Analyze how Margaret Atwood uses details, imagery, diction, language, and syntax to explore the way in which women are treated and controlled in the society. Explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

In one of the earliest passages of the novel, Offred describes her room and shows readers how her mind works while she is in it. She says,

A bed. Single, mattress, medium-hard, covered with a flocked white spread. Nothing takes place in the bed but sleep; or no sleep. I try not to think too much. Like other things now, thought must be rationed.

Among other things, we learn that her comfort is not of importance to community leaders: the mattress is somewhat hard and is covered with a sterile, colorless blanket (notice that she does not say comforter, which would be much more positive). Her diction is simple and conversational. Nothing is elevated, and there is no slang. Notice the atypical syntax of the first two sentences above. Neither is complete, and both are missing predicates, actions performed by the subject. Offred's language here is clipped and matter-of-fact, just as though she is cataloging objects of little concern to her. She has learned to close off her emotions, just as she tries to close off her critical mind; she has been forced into such an abject role (after all, a choice between certain death and sexual slavery is not really a legitimate choice) that to think or feel too much is dangerous. She says that "thinking can hurt your chances, and [she] intend[s] to last." Her neutral diction, varied syntax, and factual statements about the room's appearance help show us how much she tries to limit acknowledging her thoughts and feelings about her situation.
Further, certain details she includes tell us quite a bit without actually saying the words. For example, she says,

I know why there is no glass, in front of the watercolor pictures of blue irises, and why the window opens only partly and why the glass in it is shatterproof. It isn't running away they're afraid of. We wouldn't get far. It's those other escapes, the ones you can open in yourself, given a cutting edge.

We know that the situation for Offred and other women in her position is so dire, so degrading, so upsetting, and so demoralizing that many have taken their own lives rather than continue living. Women must have gotten so creative in their search for weapons with which to mortally injure themselves that now there can be no glass in the picture frames, and the window's glass must be shatterproof too. Moreover, saying that she could not get far even if she did manage to escape allows us to surmise that women in this community are watched almost constantly and that the level of surveillance in this community is of epic proportions.
Furthermore, Offred uses stark visual imagery and vivid description to show how the community has attempted to demolish her individual identity. She says,

Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The skirt is ankle-length, full, fathered to a flat yoke that extends over the breasts, the sleeves are full. The white wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen.

To describe her clothing as the color of blood helps to establish a menacing and overwhelmingly threatening mood. Also, we understand that the color of blood defines her because menstruation is a symbol of her desire for fertility. She is valued for her reproductive organs and nothing else. Offred's detailed description of her shapeless, full dress helps to establish another way in which her sense of identity is to be broken down and annihilated. She is nearly invisible within the folds of cloth that hide her body and her face. Finally, the white wings that keep her from seeing the world around her and keep the world around her from seeing her further illustrates the power of surveillance. She is quite visible to others in her red garb, but her own vision is severely restricted. She is very visible to others, while most others are invisible to her. Offred can only be watched; she is never the watcher. Others cannot see her face or recognize her as an individual who once had an identity. Gilead succeeds in rendering her both highly visible and, simultaneously, anonymous.
In terms of the meaning of the work as a whole, the eventual decline and fall of the Republic of Gilead (as told in the fictional Historical Notes) shows us that a system in which people are forced into repressive gender roles never works the way it is supposed to. Individuals will always find ways to escape, subvert, rebel, and so on. Denying individuals the chance to experience the full spectrum of human emotion will only lead to dissent and a failure of the community. Offred simply cannot refuse to think and feel forever; she ends up feeling something like love for Nick. It is not a surprise that Offred would break the rules, but it might surprise us that the Commander does. As one of the likely architects of the Gileadean regime, we would imagine that he is happy with the new rules and roles. However, even he—who helped to create those rules and roles—rebels against them.