The Handmaids Tale

Question 1

“Nolite…

Answer 1

“Nolite te bastardes carborumdorum.”

Question 2

“Under Serena Joy’s silver canopy,…

Answer 2

“Under Serena Joy’s canopy, it is not exciting. It has nothing to do with passion or love or romance.”

Question 3

“The rings of her left hand…

Answer 3

“The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers. It may or may not be revenge.”

Question 4

“Which of us is it….

Answer 4

“Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”

Question 5

“He puts his hand on my arm,…

Answer 5

“He puts his hand on my arm, pulls me against him, his mouth on mine.”

Question 6

“I pray that at least one hole…

Answer 6

“I pray that at least one hole is neatly, quickly, and finally through the skull.”

Question 7

“I imagine him resting,…

Answer 7

“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.”

Question 8

“The message will say that I must have patience:…

Answer 8

“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.”

Question 9

“Breathe, breathe,…

Answer 9

“‘Breathe, breathe,’ we chant, we we have been taught. ‘Hold, hold. Expel, expel, expel.’”

Question 10

“What is on the other side…

Answer 10

“What is on the other side is normal life.”

Question 11

“Books and books and books,…

Answer 11

“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.”

Question 12

“Now it’s forbidden for us…

Answer 12

“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.”

Question 13

“I freeze, cold travels through….

Answer 13

“I freeze, cold travels through me, down to my feet. There must have been microphones, they’ve heard us after all.”

Question 14

“…one of the eyes moves in…

Answer 14

“…one of the eyes moves in on him, does something sharp and brutal that doubles him over.”

Question 15

“…would open fire almost as soon…

Answer 15

“…would open fire almost as soon as any of the marches started.”

Question 16

“He reached his hand up as if to touch….

Answer 16

“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…”

Question 17

“I have to let you go,…

Answer 17

“I have to let you go, he said. It’s the law, I have to. I have to let you all go.”

Question 18

“They had to do it that way, the compucounts…

Answer 18

“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.”

Question 19

“Don’t let the b…

Answer 19

“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.”

Question 20

“Oh god oh god….

Answer 20

“Oh god, oh god. How can I keep on living?”

Question 21

“Don’t use it unless you have to’…

Answer 21

“‘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.’”

Question 22

“‘It a risk’ I say….

Answer 22

“‘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.”

Question 23

“‘Maybe he can’t,’ she says….

Answer 23

“‘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.”

Question 24

“She knows where they’ve put her then,…

Answer 24

“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..”

Question 25

“Better never means better for everyone,…

Answer 25

“Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.”

Question 26

“She does that again and I’m not here,…

Answer 26

“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.”

Question 27

“They’ll always have been in white,…

Answer 27

“They’ll always have been in white, in groups of girls: They’ll always have been silent.”

Question 28

“Those years were just an anomaly,…

Answer 28

“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.”

Question 29

“I don’t want to…

Answer 29

“I don’t want to be telling this story.”

Question 30

“I have been obliterated for her…

Answer 30

“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.”

Question 31

“Still, I can’t bear it,…

Answer 31

“Still, I cant bear it, to have been erased like that.”

Question 32

“I know my voice sounds prudish,…

Answer 32

“I know my voice sounds prudish, disapproving. Still there is something attractive in the idea.”

Question 33

“So this too,…

Answer 33

“So this too is something he’s done before.”

Question 34

“There are great many buttocks…

Answer 34

“There are great many buttocks in this room. I am no longer used to them.”

Question 35

“I still can’t believe it’s her…

Answer 35

“I still can’t believe it’s her. I touch her arm again. Then I begin to cry.”

Question 36

“They figure you’ve got three years maximum,…

Answer 36

“They figure you’ve got three years maximum, at those, before your nose falls off and your skin pulls away like rubber gloves.”

Question 37

“Likes to say she blew up…

Answer 37

“Likes to say she blew up Jezebel’s, with fifty commanders inside it.”

Question 38

“As far as I know that didn’t happen…

Answer 38

“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.”