Handmaid's Tale Quotes
Complacency
"I didn’t go on any of the marches. Luke said it would be futile and I had to think about them, my family, him and her."
Offred recalls that when she was fired from her job because women were no longer allowed to work, there were some small protest marches she didn’t join. She and her husband resigned themselves to the changes happening in their world. As they felt powerless to resist the new regime, they tried to focus on their family instead. However, because not enough people tried to fight back, their family ended up being torn apart anyway.
Identity
"I said, I have made a life for myself, here, of a sort. That must have been what the settlers’ wives thought, and women who survived wars, if they had a man. Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations."
Offred considers Ofglen’s offer to help her escape Gilead, and she rationalizes her desire to stay. Now that she has begun seeing Nick secretly, she feels she has something more to live for compared with the years she went without love or affection. Although her situation has improved a bit, her willingness to remain essentially a prisoner in Gilead shows how little it takes to make her ignore the atrocities taking place in her world.
"Rita scowls at me before slipping in to stand behind me. It’s my fault, this waste of her time. Not mine, but my body’s, if there is a difference."
Offred reacts to the pessimistic expression of a member of the household during preparations for the procreation ceremony. Since authorities in Gilead restrict Handmaids’ roles to conception and childbirth, Offred begins to see that only her fertility matters to others. In this wry observation, Offred assumes the blame for not producing, differentiating between herself and her body. Her complex character with intellect and a sense of humor contrasts with the mindset of those she serves, who see her only worth lies in her ability to conceive a child.
"Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around? Without it I too am disembodied."
Offred thinks of her husband and daughter and wishes she could hold them. Part of her identity in her former life was being a wife and mother, and now that she can no longer care for her family or give and receive any physical affection, she experiences dissociation. She feels “disembodied” due to being separated from her family, depicting how detrimental a lack of love can be to the spirit.
"“I am Ofglen,” the woman says. Word perfect. And of course she is, the new one, and Ofglen, wherever she is, is no longer Ofglen. I never did know her real name. That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names."
Ofglen’s replacement responds to Offred’s asking about Ofglen. Offred had only known her previous shopping partner as “Ofglen,” a woman whose identity existed only in relation to the man she served. The new Ofglen’s quick answer shows how replaceable Handmaids are in Gilead. Stripping people of their names deprives them of their identities, another way Gilead takes away freedoms.
Role of Women
"There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law."
When Offred goes to the doctor for her monthly checkup, the doctor offers to try to impregnate her, explaining that most men like the Commander are sterile. His observation shocks Offred, as Gilead statutes outlaw suggesting the possibility of male sterility. Responsibility for failure of a couple to conceive officially falls on the woman regardless of the man’s state of health. The law represents another example of society’s use of women as scapegoats.
"He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not each other’s, anymore. Instead, I am his."
Offred reflects on her husband Luke’s reaction to her job loss. She feels he supports her in a way that emphasizes her dependency on him. Offred senses the power shift between them and wonders if Luke enjoys having more power than she has. Although Offred can’t know exactly how Luke feels and never asks him, she experiences his comfort level with the change as a kind of betrayal. They are no longer equals. Even before the rise of Gilead, when she would become the property of the Commander, she felt like her husband’s property.
"There’s hardly any point in my thinking, is there? I say. What I think doesn’t matter. Which is the only reason he can tell me things."
Offred makes a guarded statement to the Commander during one of their nights together in his study. As he presses her to tell him what she thinks about their new society, she plays dumb by telling him she doesn’t think much. Sharing her opinions may prove risky, while deflection may keep herself safe and keep him talking. Like the rest of Gilead, the Commander believes women aren’t a danger because they have no original thoughts of their own.
Imprisonment
"My arms are raised; she holds my hands, each of mine in each of hers. this is supposed to signify that we are one flesh, one being. What it really means is that she is in control, of the process and thus of the product. If any."
Here, Offred describes her and Serena Joy’s positions during the procreation ceremony. Many aspects of a Handmaid’s imprisonment in Gilead appear as rituals for her own good or marks of her special status as a potential childbearing woman. The Ceremony is one of these rituals: as the Wife holds her surrogate’s hands, the connection designed to symbolize one being functions to restrain the Handmaid. The true purpose for Serena Joy’s presence is to exert control, even pin Offred down if necessary.
"Now and again we vary the route; there’s nothing against it, as long as we stay within the barriers. A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze."
Offred describes how she and Ofglen sometimes take different ways to and from their shopping trips. Although Offred and the other Handmaids can leave their houses without direct supervision, they can only go as far as the walls of the city. Offred understands that though it seems like a kind of freedom to be able to go different places, within their own “maze” they are just as much prisoners as anyone in a jail cell.