9.1.15

Chapters 29 & 30

Test yourself

Chapter 29 - Key Quotations

Here are three key quotations from Chapter 29:

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Key quotations

  • "My red shoes are off"
    • Part of the Handmaid's uniform and symbolic of male oppression.
  • "Pen Is Envy"
    • A pun on the Freudian theory of 'penis envy' - that girls feel jealous of boys after realising they don't have a penis.
    • In Gilead, women envy men's ability to read and write.
  • If your dog dies, get another"
    • Offred knows she is expendable.

Chapter 30 - Key Quotations

Here are five key quotations from Chapter 30:

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Key quotations

  • "One and one and one and one doesn't equal four. Each one remains unique"
    • Offred believes in individuality, even though Gilead tries to get rid of individuality.
  • "They force you to kill, within yourself"
    • This is similar to Orwell's 1984, where people face their greatest fears in Room 101 and denounce their loved ones because they're desperate to be spared.
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Key quotations (cont.)

  • "The Eyes of God run all over the earth"
    • The Eyes = Gilead's secret police.
    • The quotation comes from Zechariah 4:10 - ‘the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth'. The Commander has already used this phrase to signal that prayer is over.
  • "Hell we can make for ourselves"
    • Offred knows that humans can make their own lives and others' lives Hell.
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Key quotations (cont.)

  • "Deliver us from evil"
    • Taken from the Lord's Prayer. The end of Chapter 30 is an adaptation of the Lord's Prayer.
    • Does Offred mean 'don't let me consider suicide', or 'suicide would be the solution for escaping evil'?

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

9Recap: Main Quotes

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