Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is not only a chilling dystopian novel — it’s also a masterclass in linguistic control. Set in the theocratic totalitarian state of Gilead, the story immerses readers in a world where language is weaponized to enforce ideology, suppress individuality, and reshape identity. From the ritualistic greetings to the biblical catchphrases, every word in Gilead carries weight. But what do these sayings actually mean?

Let’s break down some of the most iconic phrases in The Handmaid’s Tale and unpack their real purpose in this dystopian regime.

1. “Blessed be the fruit”

This is the standard greeting among Handmaids. On the surface, it’s a pious reference to fertility — essentially wishing that the woman addressed will bear children. The phrase is a distortion of biblical language, designed to reinforce the Handmaids’ only purpose in society: reproduction.

Response: “May the Lord open.”
This is meant to imply hope for divine intervention in helping the woman conceive. It further reflects the religious indoctrination of daily language in Gilead.

2. “Under His eye”

This is another greeting or farewell used by citizens of Gilead, reminding everyone that God (and the regime) is always watching. It echoes the atmosphere of constant surveillance, much like Orwell’s Big Brother.

Implication: It reinforces fear, compliance, and a lack of privacy. Saying it is not just ritual — it’s survival.

3. “Praise be” / “Praise be to God”

This expression is used in moments of gratitude or acknowledgment of any supposed blessing. It could refer to anything from a pregnancy to a small favor. It’s meant to redirect all credit to God — and by extension, to Gilead’s authority.

Implication: Personal accomplishment or identity is erased. The individual becomes secondary to divine will.

4. “Aunt Lydia says…”

Though not a saying per se, Handmaids often repeat phrases that begin this way, quoting their indoctrinator, Aunt Lydia. This reflects the psychological manipulation they’ve endured and shows how deeply Gilead’s doctrines are internalized.

Example: “Modesty is invisibility.”
This saying, drilled into them at the Red Center, teaches Handmaids that being unseen is virtuous — another method of erasing their agency.

5. “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”

This pseudo-Latin phrase, translated loosely as “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” appears as graffiti left by a previous Handmaid. Though not official Gilead language, it’s a form of quiet rebellion and becomes a symbol of resistance for Offred.

Implication: In a world stripped of real language, even nonsense Latin can become a sacred whisper of defiance.

6. “Ceremony”

This term refers to the monthly ritual rape of Handmaids by their Commanders, supposedly sanctified by religious scripture. Calling it a “ceremony” is a linguistic strategy to mask its brutality with a veil of righteousness.

Implication: Euphemism is used to sanitize violence and normalize oppression.

7. “Salvaging”

This word is used to describe public executions. The term makes something horrifying sound procedural and almost celebratory.

Implication: It distances the public from the horror, dulling empathy and enabling complicity.

8. “Unwoman”

This is a label for women who are deemed useless to Gilead — infertile, rebellious, feminists, or otherwise “non-compliant.” They are sent to the Colonies to die slowly doing toxic labor.

Implication: Language becomes a tool of dehumanization. If you’re not serving the system, you are literally no longer a woman.

In Gilead, language is law. Every phrase and greeting is part of a larger system of control, where words are stripped of their original meanings and rebuilt to serve a patriarchal theocracy. By embedding ideology into everyday speech, Gilead not only rewrites language but reshapes thought itself.

Atwood once said that nothing in The Handmaid’s Tale is made up — all of it is drawn from real-world history. The manipulation of language is no exception. The sayings of Gilead may sound foreign, but their mechanics are familiar: control the words, and you control the people.