Chapters 17 & 18
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 9.1.9
Chapter 17 - Key Quotations
Here are four key quotations from Chapter 17:
Key quotations
- “I rub the butter over my face; work it into the skin of my hands”
- The Wives detest the Handmaids to the extent that they deprive them of basic commodities like hand cream.
- The fact that the Handmaids cant use hand cream reinforces that they only exist to be wombs.
- I want to be held and told my name"
- Offred wants to be valued and have an identity again.
Key quotations (cont.)
- I want to steal something"
- Offred's identity, husband and child have been taken from her. So she wants to assert her own power.
- "We're mirrors"
- Offred sees that, like her and Ofglen, her and Nick are in similar situations.
Chapter 18 - Key Quotations
Here are two key quotations from Chapter 18:
Key quotations
- “But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It's lack of love we die from.”
- “One of the gravestones in the cemetery near the earliest church has an anchor on it and an hourglass and the words: In Hope.”
- This reminds us of the cushions removed from Offred's room; Gilead wants to remove love and hope, which are all things that individuals feel.
Test yourself on Chapters 17 & 18
What does Offred say she wants to do in Chapter 17?
What does Offred say the Handmaids die of in Chapter 18?