AO1 Flashcards
(18 cards)
‘Habits are hard to break’ Chapter 3
pun meaning dress or a repeated behaviour. The Handmaid have to constantly wear the long red dress and carry out the same routine for example- the shopping trips.
‘Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want?
Offred feels like she is the leftovers being used up to avoid wasting a fertile body like hers.
‘I am a reproach to her; and a necessity.’
Shows the lack of self-worth that the Handmaids have. Offred is both disliked and vital for change and survival. In this context, Offred is only at Serena Joy’s house because of her fertile body with which she can give Serena Joy a child.
‘Luke wasn’t a doctor. Isn’t.’ Chapter 6
Offred changes the tense from past to present because she hopes that Luke is still alive. There is some relief in the fact that she does not know if her lover died the day she was taken away from him and their daughter.
‘Nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from.’ Chapter 7
This shows that love is an intrinsic part of life and survival that Gilead lacks. Even though the women have sex, they do not enjoy it but they have to do it for reproductive purposes.
‘The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet.’ Chapter 7
Offred takes advantage of the time she has to herself at night to reminisce on her past to restore some of the memories. The night is the only thing in her life that she “owns” or has any sort of control over.
‘We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance. You have to work at it.’ pg 66
Not paying attention to something and not acknowledging something is different to not knowing it is there or it is happening. People who ‘ignore’ become complacent. The Aunts ignored feminism, they represent the anti-feminists, along with Serena Joy who represents Phyllis Schlafly in the book who was massively opposed to feminism championing the conservative beliefs of Reagan’s administration.
‘My room, then. There has to be some space, finally, that I claim as mine’ Chapter 9
The idea that Offred can something she can call hers seems to be essential to her sanity. She needs a place to herself where she can think and hope by herself, remembering her life before.
‘I ought to feel hatred for this man… I don’t know what to call it. It isn’t love.’ Chapter 9
Offred defines her feelings towards the Commander as things they are not. Her feelings do not include ‘love’. She does not feel hatred to him but she thinks she should because of the regime, but she does not want to love him either.
‘Give me children or else I die’ Chapter 11
Rachel’s words from Genesis 30: 1-3. This is a biblical quotation linking to the story of Rachel and Leah, who were sisters married to Jacob. Leah had her own children by Jacob but Rachel could not, therefore, she got her “handmaid” Bilhah to conceive a child by Jacob for her.
‘I put my face against the soft hair at the back of her neck and I breathe her in.’- Chapter 12
A vivid image of Offred’s daughter is being described here. This shows that her daughter is always in her thoughts so much so that Offred never feels inclined to state her name or explain who she is.
‘The commander is the head of the household. The house is what he holds.’ Chapter 14
The Commander is at the top of this hierarchy. The house is his to hold until death separates him from it.
‘This is not recreation, even for the Commander. This is serious business. The Commander, too, is doing his duty’ Chapter 16, page 105
The Commander is not taking part in the ceremony to enjoy himself, he is also there to do his job and help re-populate the country.
‘Which is it worse for, her or me?’ Chapter 16 page 106
Offred questions whether the experience of the ceremony is worse for her because she is the one that has to participate physically in the action and not by choice or whether Serena Joy is worse off because she has to watch and endure Offred having sexual intercourse with her husband.
‘I believe in all of them, all three versions of Luke.’ Chapter 18
Offred believes that Luke is still a father to their child, a son and a holy ghost who is with her in spirit.
‘She was my oldest friend. Is.’ Chapter 28
The switch from past tense shows us that Offred does not want to let the regime change some of the most important things she had in her life before she became a Handmaid. Moira, her old college friend is one of them, the tense change emphasises this. We also see the same tense change when Offred talks about Luke.
‘I am only a shadow now, far back behind the shiny surface of this photograph.’ Chapter 34
Offred understands that she will never know what is happening in her daughter’s life, she is a ‘shadow’ unable to physically observe her child and watch her grow. She has only a picture of her.
‘I tell him my real name.’ Chapter 41
The only person Offred reveals her name to is Nick. After she begins her affair with him she begins to trust him. After every time they have sex she sits and tells him everything about herself.
