"This name has an aura around it, like an amulet, some charm that's survived from an unimaginably distant past." (84)

         Offred's reference to her former name shows that she still has an attachment to her former identity- a strong, independent, free woman with a husband and child. A woman with choices and decisions, with a future ahead of her. Her name is the only tangible thing she has from the time before, the time she longs to return to. Her comparison of her name to an amulet shows how much she treasures it.