Moira’s Roles in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

In harsh circumstances, people try to hold onto a thought or memory of a person or idea that gives them long lasting hope. This inspiration lets the hopeless party believe that their situation will improve. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, the protagonist Offred faces internal and external conflicts constantly living in the totalitarian society of Gilead. The narrator recalls her strong, rebellious friend Moira’s story; which gives her hope and makes her life a little more bearable. The roles of Moira in the novel are to provide Offred with memories from their past to make her life as a Handmaid more bearable, becoming the voice of reason and logic in the story, becoming a role model to other Handmaids by her determination and rebellion as well as being women’s sign of hope and contrasting her characteristics against Offred’s way of going about in the society of Gilead. Moira represents courage and hope for the narrator, the qualities she possesses most other women have lost or have been brainwashed to forget. 

Offred’s memory of Moira is the only thing keeping her sane while she is a handmaid in Gilead. To Offred, Moira is a constant reminder of pre-Gilead times in Boston. While laying in bed, Offred remembers her time in college with Moira and how they took basic things for granted. “Let’s go for a beer. I had a paper due the next day. What was it? Psychology, English, Economics. We studied things like that, then”. Recounting this conversation with Moira shows the restrictions placed on women in Gilead; they are forbidden from any alcohol or cigarettes and it is illegal for women to read or write. The basic need of education is taken away to restrict women’s ability to communicate with each other and limits chance of rebellion. This allows Gilead to have total control over the lives of all women. Offred thinks about a time when Moira talks about throwing an ‘underwhore party’ saying, “Once they start getting age spots they figure they’ve got to beat the competition. The pornomarts and what have you” (Atwood 50). This flashback is related to the clothes/lingerie worn in the old society and how this type of outfit is banned in Gilead. Women now only wear conservative long dresses and bonnets of different colour due to rank. Porn and makeup are also illegal in Gilead. Offred says how this type of conversation was once normal in the society they had once lived. In this same chapter, Offred sees the commander outside her window, whom she feels hate towards. She contemplates spitting or throwing the Faith cushion out the window in hopes of hitting him. The narrator recalls a time when she and Moira used, “Paper bags filled with water. Water bombs (…) Leaning out my dorm window, dropping them on the heads of the boys below” (Atwood 58). Offred uses this comical memory with Moira to make her suppress her harsh feelings for the commander. Before Gilead, this prank was in good fun and no one was punished. The narrator does not dare to throw anything at the commander, sue to the fact that disgracing a man in power would lead to grave punishment. Offred often thinks about these fond memories with her dearest friend Moira to keep her afloat in the unbearable society of Gilead. 

Moira is the voice of reason in the novel who tries to get the women to come to decisions by using logic and evidence that Gilead is trying to take from them. The narrator believes that her friend will not approve of her secret relationship and late-night visits with the commander. As in the past of disproving of affair with Luke, “She said I was rationalizing. I said I was in love. She said that was no excuse. Moira was always more logical than I am” (Atwood 171). Moira gives Offred an unbiased direct response about her affair with her now husband Luke, and tells Offred that she knows it is not morally correct. The narrator knows that her close friend Moira will not agree with her dangerous relationship with the Commander because it is also unethical. In a flashback to the Red Center Offred remembers when Janine was out of it and Moira slapped her saying “Snap out of it Janine. They won’t mess around with trying to cure you. They won’t even bother to ship you to the Colonies. You go too far away and they just take you up to the chemistry lab and shoot you. Then they burn you up with garbage, like an Unwoman”. In this memory Offred describes, Moira trying to knock sense into Janine while the other women idly watch. Moira tries to explain to Janine that it is important to act normal around the Aunts if she wants to survive and not end with a short and sad death. Offred hungers for love when holding Nick’s gaze when he was outside in the dark. Realizing that she cannot replace Luke for Nick, Offred recalls when Moira had once said “You can’t help what you feel, but you can help how you behave” (Atwood 192). Offred uses Moira’s logical advice at the time to make sure she does not act on her feelings for Nick due to the fact that this act is illegal and Offred does not trust Nick yet, wondering if he is an eye for the government. Moira tries to protect her friends and women she is close to by rational thinking about how thy should act in this totalitarian society. 

Moira is a role model to the Handmaids specifically Offred. Her rebellion instills determination and hope, into the women around her. Moira’s seemingly escape from Gilead gives the other Handmaids ambition in wanting to rebel as well. “Nevertheless, Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life. In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd. Their power had flaw to it”. This metaphor of lava suggests that a rebellious movement in Gilead is just beneath the surface, this makes the society of Gilead seems fragile. Unlike the other Handmaids Moira does not give into the brainwashing, she is never willing to concede her freedom. “Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She makes us dizzy. Already we were losing the taste for freedom, already we were finding the walls secure. In the upper reaches of the atmosphere you’d come apart, you’d vaporize, there would be no pressure holding you together” (Atwood 133). The narrator means that Moira has a dangerous/ rebellious side. Elevators give us freedom of movement so it can be argued that Moira is the initiator for freedom in the novel. She is a free spirit because regardless of the consequences she will do whatever it takes to make herself happy. When reunited with Moira at Jezebels, she is no longer rebellious and determined to escape she is now complacent to the rules instilled in her after her second failed attempt so close to the border. “She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something-what? -that used to be so central to her? And how can I expect her to go on, with my idea of her courage, live it through, act it out, when I myself do not?” (Atwood 249). As long as Moira possessed these rebellious qualities, it was okay that Offred did not, because at least she knew they still existed in the world. If Moira has lost them, Gilead has really won. 

Throughout the novel Moira symbolizes hope for a better future for all women in the Gilead society but by the end of the novel Gilead finally breaks her, destroying the hope of escape she put into others minds. Moira’s rebellious and hopeful character contrasts the way Offred chooses to survive in Gilead. Moira is constantly fighting for her freedom while Offred allows herself to abide by the laws of Gilead. Throughout the novel Offred wishes she was more like Moira saying “If I were Moira, I’d know how to take it apart, reduce it to its cutting edges. I have no screwdriver, but if I were Moira I could it without a screwdriver. I’m not Moira”. Offred believes that Moira is braver than she is. Offred has to worry about her daughter who is somewhere within Gilead compared to Moira who has no one’s safety to worry about. On the day they learned women could no longer hold money or property Offred remembers “Moira was not stunned the way I was. In some strange way she was gleeful, as if this was what she’d been expecting for some time and now she’d been proven right. She even looked more energetic, more determined” (Atwood 178). Moira saw her perceptions validated, and the new law gave her purpose, solidifying her resolve to resist the new order. While Offred and other simply let the changes happen, Moira was invigorated by the opportunity to fight back. During the first night visit with the Commander he asks her to kiss him. Offred considers following Moira’s lead and possibly killing the Commander with the sharp lever from the toilet paper, she says “In fact I don’t think about anything of the kind” (Atwood 140), since this is a reconstruction, she puts this in afterwards. Unlike Moira, Offred never carries out her plans of escape to freedom. Offred contrasts Moira because, Offred never truly rebels against Gilead, she is more passive compared to Moira who is active in trying to earn her freedom. 

Moira represents courage and hope for the narrator, the qualities that she possesses most other women have lost. Women should not suffer in silence and feel the need to submit to authority in terrible circumstances. Offred’s memory of Moira keeps her sane in this unbearable society. Moira is the voice of reason and logic within the society that is not corrupt unlike most people. Many Handmaids look up to Moira, she is a symbol of hope to them and her character contrasts the actions of Offred throughout the novel. Moira’s role in the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, is to give it a sense of hope that Gilead will one day change for the better and that women will no longer be subject to these totalrain and sexist views. Those placed in harsh circumstances hold onto a memory or person who instills hope in them for a brighter future.