The Handmaids Tale Quotes

Question 1

Epigraph: “But as myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal…”

Answer 1

• reference to Swifts ironic 1729 essay, advising improvised people to eat children as food for the rich. Atwood establishes satirical tone from the offset.
• satire focus forces reader to reflect on accepted concepts. Demonstrates a literary precedent for her own warning; she will present an unthinkable solution and thus force readers to reflect on issues in the 20th & 21st.
• swifts essay combines description of real situation with horrifying detail of a solution; Atwood juxtaposes reality with disturbing.
• Swifts reasoning is plausible and cites and twists at least one unreliable source; Atwood similarly follows logical path to frightening conclusion

Question 2

1 Night: Chapter one: “Dances would have been held there; the music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound.”
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Answer 2

In readers first encounter with Offred she establishes setting and context, this is a world with perceptible details from the past, but indications that these joyful, expressive pursuits are confined to memory.
- a “palimpsest” is material upon the newer writing has been layered over old. This layering permeated the novel; a recognisable detail, sometimes altered by memory, creates a world that is familiar to readers and yet, made strange by Atwood’s addition of warnings.
- a “palimpsest” has often been scraped clean before new markings are added: this wish to eradicate the old can be seen literally in the removal of reading and writing materials, and more symbolically, changes such as Harvard university (once a place of enrichment is now a place of oppression)
- the sound is “unheard” but still notable for Offred. a part of her wider sensory description does memory is more powerful than the oppression she encounters or that sound is merely a fantasy?

Question 3

Night 1: chapter one “Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled”
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Answer 3

Introduces opposing groups of women, and establishes factions from the outset of the novel
- maternal connotations juxtapose formal, military “patrolled”, a jarring juxtaposition which is significant this early in the novel
- before any reference to men, women are presented as the enemy. Is this complicity in the suppression of other women a betrayal or is it naive to consider gender a uniting feature? Notably, most female characters participate in cruelty towards other women; even Offred claimed she “hated” Janice.
- Both names are biblical references to obedient women; the first Epistle of Peter praises Sarah for following her husband, whilst Luke’s gospel calls Elizabeth “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord”. It is significant these women are empowered by maternal labels (“aunt”) when their management of handmaids is far from supportive.

Question 4

II shopping: Chapter 2: “I can see… myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairytale figure in a red cloak”
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Answer 4

Figure alludes to red riding hood, a Virginian character preyed upon by a predatory masculine character veiled by a maternal disguise. Crucially, to stay safe, Red riding hood must not stray form her ‘path’ created for those like her.
- tale is based on folk tradition, including a German village where virgin girls were red hoods. The predatory, often bestial bridegroom and dangerous, disguised women (false grandma) are stock characters in folk literature
- although Perrault’s original tale ends as the wolf consumes the girl and falls asleep, Grimm’s version feature rescue by a woodcutter. Atwood leaves the readers with uncertainty of Offred safety and outcome.
- Perrault’s tale made is moral explicit, noting of predatory characters in the world that “these gentle wolves art of all such creatures the most dangerous”. The commander is presented as an influential official who “manages to appear puzzled”, suggesting a false innocence (as we later find out he is one of the most significant cogs in the system that is Gilead”.

Question 5

II Shopping: Chapter 3: “Many of the wives have such gardens, it’s something for them to order and maintain and care for”
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Answer 5

The wives need to be ordered with “such gardens: and seek tasks which require regular management and emotional investment
- “such gardens: act as a substitute for children, offering an opportunity to create life and encourage literal growth.
- however, references to flowers “bursting” later suggests the garden cannot be controlled; does this reflect a child or Gileads attempt of control?
- Polysyndetic list of verbs (“order and maintain and care for”) and the use of the non-specific noun “something” emphasises the need to occupy the Wives’ time in a world where they have little freedom; inactivity risks allowing the wives to reflect and rebel.

Question 6

II shopping: chapter 3: “she turned her back on me and limped down the hall”
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Answer 6

Serena Joy has severe physical weaknesses (arthritis, limp, cough), all of which revealed throughout the novel.
- physical weaknesses represent a lesser vitality and act as a metaphor for her social status and autonomy and, perhaps, for her perceived fertility.
- her limp and arthritic hands both cause pain, but this appears enlivening, indicating needs and frustrations she shared with Offred in a wish to “feel” and be in control of her own sensation/suffering
- her cough is aligned with regular smoking of black-market cigarettes, and her continuous knitting either arthritic hands; is she the creator of her own suffering? If so, this echoes the wide suffering she endures under the “traditional values” she previously advocated for (inspired by Phyllis Schlafly).

Question 7

II shopping: chapter 4: “here and there are worms, evidence of fertility of the soil, caught by the sun, half dead; flexible and pink, like lips.”
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Answer 7

• reference back to fertility appear throughout the novel, but in the motifs of eggs and flowers in the garden. here, the focus of the garden is the phallic “worms” which have been left “half-dead” by the climate, a metaphor for the environmental impact on male fertility.
• whilst the front garden features flowers, the back garden includes “half dead” “evidence of…fertility” perhaps suggesting infertility is hidden or denied.
• does the feminising “lips” simile attributed to the phallic imagery suggest men are emasculated by being reduced to fertility or is it a comparison of genders as equals once they are reduced to biological function?

Question 8

II Shopping: chapter 5: “to be seen - to be seen -is to be - her voice trembled - penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable”
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Answer 8

Aunt Lydia reaches modesty as synonymous with “invisibility”. Offred refuses a photograph (an opportunity to reach beyond Gilead) due to this ingrained, enforced philosophy.
- irony of “impenetrable” for handmaids which undergo forced intercourse cannot be understated. Gilead approves of literal penetration but prohibits emotional unions for the handmaids
- often, being seen is used as a metaphor for being understood and known; here, the repetition emphasises the significance of this intimate connection, forbidden for the handmaids.
-references to the eyes as “the windows to the soul”, and to cultures which require greater levels for cover for women are both relevant here; the inclusion of the infantilising “girls” highlights gender-specificity of the issue in Gilead.

Question 9

II shopping: chapter 6: “the church is a small one, one of the first erected here… inside it you can see paintings, of women in long some dresses, their hair covered by their white caps, and of upright men, darkly clothed and unsmiling. Our ancestors.”
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Answer 9

• churches are a specifically Christian place of worship and this one exemplifies elements of Christian tradition - female modesty, alongside purity and male authority
• the “white caps” specify features of Gileads regime and “erected” could be seen as a masculine verb designed to highlight the patriarchy of Christianity.
• the archaic connotations of “ancestors” and the description of the people on the painting should create a historic distance between them and the contemporary. However, the jarring similarities between the description and Gileadean life serve to highlight Gileads return to the past.

Question 10

III Night: Chapter 7: “i would like to believe this is a story Im telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance”
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Answer 10

Does her narration give her power?
- Offreds explicit unreliability ironically makes her more trustworthy for readers; her awareness of her own fallibility as a narrator offers a familiar vulnerability.
- references the dismissal of historical horrors as “stories” to highlight the temptation to deny or attempt to sanitise uncomfortable truths. The late 70’s saw Holocaust denial move to members of mainstream America, and a Holocaust denial centre established in California. Riding soon after this time Atwood was conscious of the dangers of such sanitisation becoming accepted.

Question 11

IV Waiting room: chapter 8: “The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups but chalices; thirsting themselves up, to what end?”
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Answer 11

• references to the motifs of flowers and “chalices” connect fertility and religion
• the “Tulips” are aligned with the handmaids through their colour and fertility connotations and “chalice” acts as yonic imagery. The verb “thrusting” is reflexive, empowering and the “tulips” who act independently against Serena Joys attempted management of the garden.
• note Offred uses Christian connotations of chalices to elevate the tulips despite the disadvantages she endures under apparently Christian values.

Question 12

IV waiting room: chapter 10:
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
Could save a wretch like me,
Who once was lost, but now an found,
Was bound, but now am free”
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Answer 12

She sings to herself, but “can’t remember… if the words are right” since songs referencing freedom are forbidden.
- Offred has altered the originally Christian lyrics, much as the gileadean regime alters Christian doctrine to legitimise laws. The original final line of the chorus is “was blind, but now i see”; is it ironic that Offred is now “blind” to the original lyrics and perhaps, original doctrine.
- being “free” and being able to see are connected throughout the novel; the handmaids version is blinkered, they are to be invisible, and “eyes” are powerful spies.
- although a religious song about conversion to Christian faith, amazing grace is also deemed a folk song and, after a 1960’s US revival was heard at civil rights marches and festivals including woodstocks

Question 13

IV waiting room: chapter 10:
“Houses like this heat up in the sun, there’s not enough insulation”
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Answer 13

-the “heat” is metaphorical - a sense of increasing pressure/threat. The lack of “insulation” indicates a metaphorical lack of protection; despite being separated from society in various ways, the members of the household are not completely isolated from one another, Offred is not “insulated” from Serena Joy; Serena Joy is not “insulated” from the requirements of the ceremony.
- there is an inconsistent sense of growing momentum in the novel which aligns with this increasing heat; note the inconsistency fits after with the reconstruction of the narrative.
- a literal interpretation references the increased heat of climate change; homes were not made to withstand the growing temperatures.

Question 14

VI household: chapter 14: “i feel transparent”

Answer 14

Offred references her metaphorical intangibility and impermanence regularly (“I’m a cloud” “as if i am made of smoke” “i am blank… between parenthesis” “both of us are supposed to be invisible”) = her feelings of insecurity and how her lack of autonomy affects her view of herself.
- the extent of the impact of Gileads treatment is revealed through the motif of intangibility which reveals Offreds weakening grasp of herself. Her identity becomes increasingly elusive, as the regime removes autonomy and markers of individuality.
- in narrative terms, the historical notes reveal the metaphor to be accurate; it is not possible to identify Offred, so has her identity effectively disappeared? Has the reconstruction of her narrative redefined the only version of her that can be accessed.

Question 15

VI Household: Chapter 15:
“Blessed are the silent. I knew they made that up, i knew it was wrong, and they left things out too, but there was no way of checking.”

Answer 15

• as the penultimate blessing in a list of five, the false Beatitude is concealed within legitimate quotes from the bible; this mimics Gileadean use of religious justifications throughout the novel, which in turn mimics real-life religious justifications based on interpretation or falsehood
• Traditionally, the eight beatitudes offer a rewards; this is missing for all but the first and last five in the Gileadean list: offers “heaven” and “comfort” are conspicuously subjective , whereas concerns about “righteousness” and being “shown mercy” could stir a greater resistance so are removed.
• the inability to verify occurs throughout Offreds narrative and is a frequent feature of dystopian writing

Question 16

VIII Birth day: Chapter 19: “not to mention the exploding atomic power plants, along the San Andreas fault, nobody’s fault, during the earthquakes, the mutant strain of syphilis no mould could touch”

Answer 16

Brief reference to climate events in a familiar Geographical location offers an explanation behind Gilead and the fertility concerns it seeks to address.
- Offreds claim that it was “nobody’s fault” is interesting; while earthquakes might be unpreventable, readers might presume a level of responsibility associated with nuclear power and the location of the plants.
- the vocabulary of “exploding atomic” cannot fail to recall Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; long term effects were believed to include foetal abnormality.
- the rise in syphilis came from the early 1980’s along with media concerns about the AIDS crisis from 1981, combined to inform this “mutant strain”, an incurable disease arising from sexual contact and with unknown consequences.

Question 17

VIII Birth Day: Chapter 22:
“Moira was our fantasy”

Answer 17

Moira rebellion and eventual escape creates a deity for the handmaids
- Moira becomes a symbol of rebellion and therefore, hope. The collective of “our” indicates the widespread need for this symbolism.
- as her post-escape absence continues, the tense become conditional: “If i were Moira”, showing the value of symbolism. Does this provide Offred with a justification for inaction? Whilst Moira remains free, inertia can be endorsed by hope.
- Upon the discovery of Moira Offreds explicit wishes, “i don’t want her to be like me… i want gallantry from her, swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat” and “id like to tell a story about how Moira escaped…” indicate the power of symbolism. However, Offred does relay the truth here, arguably demonstrating psychological strength

Question 18

VIII Birth day: Chapter 23:
“Instead. She depends on me. She hopes, and i am the vehicle for her hope”

Answer 18

Cora is a Martha (infertile woman who acts as household servants)
- echoing the handmaids attachment to Moira as a symbol of “Hope”, Offred herself is that symbol for members of the commanders household. Whilst escape can be literal, a baby would change the circumstances that represents escape from the household status quo.
- Offreds awareness of her role as vehicle make her functionality explicit; Cora is presented as a relative ally and yet still views Offred as a method of achieving and different life.
- repetition of “hope” highlights Cora’s desperation, whilst “depends on me” implies Offred has an element of power over her.

Question 19

VIII Birth day: chapter 23:
“We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: scared vessels, ambulatory chalices”

Answer 19

Offred cannot understand her invitation to see the commander and therefore fears to see him beyond the functional
- Offreds metaphors reduce the handmaids to objects, specifically containers. They are functional and yet, with each metaphor, there’s an increasing element of religious terminology.
- should readers view this elevators as an illustration of sincere faith, or an example for the bastardisation of religion to justify Gileadean tradition? Historical precedent and reference to biblical inaccuracies throughout the novel suggest Atwood’s intention is the latter.
- The repetition of the motif of “vessels” serves to underline Offreds understanding of her position, she repeats and reworks the image to emphasises her role for the audience but also herself

Question 20

VIII Birth Day: Chapter 23: “Larynx, i spell. Valance. Quince. Zygote… this is freedom, an eyeblink of it. Limp, i spell. Gorge. What a luxury. He counters are like candy”

Answer 20

• “Offreds power is language” (Bernard): these high scoring words from scrabble foreshadow her match victory, a metaphor of her power gains via the commanders affections.
• connotations of voice (“larynx”), followed by the decorative concealment of “valance” detail the handmaids situation. “Quince” is a fruit symbolising fertility and “zygote” a stage of embryonic development. Ironically, Offred uses these works to ‘beat’ the commander and later wonders if he had let her win; does this highlight the extent of his power of the insignificance of her perceived victories?
• the sexual connotations of later words show Offred reclaiming of sex through language.

Question 21

IX Night: Chpater 24: “The wandering womb, they used to think. Hysteria. And then a needle, a pill. It could be fatal”

Answer 21

Offred is trying to stifle her laughter because she fears the punishment if her emotions are judged inappropriate
- “hysteria” from the Greek word or uterus, was a 19th century term, a blanket diagnosis of health conditions in who men, who were seen as more susceptible to madness than men. A diagnosis could place a women in institution for her whole life, for decisions such as choosing to remain unmarried and without children. It exemplifies the historical normal judged against typically masculine traits and thereby disempowering women throughout history and the novel.
- “fatal” references both original illness but, more permanently, the treatments. It serves as a wider metaphor of dangerous and deadly treatment being presented as beneficial for women.
- the “wandering” mature suggests a lack of direction; without purpose in the form of children, those with wombs were viewed with suspicion

Question 22

XII Jezebels: Chapter 37:
“We have quite a collection. That one there, the one in green, she’s a sociologist. Or was. That one was a lawyer, that one was in business, an executive position”

Answer 22

• “collection” and the impersonal demonstrative “that” objectify women, highlighting the chasm between significant roles pre-Gilead and the function they now serve
• the list follows the commanders claim that “nature demands a variety, for men”, a justification based on animal biology, rather than religious justifications usually cited, highlighting the hypocrisy of leadership.
• Given Jezebel, a wicked women from the bible, encouraged worship of nature gods, this environment is separated from religious society; are the disempowered women, like Jezebel, held responsible for male choices?

Question 23

XII Jezebels: Chpater 37:
“Girls dressed for Easter, in rabbit suits. What is the significance of it here, why are rabbits supposed to be sexually attractive to men?”

Answer 23

Women dress in “government issue” costumes designed to be attractive to men.
- by taking a popularised image such as “bunny girls” and presenting them baldly in the alien context of Gilead, Atwood exposes uncomfortable truths about the world of the reader. Framing the image within a question forces the reader to answer and therefore reflect on their own complicity with values visible in Gilead.
- Notably, rabbits are soft, vulnerable, fertile creatures typically hunted and consumed, or kept as pets; is there any other answer to Offreds question?
- late, Moira references the “suits” as “government issue”; her uniform has changed to reflect her new role, but a lack of autonomy in how she presents remains. This also exposes the presumably hidden government role in the underground world of Gilead.

Question 24

XV Night: Chapter 46:
“Whether it’s is my end or a new beginning I have no way of knowing: i have given myself over into the hands of strangers, because it can’t be helped”

Answer 24

• parallels with Moria’s fate of lying with “strangers” are evident, perhaps an inevitable fate for all the rebellious handmaids
• similarities to Blanche Dubois in A streetcar named Desire: “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”. Blanche is a doomed women who failed to fufil the expectations of both the old and new societies she straddles; is this also true for Offred? Does the parallel suggest Offreds fate is similarly bleak, or does the existence of the tapes signal a salvation?
• the conclusion of the line highlights Offreds reoccurring passivity (“given myself over… Cant be helped”), whilst also referencing the narrative itself; the story is recorded and left for strangers

Question 25

Historical notes:
“Strictly speaking, it was not a manuscript at all when first discovered and bore no title. The superscription ‘the handmaids tale; was appeared to it by professor Wade, partly in homage to the great Geoffrey Chaucer”

Answer 25

Historical notes reveal Offreds story was discovered as a series of tapes which were sequenced and titled by two professors two hundred years later.
- the historians have transcribed and labelled the “manuscript” from the tapes and thus offer a permanence to their version of the narrative. In the context of the novel, the more masculine connotations of the written word dominate the feminine verbal as seen in the choice of “superscription”, implying power over the script.
- note that Wade’s gender is not confined, though male gender is typically assumed; this is because of the lewd puns or reader bias of the title professor.
- Is it significant that Offreds fractured narrative gives rise to doubt about her authenticity, whereas Chaucer is labelled “the great”?

Question 26

Gale Green (1986): “Offred is no hero”

Answer 26

Offreds passivity leaves the character lacking in attributes essential for the label “hero”
- although this view supports Atwoods own suggestion that Offred