Chapter 46
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 2.15.1
Chapter 46 - Summary and Key Quotations
After finding out about Ofglen's death and Serena Joy's revelation, Offred is sat in her room, thinking.
Nick storms Offred's room
- Offred thinks her fate is similar to that of her predecessor, who committed suicide. She counts her as her "double".
- When there is a break in the text, Offred says that she hears a van pull up outside. She expects to see strangers, working as Eyes, storm into the room to arrest her. Instead, Nick enters, dressed in uniform.
Nick come to 'save' Offred
- At first, she thinks she has been betrayed by him.
- But then he calls her by her real name and mentions Mayday. He says that they have come to save her.
- She is led away, seemingly in disgrace, to a van where she wonders whether she really is going to be saved or whether this "is my end".
- She steps into the darkness of the van to be taken away.
"Our misery... real name"
- "To put her out of her misery ... out of our misery"
- Offred sees parallels between hers and Serena Joy's dire lives.
- "My real name. Why should this mean anything?"
- Offred cherishes her "real name" as a way of keeping her identity. This cliffhanger ending means we don't know whether Nick has used Offred's real name to betray or save her.
"Darkness... the light"
- "And so I step up, into the darkness within, or else the light"
- Atwood ends on a dramatic cliffhanger. We are left to decide for ourselves whether Offred has met her end or found freedom.
Test yourself on Chapter 46
How did Offred's predecessor die?
Who is Offred referring to when she says "our misery"?