Point of View

The novel is written in the first-person perspective of three different female narrators. The first is Aunt Lydia, who is "writing" her secret manuscript in the Hildegard Library of Ardua Hall. She alternates between the present, which is about her plans to overthrow Gilead and the daily life at Ardua Hall, and the past, which concerns her arrest during the formation of Gilead and the manner in which she acquired the power she has now. One important thing to note is that Aunt Lydia's perspective is highly edited: though she often turns to the reader to share her concerns regarding her fate and her plan to overthrow Gilead, she is vague about these plans for most of the narrative. She also hides things from the reader, even though she states that her aim is to record all that is happening and will happening for posterity...