2.3.1
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 - Summary and Key Quotations
Chapter 7 - Summary and Key Quotations
The focus moves to Offred. She is on her own in bed, staring at the ceiling. She is reflecting on the connotations of the verbs "lie" and "lay".
Offred's flashbacks
Offred's flashbacks
- Offred has flashbacks to her and Moira as University students.
- Offred remembers her mother taking her to a protest when she was a child. Men and women burnt piles of pornography in public at this protest.
- She then remembers the painful moment when she was told that her daughter had been given to another family because she had been branded an "unfit" mother.
Storytelling as survival
Storytelling as survival
- In the last paragraph of the chapter, Offred convinces herself (and the reader) that she is telling a story and hopes that, if this is true, she should have power over the ending.
- It is here that the idea of storytelling as a form of survival is introduced.
Key quotations
Key quotations
- "The night is mine, my own time"
- "The difference between lie and lay. Lay is always so passive"
- "I would like to believe this is a story I am telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it"
- "If it is a story I am telling, then I have control over the ending"
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
Jump to other topics
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
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