quotes THT

handmaids - blood

"the colour of blood, which defines us" - Offred, chapter 2
"a sister, dipped in blood"

lasting in Gilead

"Thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend to last." - Offred, chapter 2

About children

"All children are wanted now, but not by everyone" - Offred, chapter 4

to be seen

"To be seen - to be seen - is to be - her voice trembled - penetrated. - Aunt Lydia, chapter 5

night

"The night is mine, my own time, to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet" - Offred, chapter 7

storytelling

"I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it." - Offred, chapter 7

sucde

I know why the glass in the window is shatterproof, and why they took down the chandelier." Chapter 9

compose

"I wait, I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born."

body

"I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will" chapter 13

name

"I keep the knowledge of my name like something hidden, some treasure" - Offred, chapter 14

commander

"But the Commander could give me away so easily, by a look, by a gesture, some tiny slip that would reveal to anyone watching that there was something between us now." - chapter 26

mistresses

"Men at the top have always had mistresses, why should things be any different now ?" chapter 26

their true power

"I resign my body freely, to the use of others. They can do what they like with me. I am abject. I feel, for the first time, their true power." - Chapter 45

Ofglen's death

"So she's dead, and I am safe, after all." - Chapter 45

Ceremony

"My arms are raised; she holds my hands, each of mine in eaWhat it really means is that she is in control, of the process and thus the product. [...] It may or may not be revenge." - Chapter 16

Moïra

"Moïra was like an elevator with open sides. She made us dizzy."

Ignoring

"Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance. You have to work at it" - waiting room

sanity

"Sanity is a valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money. I save it, so I will have enough, when the time comes." - Birth Day

Memory

"For the ones who come after you, it will be easier. They will accept their duties with willing hearts.[...] Because they won't want things they can't have."

Offred thirsting over Nick

"I want to reach up, taste his skin. He makes me hungry."

Offred being self aware abt her passivity

"I am a coward, I hate the thought of pain"

HOOK ABT STORIES

"Stories are the best way to understand the world" "Story-telling is an essential part of human nature." - Salman Rushdie

wants luke

"I wan Luke here so badly. I want to be helf and told my name." Chapter 17

desireee

"If I thought this would never happen again I would die. But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from."

desire and identity

"Can I be blamed for wanting a real body, to put my arms around ? Without it I too am disembodied."

trying to impose some control on a story otherwise helpless

I've tried to put some good things in as well. Flowers, for instance."

Wall childish image

"The heads are the heads of snowmen"
The blood makes a mouth like "the mouths painted with thick brushes by kindergarten children" Chapter 6