Chapter 9
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 2.4.2
Chapter 9 - Summary and Key Quotations
Offred says her room is starting to feel like her own private space. She thinks about the secret adulterous liaisons she and Luke used to have in hotel rooms while he was still married.
The previous Handmaid
- Offred also thinks about the previous Handmaid that lived in her room. She left a secret message scratched into the floor of the cupboard: "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" (Don't let the bastards grind you down).
- Offred doesn't yet know what this Latin message means but she is comforted by it. She feels she has a connection to this woman. When she asks the Marthas about her predecessor, no one will tell her what happened.
Key quotations
- "My room then. There has to be some space, finally, that I claim as mine, even in this time"
- "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum"
- "What you don't know won't hurt you, was all she would say"
Test yourself on Chapter 9
Which quotations from Chapter 9 are correct?
What did the Handmaid before Offred scratch into the cupboard floor?