Key Quotes Flashcards
chapter 4 “perhaps it was a test, to see….”
“perhaps it was a test, to see what I would do. perhaps he is an eye” (polysyndeton) - tasing about nick
chapter 33, moira implies she won’t be here to save Janine again
“she does that again and i’m not here, Moira said…”
“she does that again and i’m not here, Moira said to me, you just have to slap her like that”
(foreshadowing moira’s escape)
chapter 38, moires ending is unknown
“I don’t know how she ended, or even…”
“I don’t know how she ended, or even if she did, I never saw her again”
ambiguous ending
chapter 8 (Serena) “she doesn't make..."
“she doesn’t make speeches anymore, she has become speechless”
chapter 33, Janine’s baby didn’t make it
“it was a…”
“it was a shredder afterall”
dysphemism
chapter 21, jasmine giving birth
“she’s like a doll, an old one…”
“she’s like a doll, an old one thats been pillaged and discarded, in some corner”
chapter 6
“Now we turn our backs on the church…”
“Now we turn our backs on the church and there is the thing we’ve in truth come to see: the wall”
chapter 17
“Butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will…”
“Butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will someday get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire”
chapter 46 - final line
“I have given myself over into the hats of strangers, because it can’t be helped. and so I…”
“I have given myself over into the hats of strangers, because it can’t be helped. and so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light”
chapter 14
“They show us only victories…”
“They show us only victories, never defeats. Who wants bad news?”
chapter 19
“HOPE and CHARITY, where have they…”
“HOPE and CHARITY, where have they been stowed? Serena joy has tidy habits”
chapter 26, offered apprehends commander for trying to touch her
“i thought he should continue to act in public as if i were a large vase or a …”
“i thought he should continue to act in public as if i were a large vase or a window: part of the background, inanimate or transparent”
(fragmented, unattributed speech)
chapter 15
“They looked like…”
“They looked like lungs” (visceral)
chapter 30, subversion of prayer
“i wish You would tell me your name, your…”
“i wish You would tell me your name, your real one. But You will do as well as anything”
Historical notes:
“our job is not to…”
“our job is not to censor but to understand”
Historical notes:
“if we could identify the elusive commander, we…”
“if we could identify the elusive commander, we felt, at least some progress would have been made”
chapter 14
“My name isn’t offred, i have another…”
“My name isn’t offred, i have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden”
chapter 4 “A shape like mine, a nondescript …”
“A shape like mine, a nondescript woman in red carrying a basket”
chapter 13
“Its janine, telling about how she was…”
“Its janine, telling about how she was gang raped at 14 and had an abortion”
chapter 37 - Moira at jezebels
“Moira is smoking a cigarette, she takes…”
“Moira is smoking a cigarette, she takes a drag, passes it to the woman on her left”
(motif of cigarette as agency)
