"The Handmaids Tale is a story about power" As you read through the handmaids tale you see the relationships of the characters develop and the fight for power, however small that glimpse of power may be. The images of power can be seen through out the novel, but there are major parts that stand out to the reader from the aunts in the training centre to the secret meetings between the Commander and Offred.The first we see of the struggles of power between people is when the novel opens and we first see the aunts of the red centre with their electric cattle prods and their stern moral teaching and their stern looks. The aunts are given small amounts of power by the male dominated regime, like the ability to carry the cattle prods but no other weapons."No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards"This extract shows the us that even the Aunts with there limited power can not carry guns as the regime will not trust them with that amount of responsibility or power due to their gender, it is even remarkable that the aunts are given the little power that they have considering how the regime feels about the role of the woman in their society. This little amount of power gives the aunts the feeling that the are superior to the other women in the society it also allows them to push their views and opinions onto the handmaids that they are also entrusted to look after by the regime which from what we see they do well and try and treat the handmaids like daughters that they will punish if the women disobey any of the rules of the regime. As seen by the way they treat Moria after her first attempt to escape from the red centre. The aunts are also very confident within them selves and the position that they hold within Gilead this can be seen in chapter 43 wear the salvaging happens and one the aunts is able to control a whole group of handmaids at a blow of a whistle to kill someone. this is Atwood showing the...
