The Handmaid's Tale- Symbol

In Atwood's novel, the symbol of the egg is everywhere for some obvious and for some not so obvious reasons. It's mentioned in the scrabble game and its mentioned every morning when she has breakfast. The egg is the most desired thing in this society due to the lack of procreation and everyone does anything in their power to accomplish that.

Without describing each scene, I wanted to discuss the meaning of the egg. Fertility, rebirth, and procreation are all pretty easy to grasp when discussing the symbol of an egg. However, I feel that Offred herself is quite similar to the egg. She, herself isn't fragile like the shell of an egg, her situation and the things expected of her cause her to have fragile circumstances. If she fails to have a child, she, like an egg, has an expiration date and could be sent away to the scum of society, the Colonies. Offred is an unfertilized egg and therefore not usable, or helpful in Gilead. Inside of her, she carries the ability to be great, holding a possible life form; however, if she fails, she's just sent away.

Now several scenes involving the symbol of an egg are in the novel, but the scene when Offred spelled zygote in the scrabble game intrigues me. The scrabble scene gives Offred the ability to communicate to the commander without actually speaking to him. It shows this with beginning with larynx to show her lack of voice in any area of society. The words following are all things she would probably like to discuss with him. but cannot. Anyway, back to zygote and the egg. She is communicating different parts of her role in these words. Valence shows the uniform or the wings she must wear, zygote is the child that she must procreate, and larynx and limp are the restrictions she has. She is held back and handicapped as a handmaid and as a woman in general.