"Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom.
Westernized, the used to call it (28)."
The term Westernized comes from the process of Westernization, which is when societies adopt new ideas from Western culture and blend them into their own. In Westernized societies there is freedom in diet, religion, ideals, politics, language and other cultural ideas, and most of the ways of different lifestyles come from the European culture. In the Handmaids Tale, there is no freedom to adopt new ideas to live from different countries or places. There is one set way to live. Atwood brings up the term Westernized to remind the reader how different this fabricated world is compared to the present. Offred is reminded of Westernization when she sees the Japanese tourist's scandalous outfits and realizes she used to have the freedom to dress in the same way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westernization
excellent thinking
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