The Handmaids Tale Flashcards
“Nolite…
“Nolite te bastardes carborumdorum.”
“Under Serena Joy’s silver canopy,…
“Under Serena Joy’s canopy, it is not exciting. It has nothing to do with passion or love or romance.”
“The rings of her left hand…
“The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers. It may or may not be revenge.”
“Which of us is it….
“Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”
“He puts his hand on my arm,…
“He puts his hand on my arm, pulls me against him, his mouth on mine.”
“I pray that at least one hole…
“I pray that at least one hole is neatly, quickly, and finally through the skull.”
“I imagine him resting,…
“I imagine him resting, because I can’t bear to imagine him at any other time, just as I can’t imagine anything below his collar, above his cuffs. I don’t want to think what they’ve done to his body.”
“The message will say that I must have patience:…
“The message will say that I must have patience: sooner or later he will get me out, we will find her, wherever they’ve put her.”
“Breathe, breathe,…
“‘Breathe, breathe,’ we chant, we we have been taught. ‘Hold, hold. Expel, expel, expel.’”
“What is on the other side…
“What is on the other side is normal life.”
“Books and books and books,…
“Books and books and books, right out in plain view, no locks, no boxes. No wonder we can’t come in here. It’s an oasis of the forbidden. I try not to stare.”
“Now it’s forbidden for us…
“Now it’s forbidden for us. Now it’s dangerous. Now it’s indecent. Now it’s something he can’t do with his wife. Now it’s desirable. Now he’s compromised himself.”
“I freeze, cold travels through….
“I freeze, cold travels through me, down to my feet. There must have been microphones, they’ve heard us after all.”
“…one of the eyes moves in…
“…one of the eyes moves in on him, does something sharp and brutal that doubles him over.”
“…would open fire almost as soon…
“…would open fire almost as soon as any of the marches started.”
“He reached his hand up as if to touch….
“He reached his hand up as if to touch my face; I moved my head to the side, to warn him away, hoping Serena Joy hadn’t noticed…”
“I have to let you go,…
“I have to let you go, he said. It’s the law, I have to. I have to let you all go.”
“They had to do it that way, the compucounts…
“They had to do it that way, the compucounts and the jobs both at once. Can you picture the airports, otherwise? They don’t want us going anywhere, you can bet on that.”
“Don’t let the b…
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”
“Oh god oh god….
“Oh god, oh god. How can I keep on living?”
“Don’t use it unless you have to’…
“‘Don’t use it unless you have to,’ says oflgen. ‘It isn’t good for us to know about too many of the others, in here he network. In case you get caught.’”
“‘It a risk’ I say….
“‘It’s a risk’ I say. ‘More than that.’ It’s my life on the line: but that’s where it will be sooner or later, one way or another, whether I do or don’t. We both know this.”
“‘Maybe he can’t,’ she says….
“‘Maybe he can’t.’ She says. I don’t know who she means. Does she mean the commander, or god? If it’s god, she should say won’t. Either way it’s heresy. It’s only women who can’t, who remain stubbornly closed, damaged, defective.”
“She knows where they’ve put her then,…
“She knows where they’ve put her then, where they’ve been keeping her. She’s know all along. Sometimes chokes in my throat. The bitch, not to tell me..”
“Better never means better for everyone,…
“Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.”
“She does that again and I’m not here,…
“She does that again and I’m not here, Moira said to me, you just have to slap her like that. You can’t let her go slipping over the edge. That stuff is catching.”
“They’ll always have been in white,…
“They’ll always have been in white, in groups of girls: They’ll always have been silent.”
“Those years were just an anomaly,…
“Those years were just an anomaly, historically speaking, the commander said, just a fluke. All we’ve done is return things to nature’s norm.”
“I don’t want to…
“I don’t want to be telling this story.”
“I have been obliterated for her…
“I have been obliterated for her… a shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become. You can see it in her eyes: I am not there.”
“Still, I can’t bear it,…
“Still, I cant bear it, to have been erased like that.”
“I know my voice sounds prudish,…
“I know my voice sounds prudish, disapproving. Still there is something attractive in the idea.”
“So this too,…
“So this too is something he’s done before.”
“There are great many buttocks…
“There are great many buttocks in this room. I am no longer used to them.”
“I still can’t believe it’s her…
“I still can’t believe it’s her. I touch her arm again. Then I begin to cry.”
“They figure you’ve got three years maximum,…
“They figure you’ve got three years maximum, at those, before your nose falls off and your skin pulls away like rubber gloves.”
“Likes to say she blew up…
“Likes to say she blew up Jezebel’s, with fifty commanders inside it.”
“As far as I know that didn’t happen…
“As far as I know that didn’t happen. I don’t know how she ended, or even if she did, because I never saw her again.”
