'The Handmaid's Tale'- Quotes

Question 1

Complete the quotation:

“We still had our (1) _______. That was our fantasy.”-pg. 14.

Answer 1

1) Bodies

Question 2

“They’ve removed anything you can tie a rope to.”- pg. 17.

What does this suggest about the regime and how does it link to typical dystopian convention?

Answer 2

• This shows the regime’s hostility as it makes people suicidal.
• It links to dystopia because often, dystopian societies are places that people wish to escape.

Question 3

“Once, though, i heard Rita say to Cora that she wouldn’t debase herself like that.”- pg. 20.

What does this say about the marthas’ attitudes to the handmaids and why might it be like this?

Answer 3

• From this quote it is clear that Rita looks down on Offred because she doesn’t agree in the debasement of women, however, fails to recognise that it is not always a choice.
• It could also be out of spite and jealousy that Rita feels this way; it is rare to be able to have children and Offred has this ability whereas Rita does not, making Offred more valuable to the regime.

Question 4

Complete the quotation:

“How I used to (1) _______ such talk. Now I (2) ______ for it. At least it was talk. An (3) ______, of sorts.”- pg. 20.

Answer 4

1) Despise
2) Long
3) Exchange

Question 5

“I hunger to commit the act of touch.”- pg. 21.

How does this quotaton link to 1984?

Answer 5

Offred cannot sexually express herself or have sexual relationships with anyone. The same applies to Winston in 1984, he is sexually oppressed and longs for intimacy with Julia which is why he claims to hate her, because he cannot have it.

Question 6

“This garden is the domain of the commander’s wife…Many of the wives have such gardens, it’s something for them to order and maintain and care for.”- pg. 22.

“Maybe it’s just something to keep the wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose.”- pg. 23.

Why is the garden significant here? What does it represent?

Answer 6

The commanders’ wives cannot have children and so the garden represents a different form of life for them to care for. Gilead labels infertile women as ‘unwomen’ with little purpose so the gardens give the wives some role in life as they have no ohter duties unless their handmaid gives birth to a child.

Question 7

“As for my husband, she said, he’s just that. My husband. I want that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final.”- pg. 26.

What does this comment say about Serena Joy and her attitude towards Offred?

Answer 7

• This quote shows possessiveness from Serena Joy; she sees Offred as a threat to her marriage but it could also imply that she knows from experience how the Commander likes to interact with the handmaids in secret.

Question 8

“She is my spy, I am hers.” -pg. 29.

What typical dystopian feature does this quote link to and how does it compare with 1984?

Answer 8

• This shows the convention of surveillance and also paranoia.
• It links to 1984 in the sense that no action is ever unwatched, company is the biggest threat.

Question 9

Complete the quotation:

“There are men with (1) ________ ____ in the pillboxes on either side of the road.”- pg. 30.

Answer 9

1) Machine guns

Question 10

Complete the quotation:

“One of them is vastly (1)________….She’s a (2)_______ presence to us, an object of envy and (3)________.”- pg. 36.

Answer 10

1) Pregnant
2) Magic
3) Desire

Question 11

“It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this. Then i think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom.”- pg. 38.

What themes and context can this quote link to?

Answer 11

• Links to control of the regime and women’s liberty.

- Contextual link to the reversal of women’s rights in the 1980s.

Question 12

“We would be up to no good and they would know it?”- pg. 41.

How does this link to 1984 and what common theme is here between the two novels?

Answer 12

• Links to 1984 because of the constant surveillance and paranoia of always being watched.

Question 13

Complete the quotation:

“No woman in her (1) ______ _____, these days, would seek to (2) _______ birth, should she be so (3) _________ as to conceive.”- pg. 43.

Answer 13

1) Right mind
2) Prevent
3) Lucky

Question 14

“This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time, it will. It will become ordinary.”- Aunt Lydia, pg. 43

How is this significant to the genre of dystopia?.

Answer 14

• Dystopian governments often try to reform the society into a new way of living, for many citizens there is a change and they are forced to get used to it, embracing it as normality. Much like 1984; to Julia, the regime is all she can remember but Winston remembers another time.

Question 15

“The night is my time out. Where should i go?”- pg. 47.

How does this quote contrast to 1984? What is different about Offred’s reminiscence to Winston’s?

Answer 15

• Offred is free to remember whatever she likes in her own mind, she can escape reality and reminisce back to the pre-Gilead era.
• It contrasts to 1984 because Winston’s thoughts are also watched, he knows it is dangerous to remember anything from the past and so must always be aware of his thoughts.

Question 16

Two guardians are hung on the wall for “Gender Treachery”- pg. 53.

How does this link with context?

Answer 16

• Atwood’s time of writing was a homophobic time for society, homosexuals were blamed for the spreading of aids.

Question 17

“You should always try to imagine what they must be feeling. Of course they will resent you. It is only natural.”- Aunt Lydia, pg. 56.

How does quote link to the theme of gender and power?

Answer 17

• This shows how the divisions of women in Gilead has caused hate between the population of women as a whole. The econowives do not like the handmaids, neither do the wives; the regime has turned women on their own kind.

Question 18

“Still, it was a message, and it was in writing, forbidden by that very fact, and it hadn’t yet been discovered.”- pg. 62.

Why is this quote typically, politically dystopian?

Answer 18

The ‘forbidden’ writing shows the inability to express oneself, oppression is shown here, much like in 1984 as Winston writing in his diary is a crime.

Question 19

Complete the quotation:

” I ought to feel (1) _______ for this man. I know i ought to feel it, but it isn’t what I do feel. What I feel is more (2) _________ than that.”- pg. 68.

Answer 19

1) Hatred

2) Complicated

Question 20

Complete the quotation:

“There is no such thing as a (1) _________ man anymore, not officially. There are only (2) _______ who are (3) _________ and women who are barren, that’s the (4) _____.

Answer 20

1) Sterile
2) Women
3) Fruitful
4) Law

Question 21

“I am too important, too scarce, for that. I am a national resource.”- pg. 75.

What does this suggest about Gilead’s attitudes to women?

Answer 21

• It suggests that women are property, not people. Especially as a handmaid, Offred is just something that the society needs.

Question 22

Complete the quotation:

“She holds my hands, each of mine in each of hers. This is supposed to signify that we are (1) ____ _______, one being. What is really means is that she is in (2) ______, of the process and thus of the (3) _______.”- pg. 104.

Answer 22

1) One flesh
2) Control
3) Product

Question 23

“Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that i haven’t signed up for. There wasn’t a lot of choice but there was some, and this is what i chose.”- pg. 105.

What does this quotation say about Offred’s thoughts of the regime?

Answer 23

Offred denies the idea of the ceremony being rape which suggests that she is more accepting of the society than a rebel normally would be. The regime’s teachings have been engrained in her which contrasts to Winston’s approach to the party’s policies.

Question 24

Complete the quotation:

“We are (1) __________, its only the insides of our bodies that are important. The outside can become (2) ______ and _________, for all they care.”- pg. 107.

Answer 24

1) Containers

2) Hard and wrinkled