Offred Quotes

1436 Words6 Pages
• “I think about Laundromats. What I wore to them: shorts, jeans, jogging pants. What I put into them: my own clothes, my own soap, my own money, money I had earned myself.” (Atwood 123) • Offred is sitting in her room at the Commander’s house having a flashback to her previous life. She reminisces about how she used to do laundry and other daily chores which is prohibited for her to do now. She regrets taking such little freedom she had, for granted. • Offred (the narrator) regrets the lack of mundane activities, like being able to do laundry or having ridiculous fights with her husband. Some of the smallest things in her previous life which she took for granted have now become profound. Such a simple task as doing her own laundry represents…show more content…
I would like to shameless. I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was.” (Atwood 263) • Offred has just returned home after her trip to Jezebel and is disappointed in herself. After everything she has gone through, she cannot believe how far she has come to be at this point in her life. Offred reflects on her decisions and actions and thinks to herself. • Offred feels that she is becoming a new person. She is doing things which her old self would never do. She wishes to be shameless and ignorant to help protect her from acknowledging her past and to hide her accountability for her own actions. Offred wants to be shameless/ignorant to help her cope psychologically and face the reality that everything around her is…show more content…
It's also a story I'm telling, in my head, as I go along. Tell, rather than write, because I have nothing to write with and writing is in any case forbidden. But if it's a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don't tell a story only to yourself. There's always someone else.” (Atwood 182) • In this scene Offred thinking to herself and looking back at her life so far as a Handmaid. She feels that her life is a story she wishes to share with people yet it’s not a true story since it’s not written down on paper. The right of language for Handmaids is prohibited yet Offred believes she is sharing her story with someone out of her loneliness of being a Handmaid. • Offred explains how her life story isn’t a true story as nothing is permanently written; she is just reciting memories in her head. Since writing and reading in prohibited, Offred feels she cannot share her experiences with other people as they would not believe her; it’s not a real story if it’s not written down. However, she feels that she must be talking to somebody because you always share stories with other people. This shows how lonely Offred is and how she wishes to share her story and experiences with people, if only she was able to document
Open Document