Chapter 15
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 2.6.2
Chapter 15 - Summary
The Ceremony starts as the Commander arrives in the sitting room and sits down. He opens a Bible that is normally locked away and kept especially for this occasion.
Commander's stories
- He starts to read them stories about the importance of having children. Everyone listens as they are not permitted to read.
- Offred remembers hearing similar stories when she was in the Red Centre. She wonders how many of them have been changed by Gilead to fit their propaganda.
- Offred remembers Moira telling her how she planned to escape by pretending to be ill.
Ceremony ends
- As the first part of the Ceremony ends, Serena Joy starts to cry quietly and Offred repeats "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum", even though she doesn't yet know what it means.
Treatment of Moira
- The chapter ends with the gruesome description of what happened to Moira when she was found out to be faking an illness.
- Offred remembers her being brought back into the centre, carried under the arms. She had her feet beaten so badly she couldn't stand, and the other Handmaids would steal bags of sugar from their meal times to give to her because it was the only thing they could think of to take.
Chapter 15 - Key Quotations
Here are four key quotations from Chapter 15:
"An incendiary device"
- Like in many totalitarian regimes, books are banned in Gilead.
- In the Middle Ages, the Church in Europe did not allow the Bible to be translated into the vernacular, which meant laymen couldn't read it.
- Offred is aware that the Handmaids accessing words would threaten the Gilead authorities.
- It's clear that the Gilead authorities misuse and pervert the Bible to justify their evil intentions.
"It must be hell"
- "Still, it must be hell, to be a man, like that. It must be just fine. It must be hell. It must be very silent.”
- Offred is aware that the Commander, like the women he controls, is a victim of the regime in Gilead.
"Blessed are the meek"
- “Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the silent. I knew they made that up, I knew it was wrong, and they left things out too.”
- Offred is aware of how the Gilead authorities adapt the Bible for their own purposes.
The Eyes
- "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth"
- The Commander ends the prayers by reminding the women that the Eyes - the state spies - are constantly watching them.
- This quotation is taken from Zechariah 4:10.
Test yourself on Chapter 15
What does the Commander open as he arrives at the Ceremony?
What does the Commander read the Handmaids stories about?
Where is this quotation taken from?
"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth"