2.14.2

Chapter 42

Test yourself

Chapter 42 - Summary and Key Quotations

The chapter opens with Offred stating that "the Bell is tolling".

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The salvaging of Ofcharles

  • Offred describes how she and the other Handmaids are lined up in front of what used to be an old library to witness the 'salvaging" (execution) of two handmaids and a wife.
  • These individuals are being punished for crimes which, Aunt Lydia announces, will not be made public in case anyone else decides to follow in their footsteps.
  • Offred watches as the first offender, a Handmaid called Ofcharles, is 'salvaged" (hanged) in front of everyone as a message from Gilead to obey their rules.
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"Bell is tolling..."

  • "The bell is tolling"
    • This comes from a sermon by 17-century priest and poet John Donne. Atwood is reminding us that we're involved in deaths carried out in our name.
  • "I don't want to be telling this story"
    • This line is isolated. Is this Offred's disgust at watching something so grim, or is this Atwood's despair that public executions still take place in various parts of the world?
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__"Same... bus... vestment"

  • "The same platitudes, the same phrases, the same slogans"
    • Cliches are often used to cover lacking emotion or to distance the speaker from taking responsibility.
  • "As if she's being helped up the steps of a bus... the noose... like a vestment"
    • A vestment is a religious robe. Atwood uses an everyday and religious image - both jarring with the situation at hand - to make the salvaging seem even more horrific.

Jump to other topics

1Author Background

1.1Margaret Atwood

2Chapter Summaries

3Dedications & Epigraph

3.1Dedications & Epigraph

4Context

5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques

6Themes & Imagery

7Characters

8Readings

8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale

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