In a dystopian society, most people are controlled by the authorities, stripped of their rights, and are suppressed. The society of Gilead in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale exemplifies this lifestyle. This society displays methods of domination over women through the implementation of laws and rules that cause fear abasement, ignorance and other negative feelings. Salvaging cases fear, isolating the women from knowledge and books leads to ignorance, and public humiliation causes a lower self-esteem in women. By all that, the government is now able to keep its people under control. .
Salvaging takes place in Gilead, demonstration the consequences of breaking the rules and going against the authorities. The Wall always has bodies hanging on it, and that becomes a constant reminder of what is going to happen to the handmaid if they break the rules. This method becomes more effective as the people being hanged are handmaids and wives, creating a more personal and closer connection to the women themselves, making them realize that they can be the one on the Wall as well. Offred, the handmaid stated "I don't want to see it anymore" (p.260). This quote describes the horror and fear that Offred is now encountering, and she cannot bear to look at it anymore. .
Aside from fear, the repression of knowledge is also present in this society. Women are forbidden to read and write, they are isolated from books and knowledge, they become unaware of what is happening around them. "But I"m ravenous for news, any kind of news; even if it's false news, it must mean something" (p.19). "It could be old clips, it could be fakes. But I watch it anyway, hoping to be able to read beneath it. Any news, now, is better than none" (p.78). Both quotes clearly shape the fact of how women are starved for news and how they have lost touch with the outside world. Fake news, old knowledge, anything can satisfy or temporary fulfill they need, their thirst for knowledge.
