Obviously, it's darkly ironic that Emily traveled from the unfathomable horrors of the Colonies to the home of the man who invented them in the first place. Nothing about Lawrence's house screams, "I am a monster who created the Colonies!" It actually seems like a rejection of Gilead's call for cleanliness and control. Lawrence's house is a lively mess of art, scattered books, and antiques. It's not like the Waterfords' immaculate abode, preserved in cold cleanliness by a cohort of women. The messiness of Lawrence's house proves that he has not relinquished control of the domestic sphere over to women, as Gilead demands. This is corroborated when he barks at his Martha, "Don't touch my stuff. This is my house." Lawrence may have created the structure of Gilead's economy (including roles like Marthas), but he rejects this structure in his personal life.