To those of us crammed in the Red Line carriage at Metro Centre, the passing figure was like an apparition. She walked, head bowed and face obscured, in the ankle-length loose red dress and white bonnet made famous by the television series of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. A thicket of people carrying signs and slogans, all bound for the National Mall for the lunchtime protests, parted as she made her way through the crowd along the platform. Then the doors closed and the train shuddered into life. Of all the symbolic gestures of the masses gathering to express...