The Handmaid's Tale Four

"The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there." (12)

Atwood uses tulips here to signify a woman's menstrual cycle, with the red coloring of the flower representing blood. The tulips above represent the early stages in the cycle, in which the cork has been released and discharges have begun to flow. The tulip refers to the uterus, while the "darker crimson stem" is meant to be the tract leading from the uterus through which the menstruation travels. Being a Handmaid, this stage must always be difficult, because it is when they first know that they have not become impregnated during the last Ceremony. Atwood may use the tulip because it signifies love. Not love for the Handmaids, but love that would be given to the child if a Handmaid were to conceive.