As Offred is indoctrinated as a Handmaid, Aunt Lydia attempts to brainwash them into accepting the realities of Gileadean society, claiming that they control their future. However, this is not the case as in reality, the handmaids have no control over their own destiny, which is established for them by the nature of their forced profession. Margaret Atwood includes this expression to demonstrate how, in the eyes of the government, control is a tool to ensure their future, as the handmaids are a tool of the government, but only at the expense of the handmaids, who are forced to passively accept their reality. They have no other choice but to accept their “future”, with this instance being used to further the theme that passive behavior results
