Center, a school where the handmaids are taught the religion of handmaids. She is remembering one of the lessons an aunt taught them. Temptation comes next. At the Center, temptation was anything much more than eating and sleeping. Knowing was a temptation. What you dont know wont tempt you, Aunt Lydia used to say. (183). They were also taught that The Fall was a fall from innocence to knowledge. (183). The theocracy of Gilead was one that, if one were kept from knowledge, one would be protected, even from his/her own mistakes. The fall refers to a fall from grace. It occurred when one knew too much, therefore resulting in a loss of innocence. The handmaids, however, do not only have these restrictions, but other limitations as well.The handmaids are protected and trapped because they have limitations on when they can leave the manor, and where they can go. They are only allowed in the town Center where there are little shops. The handmaids are sent in pairs for their protection, and are only allowed to buy what the marthas have given them tokens for. The narrator is walking to the Center with her pair, Ofglen. She is saying that sometimes they vary the route of their daily path. Now and again we vary the ...
