Chapter 5

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Chapter 5 - Summary

Offred enters the old University town with her double, Ofglen, and realises that this is where she used to live with her husband Luke and her child before the creation of the Republic of Gilead.

Econowives

Offred thinks about her past and all the freedoms she used to take for granted.
She comments on seeing Marthas and widows in the street but also Econowives, who wear red/blue/green striped cheap dresses and have to perform all the functions of the other women in Gilead but for men who are of a lower status than Commanders.

Is Gilead more "safe"?

Offred thinks about a time in past society when women wore different clothes and were afraid of being attacked by men.
She wonders whether Gilead, where life for women has been made more "safe", really does offer more freedom than life before.
The reader then learns Gilead's peculiar names for shops - each one is a reference to the Bible.
There's the Lilies of the Field, the shop where Handmaids buy their "habits" (dresses) and which Offred remembers used to be a cinema.

Milk and Honey and oranges

Offred and Ofglen go into Milk and Honey, the grocery store. Offred notices that there are oranges available. This suggests that there must be a form of rationing in Gilead for certain foods.
She sees many Handmaids and Guardians in there and wishes she could catch a glimpse of her old friend Moira.

Commotion - pregnant Handmaid

A commotion is caused by a pregnant Handmaid entering the shop. This causes the other women to feel a lot of jealousy and bitterness.
Offred realises that the pregnant woman, who goes by the patronym of Ofwarren, is the woman she met in the Red centre called Janine.
Offred and Ofglen then go into All Flesh, the butchers, and buy meat which is very expensive and a luxury item in Gilead.

Japanese tourists

As they leave All Flesh, they bump into a group of Japanese tourists who ask for a photo of the Handmaids and ask if they are happy, through a translator.
Offred seems mesmerized by the clothing that the Japanese ladies wear, commenting on how sexually provocative their clothes are compared with the clothing worn by the Handmaids.
She refers to their clothing style as "Westernised" and seems shocked by how provocative and indecent it seems.

Offred answers the question

Offred answers the tourists' question with "Yes, we are very happy" because she says to the reader "What else can I say?"

Chapter 5 - Key Quotations

Here are five key quotations from Chapter 5:

"Doubled, I walk the street"

"Freedom to and freedom from"

According to Aunt Lydia, 'freedom to' is the kind of freedom the Handmaids had before the creation of Gilead, where women were raped and harassed.
The Aunt advocates freedom from instead. This means freedom from all those negative things. This idea presents Gilead as a kind of salvation for these women.

"We were a society dying...

"We were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, of too much choice"
- Aunt Lydia suggests that too much choice leads to people making the wrong decisions (i.e. giving in to debauchery and sin).

"...an object of envy..."

"She's a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire, we covet her"
- The women are talking about Ofwarren, who is pregnant.
- The women can only save themselves from death by becoming pregnant.

"...taken so little time..."

"We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this"

Offred is talking about the provactive appearance of the Japanese tourists.