2.5.1
Chapter 13
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Chapter 13 - Summary
Offred waits in her room to be called upon.
Boredom comparisons
- She says that she feels bored.
- She compares herself to boredom in other forms, like caged animals, pigs being fattened to be killed and women in paintings.
- She thinks about how she was drugged to sleep at the Red Centre. She chooses to do a pelvic floor exercise that Aunt Lydia taught her to do to prepare herself for childbirth.
Memories of Moira
- Offred then thinks about her past. She remembers Moira as a Handmaid being brought to the same room she was in.
- She remembers how they tried to hide their friendship and met secretively in the men's toilets to talk after witnessing the "Testifying" of Ofwarren (Janine) where she was blamed for confessing to being raped.
Luke and getting caught
- Her memory then changes to thinking about Luke and the first apartment they lived in.
- But the memory turns into one of her attempted escape with her daughter, and the distressing moment they got caught.
- The noise of a bell rouses her from her memory. She's aware that Cora is stood at her door.
Chapter 13 - Key Quotations
Here are five key quotations from Chapter 13:
Offred's boredom
- "These pictures [of nineteenth-century harems] were supposed to be erotic... they were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom.
But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men"- Like the women in the pictures, Offred is in "suspended animation". She is also an object. She isn't being used - and she's unable to use the parts of herself that make her a woman rather than an object.
Dancing simile
- "Behind my closed eyes thin white dancers flit gracefully among the trees, their legs fluttering like the wings of held birds".
- This simile suggests that Offred is like a dancer who is, on the one hand, very rehearsed in their job and, on the other hand, very restricted from letting go and flying free.
Loony bin
- “This is a loony bin, Moira said”
- Moira's speech is often frank and anarchic.
- Loony bin is a dysphemism for a mental hospital.
Whose fault?
- Janine … gang-raped... whose fault …?
- Atwood draws on the much-discussed issue of whether women arousing men who later rape them are in some part responsible for the rape.
- In 2005, a survey by Amnesty International found that lots of people thought a woman who was drunk or wearing revealing clothing when she was raped was responsible for the rape.
Offred's escape
- "I'm running, with her, holding her hand"
- Offred's memory of running with her daughter is very vivid as it is in the present tense.
- The reader relives Offred's fear as she and Luke try to escape with their daughter.
- Atwood creates a vivid sense of Offred's state of panic from "She's too young" to "carried away" by using one long sentence over nine lines.
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
9Recap: Main Quotes
9.1Quotes by Chapter
9.1.1Chapters 1 & 29.1.2Chapters 3 & 49.1.3Chapters 5 & 69.1.4Chapters 7 & 89.1.5Chapters 9 & 109.1.6Chapters 11 & 129.1.7Chapters 13 & 149.1.8Chapter 15 & 169.1.9Chapters 17 & 189.1.10Chapters 19 & 209.1.11Chapters 21 & 229.1.12Chapters 23 & 249.1.13Chapters 25 & 269.1.14Chapters 27 & 289.1.15Chapters 29 & 309.1.16Chapters 31 & 329.1.17Chapters 33 & 349.1.18Chapters 35 & 369.1.19Chapters 37 & 389.1.20Chapters 39 & 409.1.21Chapters 41 & 429.1.22Chapters 43 & 449.1.23Chapters 45 & 469.1.24Historical Notes & Epigraphs
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
9Recap: Main Quotes
9.1Quotes by Chapter
9.1.1Chapters 1 & 29.1.2Chapters 3 & 49.1.3Chapters 5 & 69.1.4Chapters 7 & 89.1.5Chapters 9 & 109.1.6Chapters 11 & 129.1.7Chapters 13 & 149.1.8Chapter 15 & 169.1.9Chapters 17 & 189.1.10Chapters 19 & 209.1.11Chapters 21 & 229.1.12Chapters 23 & 249.1.13Chapters 25 & 269.1.14Chapters 27 & 289.1.15Chapters 29 & 309.1.16Chapters 31 & 329.1.17Chapters 33 & 349.1.18Chapters 35 & 369.1.19Chapters 37 & 389.1.20Chapters 39 & 409.1.21Chapters 41 & 429.1.22Chapters 43 & 449.1.23Chapters 45 & 469.1.24Historical Notes & Epigraphs
Practice questions on Chapter 13
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- 1
- 2What does Offred think about in Chapter 13?True / false
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