The Handmaids Tale: Chapters 1-3
Summary: Chapter 1
The narrator, whose name we learn later is Offred, describes how she and other women slept
on army cots in a gymnasium. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrol with electric cattle prods
hanging from their leather belts, and the women, forbidden to speak aloud, whisper without
attracting attention. Twice daily, the women walk in the former football field, which is
surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Armed guards called Angels patrol
outside. While the women take their walks, the Angels stand outside the fence with their
backs to the women. The women long for the Angels to turn and see them. They imagine that
if the men looked at them or talked to them, they could use their bodies to make a deal. The
narrator describes lying in bed at night, quietly exchanging names with the other women.
Summary: Chapter 2
The scene changes, and the story shifts from the past to the present tense. Offred now lives in
a room fitted out with curtains, a pillow, a framed picture, and a braided rug. There is no
glass in the room, not even over the framed picture. The window does not open completely,
and the windowpane is shatterproof. There is nothing in the room from which one could hang
a rope, and the door does not lock or even shut completely. Looking around, Offred
remembers how Aunt Lydia told her to consider her circumstances a privilege, not a prison.
Handmaids, to which group the narrator belongs, dress entirely in red, except for the white
wings framing their faces. Household servants, called “Marthas,” wear green uniforms.
“Wives” wear blue uniforms. Offred often secretly listens to Rita and Cora, the Marthas who
work in the house where she lives. Once, she hears Rita state that she would never debase
herself as someone in Offred’s position must. Cora replies that Offred works for all the
women, and that if she (Cora) were younger and had not gotten her tubes tied, she could have
been in Offred’s situation. Offred wishes she could talk to them, but Marthas are not
supposed to develop relationships with Handmaids. She wishes that she could share gossip
like they do—gossip about how one Handmaid gave birth to a stillborn, how a Wife stabbed a
Handmaid with a knitting needle out of jealousy, how someone poisoned her Commander
with toilet cleaner. Offred dresses for a shopping trip. She collects from Rita the tokens that
Summary: Chapter 1
The narrator, whose name we learn later is Offred, describes how she and other women slept
on army cots in a gymnasium. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrol with electric cattle prods
hanging from their leather belts, and the women, forbidden to speak aloud, whisper without
attracting attention. Twice daily, the women walk in the former football field, which is
surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Armed guards called Angels patrol
outside. While the women take their walks, the Angels stand outside the fence with their
backs to the women. The women long for the Angels to turn and see them. They imagine that
if the men looked at them or talked to them, they could use their bodies to make a deal. The
narrator describes lying in bed at night, quietly exchanging names with the other women.
Summary: Chapter 2
The scene changes, and the story shifts from the past to the present tense. Offred now lives in
a room fitted out with curtains, a pillow, a framed picture, and a braided rug. There is no
glass in the room, not even over the framed picture. The window does not open completely,
and the windowpane is shatterproof. There is nothing in the room from which one could hang
a rope, and the door does not lock or even shut completely. Looking around, Offred
remembers how Aunt Lydia told her to consider her circumstances a privilege, not a prison.
Handmaids, to which group the narrator belongs, dress entirely in red, except for the white
wings framing their faces. Household servants, called “Marthas,” wear green uniforms.
“Wives” wear blue uniforms. Offred often secretly listens to Rita and Cora, the Marthas who
work in the house where she lives. Once, she hears Rita state that she would never debase
herself as someone in Offred’s position must. Cora replies that Offred works for all the
women, and that if she (Cora) were younger and had not gotten her tubes tied, she could have
been in Offred’s situation. Offred wishes she could talk to them, but Marthas are not
supposed to develop relationships with Handmaids. She wishes that she could share gossip
like they do—gossip about how one Handmaid gave birth to a stillborn, how a Wife stabbed a
Handmaid with a knitting needle out of jealousy, how someone poisoned her Commander
with toilet cleaner. Offred dresses for a shopping trip. She collects from Rita the tokens that
