More on Moira

The material below is from NovelGuide.

What role does Moira play in the novel?

Moira is Offred’s best friend. She is a part of Offred’s life in all three time phases of the novel. In the “time before” they were easy-going college students together, and they meet again at the Red Centre. Moira is a strong-willed woman who is not intimidated by the regime. She possesses an irreverent sense of humour and is like a breath of fresh air in the stilted, enclosed, fearful world of the Centre. The first thing she says to Offred when they meet again is simply, “This is a loony bin ” (ch. 13). This reveals Moira’s down-to-earth nature, her willingness to describe things the way they are. Moira has a strength that makes Offred feel safer just because of her presence. There is something indomitable about her. When Moira first tells Offred about her plan to escape, Offred cannot bear the thought of being without her. But Moira is determined. Unlike Offred, she will not put up with how she is treated. She has the courage to resist. Even when she is whipped on the soles of her feet after her failed attempt to escape, she is not broken. She simply comes up with a better plan and escapes again. It seems as if nothing can break her or stop her from being herself.

After her escape, Moira becomes a kind of mythic figure for the others at the Red Center, a symbol of defiance and resistance. Because of Moira, Offred says, “the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd. Their power had a flaw in it” (ch. 22).

However, it is debatable whether Moira continues in this heroic role throughout the novel. When Offred sees her again at Jezebel’s, Moira is still in one sense her old irrepressible self. But in another sense she has changed. She has made her accommodation with the regime, and has no plans to escape from her role as a sex servant. The position allows her to have as much sex with other women as she wants, and she also has access to drugs and alcohol. Offred finds herself wanting Moira once again to act heroically, but it seems that even Moira has her limits. The regime offered her something she found tolerable-even though it is sordid-and she took the opportunity. So eventually the regime found a way of silencing even Moira.

Check out my previous post on Moira.