Handmaid's Tale (pg. 33)

6. “Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” (Page 33):

Atwood depicts Offred as she looks at the white figures hanging by the red wall remembering these words spoken by Aunt Lydia. Atwood uses this quote to reflect the power and control of a totalitarian government. Offred remembers the old ways; however, she is told that she must learn the new ways. The new ways are controlled and violent but she is told that she must adapt and find these things to be normal. In order to do this, one must make themselves emotionally numb. Atwood depicts Offred’s struggle to adapt to this new system and consider torture and current practices normal or ordinary.