key quotes

Question 1

‘we slept in what had once been the gymnasium’

Answer 1

reduction of freedom

things have changed

communal space - prom, romance, optimism about the future

‘we’ - lack of identity, everyone is the same

Question 2

‘the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, but the nets were gone’

Answer 2

structure there, details gone - past lingers over them

gilead doesn’t have to destroy everything to keep control

uncanny - familiar place put against an oppressive society

Question 3

‘there was old sex in the room and loneliness’

Answer 3

temporal deixis - sex had mostly stayed the same

loss of hope - old sex is differentiated from the sex of gilead. emphasises the division and isolation that sex in gilead brings

Question 4

we yearned for the future. how did we learn it, that talent for insatiability?’

Answer 4

intense desire - can’t have that

want equality and freedom

shame associated with desire in the novel - desire is a natural part of humanity

Question 5

‘army cots’

Answer 5

oxymoron

infantilised but disciplined

Question 6

‘electric cattle prongs slung on thongs from their leather belts’

Answer 6

authority - guard, gives them an element of control

treated like animals - no identity

Question 7

‘we still had our bodies’

Answer 7

only value is their bodies

can be given up in exchange for a better life

the one thing the handmaids can control

Question 8

‘whisper almost without sound’

Answer 8

unity

rebellion against authority

repressed, can’t talk - similar to how children are treated

Question 9

‘alma. janine. dolores. moira. june’

Answer 9

intimate act - draws readers closer into offred’s life

names are precious - gives them identity and a sense of control

Question 10

’they’ve removed anything you could tie a rope to’

Answer 10

no escape, not even though suicide

stripped of any personal autonomy

gilead regime was purposely designed for people to hate

Question 11

‘folk art, archaic, made by women, in their spare time, from things that have no further use’

Answer 11

drawing parallels to art - implies that women are nothing more than a decorative sex

their role in society is almost pointless

Question 12

‘i try not to think too much. like other things now, thought must be rationed’

Answer 12

thought is restricted and impoverished by oppression

thinking is dangerous for women

Question 13

‘black, for the commander, blue, for the commander’s wife, and the one assigned to me which is red’

Answer 13

status difference

black - authority

blue - royalty/ trapped by the patriarchy

unintellectual and repressive - colours categorise people, almost childlike

Question 14

‘the tulips are red, a darker crimson’

Answer 14

emphasises vitality - women forcibly used as baby makers

garden - cultivated against natural inclination

Question 15

‘i am a reproach to her; and a necessity’

Answer 15

offred is disliked yet vital for change/ survival - dehumanises herself, shows her lack of self worth

serena only wants offred because she can give her a child

ironic, offred should be fearful of her superiors

Question 16

‘there’s still a black market’

Answer 16

still corruption in society despite the oppressive nature of the gilead regime

need to have access in order to buy things

offred only has her body to trade - illegal, trapped

hoping there’s a way to escape

Question 17

‘voice of a monotone, voice of a doll’

Answer 17

pre programmed

no thoughts - lost identity

no freedom of speech in gilead

Question 18

’ it was worse than i thought’

Answer 18

no hope for change

the fact that she was powerful before and continues to conform to the gilead regime emphasises just how oppressive it is

Question 19

‘his cap is tilted at a jaunty angle, and his sleeves rolled to the elbow’

Answer 19

fixating on details - irregular behaviour and looks

rebellious - has something he can trade

Question 20

‘misfit as odour’

Answer 20

not uniform like everyone else

Question 21

‘perhaps he is an eye’

Answer 21

first thought is that he’s a spy - how paranoid the regime has made offred

corruption of gilead

can’t trust anyone

extreme oppression

links to nazi germany

Question 22

‘i’m ravenous for news, any kind of news, even if it’s false news, it must mean something’

Answer 22

desperate

boredom of life

cut off from the rest of the world

controlled thinking

Question 23

‘she is my spy as i am hers’

Answer 23

hypocrisy of women

paranoia - oppression of everyday life

doppelgangers - merging onto the same path

stripped of any identity

supposed to go on different paths

disconnection between names and people

Question 24

‘gilead is within you’

Answer 24

no escape

part of the little identity they have - only thing that defines them

propaganda - controlling

nazi regime

Question 25

' you are being given freedom from'

Answer 25

protecting by controlling for their own safety manipulating the handmaids into thinking they’re lucky

Question 26

'swells triumphantly… she’s a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire’

Answer 26

jealous - pregnancy gives them status idolised gileadean figure rescue the from death

Question 27

‘we are fascinated, but also repelled. they seem undressed. it has taken so little time to change our minds about things like this’

Answer 27

dangers of regime how quickly the handmaids have become conditioned lost autonomy over how they dress constant reminder of the past

Question 28

‘women’s feet. one of them is wearing open toed sandals, the toenails painted pink’

Answer 28

freedom - feet used to run/ walk - change simple luxury she doesn’t have anymore how little she has - feet are not a typically glamourised body part

Question 29

‘six more bodies hanging by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders’

Answer 29

warning to those who rebel gilead is capable of killing men have more power begging

Question 30

‘these bodies hanging on the wall are time travellers, anachronisms. they’ve come from the past’

Answer 30

no choice over their bodies abortion doesn’t exist oppression of women

Question 31

'it will become ordinary’

Answer 31

nothing to rebel against if gilead is normal how quickly people adapt to oppression shows the dangers of extreme oppression

Question 32

'tulips are opening their cups, spilling out colour'

Answer 32

symbolise female reproductive organs

Question 33

'the colour of blood defines us'

Answer 33

fertility - primary function menstrual blood - failure childbirth blood - success

Question 34

'a sister dripped in blood

Question 35

‘i would like to believe this is a story i’m telling'

Answer 35

knows this act is useless trying to believe it is a story when she knows deep down its not gives her hope and comfort lonely

Question 36

‘it’s a beautiful may day’

Answer 36

does offred know about the rebellious group edelweiss pirates - anti nazi group language as rebellion - importance of language in society

Question 37

’ i called it mine’

Answer 37

shows she has nothing realises what’s been taken from her

Question 38

‘like dried flower petals’

Answer 38

negotiable sign of sex - depresses narrator. bed where love was expressed. will she ever experience this again?

Question 39

‘i looked up at the dried plaster eye in the ceiling’

Answer 39

technology no freedom constantly under surveillance

Question 40

‘nolite te bastardes carborundorum’

Answer 40

don’t let the bastards grind you down reading - rebellion rewards her harsh reality communication between offred and the previous handmaid - gives her hope of escape knows she’s not alone

Question 41

' what you don’t know won’t hurt you'

Answer 41

treated like a child - not telling her low status in society could suggest her fate the more she knows, the more danger she’s in secrets protect other people and the regime

Question 42

‘songs are not sung anymore in public, especially ones that use words like free’

Answer 42

intertextual links to orwell and newspeak if freedom is removed you won’t think about it - control

Question 43

‘amputated glory’

Answer 43

taken away discarded - once there, now gone

Question 44

‘nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub, you’d be boiled to death before you knew it’

Answer 44

as society changes, you don’t notice straightaway - slow change eventually be you - nothing will change

Question 45

‘we lived in the gaps between the stories’

Answer 45

eventually become stories because they were passive

Question 46

‘he deals with a torso only’

Answer 46

only purpose in society isolation of the handmaids nothing is personal - dehumanisation of women

Question 47

' i don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely’

Answer 47

completely lost her identity shows how much women have lost hates the fact she’s objectified no other characteristics - biological determinism doesn’t want to associate herself with it

Question 48

'a passport in reverse’

Answer 48

control through technology - dangers of technology and surveillance trapped and restricted

Question 49

’ i am a national resource’

Answer 49

her value is for the community dehumanises herself communist and stalinist principle everything is for the state

Question 50

‘her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison… she did, she did , she did’

Answer 50

repetition of female pronouns childlike blaming - victim blaming so indoctrinated they don’t realise what they’re saying

Question 51

‘kneeling near the chair with the footstool were serena joy will shortly enthrone herself ‘

Answer 51

spatial deixis - power imbalance subservient knows protocol worships her

Question 52

‘i would like to steal something from this room'would like to take some small things’

Answer 52

wants to feel powerful test her own bravery small act of rebellion

Question 53

‘children of ham’

Answer 53

taking them and deporting them

Question 54

’ i do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing... only one is involved’

Answer 54

forced consent warped - new sex is it sexual assault?

Question 55

'the commander fucks, with a regular two four marching stroke, on and on like a tap dripping.'

Answer 55

procedural perfunctory - no pleasure human nature

Question 56

‘kissing is forbidden between us. this makes it bearable’

Answer 56

no intimacy no personal connection - just doing her job

Question 57

‘i rub the butter over my face’

Answer 57

symbol of hope rebellion associated with femininity

Question 58

‘we are containers, its only the insides of our bodies that are important’

Answer 58

experience of all women in gilead objectified

Question 59

'what i would like to do is steal a knife from the kitchen, but i’m not ready for that’

Answer 59

stealing would give her power scared of the consequences - knows the risks she’s taking

Question 60

'nobody dies from lack of sex. it’s lack of love we die from’

Answer 60

the allure of sex is intimacy with someone new sex in gilead has no intimacy

Question 61

'unbaby’

Answer 61

reflects the nazis - untermenschen no place in gilead for children who aren’t healthy

Question 62

‘exploding atomic power plants… and the mutant strain of syphilis no mould could touch’

Answer 62

environmental concerns perception of aids in the 1980s

Question 63

‘the rest of the women sit crossed legged on the rug’

Answer 63

childlike - treated like this to increase dependency and vulnerability inferior

Question 64

‘aunt lydia didn’t show these kind of movies’

Answer 64

propaganda - lucky to live under gilead doesn’t want the handmaids to see the freedom they could have