handmaids quotes

Question 1

Offred > believing the story

Answer 1

I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it……….If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it.

Question 2

Offred > love for the commander

Answer 2

I ought to feel hatred for this man. I know I ought to feel it, but it isn’t what I do feel. What I feel is more complicated than that. I don’t know what to call it. It isn’t love.

Question 3

what does ‘nolite te bastardes carborundorum’ mean

Answer 3

dont let the bastards grind you down

Question 4

Offred > doctor deals woith torso only

Answer 4

At neck level there’s another sheet, suspended from the ceiling.
It intersects me so the doctor will never see my face. He deals with a torso only.

Question 5

doctor > hand sliding up

Answer 5

“I could help you”…. Is that his hand, sliding up my leg? He’s taken off the glove…………. His hand is between my legs.

Question 6

Offred > the room - not my room

Answer 6

The door of the room – not my room, I refuse to say my – is not locked. In fact it doesn’t shut properly.

Question 7

Offred > many wives have gardens

Answer 7

Many of the Wives have such gardens, it’s something for them to order and maintain and care for

Question 8

Offred > reproach to her

Answer 8

I am a reproach to her; and a necessity

Question 9

Serena Joy > till death do us part

Answer 9

As for my husband … he’s just that. My husband. I want that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final

Question 10

Serena Joy > speeches

Answer 10

she was making speeches…….Her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home. Serena Joy didn’t do this herself, she made speeches instead, but she presented this failure of hers as a sacrifice she was making for the good of all.

Question 11

Serena Joy > speechless

Answer 11

She doesn’t make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn’t seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she’s been taken at her word.

Question 12

Offred and Serena > worse

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Serena Joy > legs are apart

Answer 13

Her legs are apart, I lie between them, my head on her stomach,

Question 14

ceremony > one flesh

Answer 14

she holds my hands…. supposed to signify that we are one flesh, one being

Question 15

Offred > fucking

Answer 15

What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing…… only one is involved

Question 16

Serena > get up

Answer 16

Get up and get out

Question 17

Commander > office

Answer 17

He wants to see you in his office.

Question 18

Commander > kiss

Answer 18

I want you to kiss me……Not like that….As if you mean it

Question 19

Offred > dont touch me

Answer 19

Don’t touch me. Don’t do that again

Question 20

Offred > rat in a maze

Answer 20

A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze

Question 21

Offred > power over Serena

Answer 21

I now had power over her, of a kind, although she didn’t know it

Question 22

Commander > never means better for everyone

Answer 22

Better never means better for everyone, It always means worse, for some

Question 23

Commander > hanged

Answer 23

She hanged herself

Question 24

Commander > dog

Answer 24

If your dog dies get another

Question 25

O and C > bearable

Answer 25

O: You want my life to be **bearable to me** C: **Yes**,....I do. I would prefer it

Question 26

Moira > escape

Answer 26

chapter 22: **Don't move**,...or I'll stick it all the way in, I know where, **I'll puncture your lung.** Moira took off her own clothes and put on those of Aunt Elizabeth Moira **marched** straight out......**And dissappeared**

Question 27

Moira > abuse

Answer 27

**hauled** Moira out, **dragged** her she could not walk for a week said **Aunt Lydia. For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential.**

Question 28

Moira > fantasy

Answer 28

Moira was out there somewhere....Nevertheless **Moira was our fantasy**

Question 29

Moira > prefer women

Answer 29

she'd **decided to prefer women**,.....She said it was different, because the **balance of power was equal** between women so sex was an even-steven transaction. 216

Question 30

Commander > tag

Answer 30

"What if someone stops me?" "Just show them **your tag**," he says. "It'll be all right. **They'll know you're taken."**

Question 31

Offred > back to Nick

Answer 31

I went back to Nick. **Time after time**, on my own

Question 32

Offred > safety with Nick

Answer 32

We **make love** each time.....Being here **with him is safety**

Question 33

Janine > gang-raped, her fault

Answer 33

chapter 13: she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion.....**Her fault**, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. **Who led them on?** Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. **She did**. She did. She did.

Question 34

Ofglen > kicks his head

Answer 34

kicks his head viciously, one, two, three times, **sharp painful jabs**.....He was one of ours. I knocked him out. **Put him out of his misery.**

Question 35

Aunt Lydia > im doing my best > 15

Answer 35

I'm doing my best, she said. I'm **trying to give you the best chance**

Question 36

chapter 33: Janine > whispering to herself Moira > slaps her

Answer 36

she was **whispering to herself.** **Moira slapped her across the face, twice,**......**you aren't there anymore. That's all gone**......You **can't let her go slipping over the edge.**

Question 37

Serena > slut

Answer 37

Just like the other one. A slut.

Question 38

final quotes

Answer 38

I have **given myself over into the hands of strangers**, because it can't be helped. And so I **step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.**