Epigraph
- ‘Give me children, or else I will die’ (Genesis 30:1) p.6
Chapter 1
- ‘army cots that had been set up in rows, with spaces between so we could not talk’
p.9
- ‘electric cattle prods’ p.10
- ‘We learned to whisper almost without sound’ p.10
Chapter 2
- ‘a chair, a table, a lamp’ p.13
- ‘They’ve removed anything you can tie a rope to’ p.13
- ‘thought must be rationed [...] thinking can hurt your chances’ p.13
- ‘It isn't running away they're afraid of. [...] It's those other escapes, the ones you can
open in yourself, given a cutting edge’ pp.13, 14
- ‘red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing’ p.14
- ‘red: the colour of blood, which defines us’ p.14
- ‘black, for the Commander, blue, for the Commander’s wife’ p.15
- ‘Go to the colonies [...] With the Unwomen, and starve to death’ (other options
besides being a Handmaid) p.16
- ‘I hunger to commit the act of touch’ p.17
Chapter 3
- ‘The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and
are beginning to heal’ p.18
- 'This garden is the domain of the Commander's wife [...] It's something for [the
Wives] to order and maintain and care for' p.18
- ‘[The Wives] can hit us, there’s Scriptural precedent’ p.22
Chapter 4
- ‘Perhaps he is an Eye’ p.24
- ‘Blessed be the fruit / May the Lord open’ (accepted greeting/response) p.25
- ‘I move my hips a little [...] I enjoy the power of a dog bone’ p.28
- ‘There are no more magazines, no more films, no more substitutes, only me and my
shadow’ p.28
Chapter 5
, - ‘my own clothes, my own soap, my own money’ (Offred recalling what she used to
have) p.30
- ‘We were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, of too much choice’ p.31
- Pregnant woman is ‘a magic presence’, causes ‘envy and desire’ p.32
Chapter 6
(The Wall)
- ‘We have learned to see the world in gasps’ p.36
- ‘What they are hanging from is hooks’ p.38
- ‘bags over the heads [...] like scarecrows, which is in a way what they are, as they
are meant to scare’ p.38
- ‘blood, which has seeped through the white cloth’ p.38
- ‘white coats [...] a drawing of a human foetus’ p.38
- ‘What I feel towards them is blankness. What I feel is that I must not feel’ p.39
- ‘It will become ordinary’ p.39
Chapter 7
- ‘The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will’ p.43
Chapter 8
- ‘Under His Eye’ p.50
- ‘The tulips [...] are redder than ever [...] no longer winecups but chalices, thrusting
themselves up, to what end? They are, after all, empty.’ p.51
- ‘When they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals
thrown out like shards’ p.51
Chapter 10
- ‘FAITH. It’s the only thing they’ve given me to read’ (on a cushion) p.63
Chapter 11
(Doctor visit)
- ‘He deals with a torso’ p.66
- ‘A cold finger, rubber-clad and jellied, slides into me, I am poked and prodded’ p.66
- ‘I could help you [...] They’ll never know it isn’t his’ p.66
- ‘There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore [...] only women who are fruitful
and women who are barren’ p.67
- ‘The knowledge of his power hangs in the air’ p.67
- ‘Give me children, or else I will die’ (Genesis 30:1) p.6
Chapter 1
- ‘army cots that had been set up in rows, with spaces between so we could not talk’
p.9
- ‘electric cattle prods’ p.10
- ‘We learned to whisper almost without sound’ p.10
Chapter 2
- ‘a chair, a table, a lamp’ p.13
- ‘They’ve removed anything you can tie a rope to’ p.13
- ‘thought must be rationed [...] thinking can hurt your chances’ p.13
- ‘It isn't running away they're afraid of. [...] It's those other escapes, the ones you can
open in yourself, given a cutting edge’ pp.13, 14
- ‘red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing’ p.14
- ‘red: the colour of blood, which defines us’ p.14
- ‘black, for the Commander, blue, for the Commander’s wife’ p.15
- ‘Go to the colonies [...] With the Unwomen, and starve to death’ (other options
besides being a Handmaid) p.16
- ‘I hunger to commit the act of touch’ p.17
Chapter 3
- ‘The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and
are beginning to heal’ p.18
- 'This garden is the domain of the Commander's wife [...] It's something for [the
Wives] to order and maintain and care for' p.18
- ‘[The Wives] can hit us, there’s Scriptural precedent’ p.22
Chapter 4
- ‘Perhaps he is an Eye’ p.24
- ‘Blessed be the fruit / May the Lord open’ (accepted greeting/response) p.25
- ‘I move my hips a little [...] I enjoy the power of a dog bone’ p.28
- ‘There are no more magazines, no more films, no more substitutes, only me and my
shadow’ p.28
Chapter 5
, - ‘my own clothes, my own soap, my own money’ (Offred recalling what she used to
have) p.30
- ‘We were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, of too much choice’ p.31
- Pregnant woman is ‘a magic presence’, causes ‘envy and desire’ p.32
Chapter 6
(The Wall)
- ‘We have learned to see the world in gasps’ p.36
- ‘What they are hanging from is hooks’ p.38
- ‘bags over the heads [...] like scarecrows, which is in a way what they are, as they
are meant to scare’ p.38
- ‘blood, which has seeped through the white cloth’ p.38
- ‘white coats [...] a drawing of a human foetus’ p.38
- ‘What I feel towards them is blankness. What I feel is that I must not feel’ p.39
- ‘It will become ordinary’ p.39
Chapter 7
- ‘The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will’ p.43
Chapter 8
- ‘Under His Eye’ p.50
- ‘The tulips [...] are redder than ever [...] no longer winecups but chalices, thrusting
themselves up, to what end? They are, after all, empty.’ p.51
- ‘When they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals
thrown out like shards’ p.51
Chapter 10
- ‘FAITH. It’s the only thing they’ve given me to read’ (on a cushion) p.63
Chapter 11
(Doctor visit)
- ‘He deals with a torso’ p.66
- ‘A cold finger, rubber-clad and jellied, slides into me, I am poked and prodded’ p.66
- ‘I could help you [...] They’ll never know it isn’t his’ p.66
- ‘There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore [...] only women who are fruitful
and women who are barren’ p.67
- ‘The knowledge of his power hangs in the air’ p.67
