The Handmaids Tale Flashcards
In the desert there is no sign that says
thou shalt not eat stones
think of it as being in
the army
A chair
a table, a lamp
Thinking can
hurt your chances and I intend to last
the circumstances have been reduced
for those of us that still have circumstances
She didn’t step aside… There is push
and shove, these days, over such toeholds
I know you aren’t
stupid
She did this decisively,
one jab and one grind
He begins to whistle.
Then he winks.
The truth is that she is my
spy, as I am hers
I enjoy the power;
the power of a dog bone, passive but there
Freedom
to and freedom from
She a magic presence to us,
an object of envy and desire, we covet her
The women teeter on their
spiked feet
The smell of nail polish has made
me hungry
What you must be, girls,
is impenetrable. She called us girls.
Luke wasn’t a doctor.
isn’t.
Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia,
is what you are used to
Where should I go?
Somewhere good. Moira
Those that can believe that such stories are only stories
have a better chance
she presented this failure of hers
as a sacrifice she was making for the good of all
The knife she uses is
sharp and bright, and tempting. I would like to have a knife like that.
He is
violating custom
Was he invading? Was he in my room?
I called it mine.
im communing with her
this unknown woman
We lived, as usual by
ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it
We are all
honey
genuine, genuine
sympathy; and yet he is enjoying this
I am a nat
ional resource
What I must present is a made
thing, not something born
I wish I had a pig
ball
its safer to make things up
than to say you had nothing to reveal
her fault her fault her fault
we chant in unison… we meant it, which is the bad part
-reflect mass hysteria of salem witch trials ‘safer to make something up than say you have nothing to reveal’
I feel ridiculously
happy
He looks over us as if
taking inventory
he manages to look
puzzled, as if he cant quite remember how we all got in here
The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers.
it may or may not be revenge
which of us is it
worse for, her or me
sanity is a
valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money
Pleasure is a
egg
we grip each others hands
we are no longer single
you wanted a womens culture
well now there is one
Janine was like a
puppy that had been kicked too often
(moira) she is a cunning
and dangerous woman
already we were losing
our taste for freedom
we are two legged
wombs; that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices
To want is to
have a weakness
Its an
oasis of the forbidden. I try not to stare.
its as if he’s
offered me drugs
words spelt in scrabble:
larynx
zygote
ziltch
limp
it could be important
it could be a passport, it could be my downfall
so there it was out in the open:
his wife didn’t understand him
as if indulging a
child’s wish for bubble gum
It wasn’t the first time he gave evidence of being
truly ignorant of the real conditions under which we lived
steel yourself
my mother used to say
it was like being on an operating
table, in the full glare; like being on stage
she was a malicious
and vengeful woman
To him I am no longer
merely a usable body. To him I’m not just a boat with no cargo. To him I am not merely empty
a rat in a maze is
free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze
Somehow the wall is even more
foreboding when it’s empty like this… potential like a storm approaching
hope is rising in me,
like sap in a tree. Blood in a wound
I want to laugh,
shout, hug her (ofglen)
Pen
is envy
If my life is bearable
maybe what their doing is right after all
what I have on him is
guilt. At last
I sit in my chair, the wreath on the ceiling
floating above my head, a floating halo, a zero
its hard to be afraid of a man who is
sitting watching you put on hand lotion. This lack of fear is dangerous.
you cant make an omelette
without breaking eggs
better never means
better for everyone
GOD IS A
NATIONAL RESOURCE
All we’ve done is
return things to natures norm
LOVE is not
the point
Lydia sucks
It was like a flag waved from a hilltop in rebellion
we were falling
women
Time has not stood still.
It has washed over me, washed me away as if I am nothing more than a women of sand
so now that we don’t have different clothes
you merely have different women
I want gallantry from her, swash buckling,
heroism, single handed combat. Something I lack.
He is not a
monster
I don’t want to be
a wingless angel… They can do what they want with me. I am abject. I feel for the first time, their true power
Faith is only
a word embroidered
And so I step up,
into the darkness within; or else the light
I still have it in me to feel sorry for him. Moira is right.
I am a wimp
she’s frightening me now, because what
I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of violation
our job is not to censure
but to understand
there was little that was truly original with or indigenous to Gilead:
its genius was synthesis
these days we’re
so well behaved (few womens salvaging’s needed)
how easy it is to
invent a humanity
-Offred is compared to a mistress of a Nazi camp commandant
just another crummy
power trip
our big mistake was teaching them how to read
we wont do that again
elbows
on the table
im communing with her
this unknown woman
spiked
feet… twittering
the bitch
not to tell me, or bring me news, any news at all
ravenous
for news
strung up like a Christmas
turkey
she died that
I might live
truly amazing what people
can get used to if given a few compensations
man is just womens strategy
for making other women- exetremist
Don’t you know how many…
womens bodies the tanks had to roll over to get that
a circle of red women… a low
sound like growling
sisters
dipped in blood
they can
hit us- scriptural precedent Exodus 21
womens bodies
turning to black ash -implies any extreme is dangerous?
the birthing stool with its double seat… the smell is of
our own flesh, an organic smell
The young ones are often the
most dangerous… the jumpiest with their guns
-allusion to Hitler youth in Nazi Germany
Being with him is safety;
a cave, where we huddle together while the storm goes on outside. This is a delusion of course.
whispers less,
talks more about the weather… what I feel is relief
Moira was our
fantasy
