keymost key quotations

• “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.” (Ch17, Pg103)

• “We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” (Ch23, Pg142)

• “To refuse to see him could be worse. There’s no doubt about who holds the real power.” (Ch23, Pg142)

• “Women’s Salvagings are not frequent. There is less need for them. These days we are so well behaved.” (Ch42, Pg281)

• "Now that she’s the carrier of life, she is closer to death, and needs special security." (Ch5)

• "We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important." (Ch17)

• "Aunt Elizabeth inspects it: a girl, poor thing." (Ch21)

• "We are for breeding purposes." (Ch23)

• "She shall be saved by childbearing." (Ch34)

• “We yearned for the future.” (Ch1, p.9)

• “Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” (Ch41, p.279)

• “the more difficult it was to love the particular men beside us, the more we believed in Love, abstract and total” (ch34, pg233)

• “this is a reconstruction. all of it is a reconstruction. it’s a reconstruction now, in my head…” (ch23, pg140)

• “I’m a refugee from the past, and like other refugees I go over the customs and habits of being I’ve left or been forced to leave” (ch35, pg235)

• “a movie about the past is not the same as the past” (ch37, pg243)

• “The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross the border to freedom” (Ch41, pg279)

• “We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away, said the Commander.” (Ch34, pg227)

• “He wishes to diminish things, myself included.” (Ch36, pg237)

• “She doesn’t make speeches any more. She has become speechless.” (Ch8, pg52)

• “She hated me too and resented my presence.” (Ch26, pg166)

• “Both of us are supposed to be invisible, both of us are functionaries.” (Ch36, pg240)

• “The Republic of Gilead, said Aunt Lydia, knows no bounds.” (Ch5, pg29)

• “When power is scarce, a little of it is tempting.” (HN, pg316)

• “‘I am Ofglen,’ the woman says. Word perfect…. That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names.”

Serena Joy physical description = chapter 3

sees Nick first time = chapter 4

Serena Joy 1st time = chapter 8

the Ceremony = chapter 16

Ofwarren/Janine gives birth = chapter 21

1st meeting w Commander n kiss = chapter 23

Jezebel’s = chapter 31