"A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere as long as it stays inside the maze." (165)

       This symbolism forces the reader to take a look at what freedom truly is. Rats in mazes think they are free because they can move about, when in reality, they are trapped. They are unaware that they are in a maze, they consider themselves free. The handmaids are free to go anywhere within town that they want, as long as they stay within the boundaries- their own "maze." Like the rats, many of them are oblivious. They do not have any desire to go elsewhere, nor do they realize how much control they are under. Escape is something that does not cross their minds. Atwood is saying that there are many levels of freedom, and that slight freedom and total freedom are not the same. She is making the point that one should not settle for only slight freedom.