Brown Robes Symbol Analysis

The brown robes that the Sons of Jacob force cooperating women to wear represent submission and female oppression in Gilead. The robes are a sign of the women’s penitence, their admission of guilt for being women professionals and not respecting their narrow, gendered roles. The robes are made of a material similar to sackcloth, which is a reference to the sackcloth many figures in the biblical Old Testament periodically wear to symbolize their penitence for sinning against God and their desire to repent. When Lydia is arrested by the Sons of Jacob and brought to the stadium with the other professional women, she sees women participating in the executions of other women. These female executioners are dressed in the brown sackcloth robes, which symbolizes their acquiescence to the new regime and acceptance of its gender roles—even at the cost of their fellow women’s lives. After Lydia is tortured and forced to cooperate, she is left the same brown robe to wear, which she may don as a sign of her cooperation and penitence for trying to resist—for being modern and professional rather than the meek, subordinate woman that the Sons of Jacob demand. However, since donning the brown robe allows Lydia and its other wearers to live, the brown robe is also a mark of a survivor.