Through much of the novel, Offred is the character of her mother, who she thinks is dead. She was a single mother and a proud feminist. In the first trimester, Offred recounts a flashback of her mother burning porn magazines, claiming that they are degrading to women. However, towards the end of the novel, Offred discovers that she is actually alive, but living in the Colonies. Moira had seen her in a video about women living in the Colonies, which is completely thwarted from the beginning, when Offred saw her mother in a documentary of her protesting. This shows how Gilead has significantly changed her as a person. Living in the colonies is as bad as dying because, although she is alive, she is required to perform menial and even dangerous jobs such as cleaning up radioactive waste. At the beginning of the book, during Offred's flashbacks, her mother has always been a strong female character. She has always spoken and acted for women's rights, but now she has not met those expectations. She was submissive and indifferent like the rest of the women, not at all as optimistic and energetic as she was in her previous life. His complicity shows the reader how oppressive society is and how even the toughest characters become