Keeping the handmaids under government law is also another way to mentally abuse them. Women are deprived of information, such as news, to prevent them from wanting to escape Gilead and think for themselves. This is evident in one of the passages of the novel: “Several empty channels, then the news. This is what he was looking for. He leans back, inhales deeply. Instead I lean forward, like a child who is left up late with the adults. The only nice thing about these evenings, the evenings of the Ceremony, is this: I can watch the news. It seems to be an unspoken rule in this house: we always arrive on time, he's always late, Serena always lets us watch the news. As it is: who knows if there's any truth to it? They could be old clips, they could be doctored. But I look at it anyway, hoping I can read below. Any news now is better than nothing." (Atwood 101) Women cannot read newspapers, but they can watch news on TV, which is filtered information provided by the government. Women are deprived of information and this leads women to take every piece of news they are given as truth. The government has blocked Canadian channels so that the Handmaids do not receive any information that might lead them to consider fleeing Gilead. Only news channels