Offred (main character)
What are the two games Offred plays with the Commander?
Scrabble and Chinese Checkers
Serena Joy was a singer on a Christian television programme pre-Gilead. What did she advocate for in terms of women's roles?
Women staying home
What is it about the history of Cambridge, Massachusetts that makes it a perfect place for Gilead’s power to be based?
Puritan church legacy
What technique is this: "Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison."
Repetition
Whose words are these: "It was my fault," "It was my own fault." I led them on. I deserved the pain."
Janine
What smell reminds Offred of her old life as a mother?
Yeast/freshly baked bread.
"She has slipped into her own world where she can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality." What character is Offred describing here?
Janine (after she sees her at the particution)
Why do all the shops in Gilead have pictures as titles instead of words?
They symbolize women not being able to read.
What language technique is this: “We are containers, it’s only the inside of our bodies that are important."
Metaphor
Whose words are these: "It's a beautiful May day."
Ofglen
What animal does Offred compare herself to?
A prize pig.
What does The Commander attribute many of his misogynistic attitudes to when he is explaining men's behaviour to Offred?
Nature
Where is does the symposium in the final chapter take place?
Denay, Nunavit
What language technique is this: The tulips are opening their cups, spilling out colour. The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they had been cut and are beginning to heal there.
Symbolism
'Love, don't let me catch you girls at it. Love is not the point.'
Aunt Lydia
How does Offred measure time?
Lunar cycles
How does Moira escape the Red Centre?
She threatens Aunt Elizabeth with a pointed lever from the toilet and takes her clothes and pass.
What is the only word Offred has been given to read (it is on a cushion in her room)?
Faith
What language technique is this: "Blessed are the meek. She didn't go on to say anything about inheriting the earth. Blessed be the poor... comforted."
Biblical Allusion
Whose words are these: "There was little that was truly original about Gilead: it's genius was synthesis."
Professor Pieixoto
What does Offred value, in the same way that people today value money?
Sanity
Why is Offred's marriage to Luke 'voided' in Gilead?
Because he had been divorced.
The justification for the Handmaids comes from which story in The Bible?
Rachel and Bilah
What language technique is this: "Habits are hard to break" (note: Offred says this as she is walking past a clothing shop).
Pun
Whose words are these: "If you have a lot of things....you get too attached to this material world and you forget about spiritual values"
Aunt Lydia