Plot summary - The Handmaid’s Tale

Section Important events summary Important ideas / points

I. ● The narrator, ‘Offred’, is describing a flashback of her time in ● The only chapter written in past tense (a memory)
Night an internment camp - an old gymnasium that has been ● Fearful atmosphere is set up - barbed wire, army cots, guns and
(p.1-2) converted into the ‘Red Centre’ (re-education / indoctrination) cattle prods. The women are not allowed to freely talk to each
centre. other.
● The act of defiance is to pass each other’s real names around.
We do not learn the narrator’s real name.
● Unfamiliar - neologisms like ‘Angels’ set up the strange world and
allude to religion.

II. ● Offred recounts when she met the Commander’s wife - a ● Offred’s room seems innocuous although is missing things that
Shoppi gospel singer from the time before everything ‘went down’. would enable suicide - no breakable glass, nothing to hang a
ng ● Offred first sees Nick and wonders if he is an ‘Eye’ (a spy) noose from, windows that don’t open fully. Ominous, oppressive
(p.3-34) ● Offred meets up with Ofglen and goes shopping in the heavily atmosphere.
militarised centre of town. She is guarded and not sure if she ● There is a lot of physical description - facial features, colours
can trust her. (blue dress)
● Walking past the wall, the Handmaids see doctors who were ● Symbolism - colours, flours, eggs.
executed for performing abortions in the past (retroactively ● There is a lot of sexual tension present - the soldiers don’t have
punished) access to women and Offred knows it…
● Biblical references abound - names of professions (‘Angels’),
cars (‘Chariot’) and shops (‘Milk and Honey’), even the country
itself (‘Gilead’)
● In Gilead, society completely controls women - physical
appearance, bodies, even their minds
● The location of the town is near Harvard University - this is
significant for two reasons. First, this area was first settled by the
Puritans - a fundamentalist religious group who had an extremely
strong interpretation of religion. Second, universities are centres
of knowledge and learning - this is ironic considering the society
of the book no longer educates people (keep them ‘dumb’ to
control them).

III. ● Offred remembers things at night time, lying in her bed. ● Jumping between three different memories is a sign that Offred is
Night ● She remembers talking to her friend Moira in her dorm room at not altogether ‘with it’. She implies that she can’t remember
(p.35- College. things well and can’t tell the passage of time, whether due to
38) ● She remembers being a child at a lake with her mother, drugs given to her or otherwise.
 watching a group of people burning pornographic magazines. ● The women burning the magazines are not religious extremists
● She remembers her own daughter, who seems to have been but rather extreme feminists - the narrator is implying that all
taken from her and given to someone else forms of extremism are bad.

IV. ● Offred’s Handmaid partner, Ofglen, seems to be very ● Offred addresses the reader as ‘you’. She is constantly talking
Waiting interested in the wall. She sends Offred a subtle message about the act of storytelling - her act of defiance?
Room ‘Mayday’. Ofglen also returns home to Rita’s scorn and a ● The power of the patriarchy is clear - it is illegal to say that men
(p.39- forbidden meeting with the Commander. are ‘sterile’; instead it is the women’s fault (‘barren’)
64) ● Offred recounts a memory - her affair with Luke (he was ● Offred is isolated and lonely - she has no one to talk to and has
already married). She also recounts her exploration and nothing to read (it is illegal for women to read).
discovery of a secret message left to her by the previous
Handmaid.
● Offred visits the doctor who checks her health. He offers to
impregnate her: ‘You don’t have much time left’
● Offred has a bath in preparation for the evening and
remembers her daughter. Someone tried to abduct her once.

V. ● Offred is bored after dinner and remembers seeing pictures of ● The memory of Janine at the indoctrination is harrowing: she was
Nap ancient harems, wondering if the painters realised how boring it gang-raped at 14 and had an abortion though they blame her for
(p.65- would have been for the women. it (‘She led them on’)
72) ● She also recounts a memory at the Red Centre, meeting Moira ● The women are turned against each other by Gilead - again both
and the blame they put on Janine for being raped. the ‘pro-feminist’ and ‘anti-feminist’ ideas seem to be involved
● She also remembers a time three years ago, trying to escape somehow in this story.
with her daughter. The soldiers caught her and took her
daughter away.

VI. Important Events: Important Ideas

Househ
old ● The narrator tries not to believe the news anchor, who looks
(p.73- like a nice old man. He says a spy ring has been cracked and
96) Quakers have been captured. This is followed by an image of
Detroit, where over 3,000 people are being resettled – the
narrator doesn't know why.

● In the flashback the narrator has a real name. She doesn't

reveal what it is, but it's not the same as her name in this
 household: Offred. She treasures her old name and hopes to
have it back someday.
● The narrator tries not to cry while she remembers herself and
Luke trying to escape with their daughter. They said they were
going on a picnic, but actually they have forged papers and are
trying to cross the border. This is illegal and very dangerous.
● They play a record version of a man speaking because women
are not allowed to read.
● Narrator meets Moira in the bathroom and this is where her
rebelliousness is shown to the narrator when she wants to fake
being sick.

VII. Important Events:

Night
(p.97-
100)

VIII. Important Events/Summary Important Ideas

Birth ● Offred and Ofglen are walking back after shopping and sees
Day three bodies on the wall. They were hung due to homosexual ● We learn that homosexuality is illegal in Gilead.
(p.101- acts. ● The scene of the funeral emphasizes how difficult it is to give
136) ● They meet a funeral procession, where an Econowife is birth to a healthy baby.
carrying a small black jar. Inside the jar is an unbaby, from an ● Even Serena, a person who stands in a high position in the
early miscarriage. We find out that the Econowives don’t like hierarchy is still restricted from many rights. The irony of Serena
the Handmaids. being confined in her house.
● We learn how Serena Joy became a spokesperson after her
singing career, and she encouraged women to stay home
instead of work “the sanctity of the home”. She was almost
killed, however her secretary was shot instead.

IX. ● Offred remembers examining the room of the Commander’s

Night house. What Offred thinks as she examines the room can be
(p.137- seen “how could they have overlooked the hooks? Why didn’t
142) they remove them?”
● A scratch on the floor is found. Nolite te bastardes
carborundorum. which was made from the previous Handmaid

X. Important Events Important Ideas

Soul 25- Offred asks the Commander for a hand lotion, Offred gets provoked 25- Commander’s view is clearly shown by the reaction he took on the
Scrolls by when the Commander laughs after hearing that Handmaids use lifestyle the Handmaids have. It highlights lack of empathy towards the
(p.143- butter to keep their skin moist. She uses the lotion, however, shes Handmaids from his laugh.
186) leaves it in his office so that it will not be found in her room. 27-
26-Another ceremony. The Narrator feels embarrassed for hanging out 26-
with the Commander, as it turns out that Offred has a friendship with Narrator is still afraid of Serena Joy finding out about the relation with the
the Commander. The Narrator is afraid of Serena Joy because if she Commander. The narrator rethinks about what she is to the Commander,
finds about what has been going on, she has the authority to expel her and realizes that she is only his mistress. However, she likes being
and transfer her to the colonies. treated as an object for fertility, because it reminds her that she is not
A flashback to Aunt Lydia telling the handmaids that in a few years the [Link]
conditions will improve and telling the handmaids that in a few years
time, the conditions will improve and will reach an acceptable level.
27-Offred goes shopping with Ofglen. The women are hot and tired
after shopping and look at the wall, where there were no executed
people.
Offred believes Luke is imprisoned on the other side of the Wall.
Library is forbidden
There is store called Soul Scrolls, where you can buy prayers.
Ofglen asks Offred whether the prayers from the machines reach god.
They realise that they can talk openly to each other.
Two Eyes (spies) grab a man off the street, beat him, and take him
away in a black van. The narrator is just glad they didn't grab her.
28-
29-

XI. 30-
Night
(p.187-
192)
XII. Important Events - Prayvaganza shows how church and state are now one entity
Jezebel’ - Offred attends a Prayvaganza, mass weddings for the Wives’ - Commander justifies the marriage process in Gilead (critique of
s daughters our current society) but Offred points out importance of love
(p.192- - Serena Joy arranges for Offred and Nick to sleep together - Commander is a hypocrite + he has feelings for Offred
256) - Commander takes Offred to Jezebel’s - Moira stopped ‘fighting’ → Offred disappointed, embodies
- She meets Moira at Jezebel’s the Republic’s ability to crush even the strongest spirit
- Serena Joy gives Offred a cigarette - Cigarette is associated with Offred’s freedom and time before.

XIII. - Serena Joy comes in at midnight and tells her to go to Nick - -Offred likes Nick + feels ashamed because for the first time, she
Night - She tells her story twice - first story is romantic and passionate feels like she is cheating on Luke (even though she had slept
(p.257- - Second story is more awkward, full of sadness for the old times with other men before, she had no feelings for them, and it was
262) - “No romance, okay?” just ‘practical’)
- Offred feels she betrayed Luke and thinks about what - relationship with Nick and the Commander is juxtaposed
happened to Luke (if he is dead or still alive) (forced sex vs sex by choice) → scene with Nick is
narrated in a elegaic tone, and his request reminds them
that they cannot have love in Gilead
-

XIV.
Salvagi
ng
(p.263-
286)

XV. -offered waits in her room for something to happen - Not afraid of what happens, because anything will let her out of
Night -it is night the current situation
(p.287- -Offred is thinking of what she should do now- whether she should just - Nick calls her by her real name for the first time
291) kill herself or even Serena Joy or go to Nick .. nothing really matters to - Commander and Serena Joy feels sorry and upset. For once, a
her and these seem like good options sense of unity within the household.
-looks out of the window and imagines winter - Rita and Cora also is upset. Characters and audience is aligned
-a black van is coming for her and she is thinking that she should have with same emotion of guilt and irritation, because we understand
grabbed a weapon but she did not in the end that the totalitarian rules are impossible to fully follow.
-Nick calls her by real name
-she does not know whether to believe Nick or not - Cliff hanger ending lets audience to imagine the future.
-Two eyes escort her down the stairs
-Commander seems sad but he is trying to keep his distance
 - the men take the narrator out to the van and she gets in, not knowing
whether shes about to be rescued or killed

Historic -Lecture which summarizes the novel but also gives insight into future - Insensitivity and ignorance of history of Gilead/\, which may also
al Notes events. be a criticism of modern day educational systems.
-Uses recordings of Offreds thoughts. - The “open mindedness” to not judge the culture of Gilead is
-Investigates the whereabout of the narrator and other characters. offensive to the reader, because we know about Offred’s
experience and how oppressive the regime was. Keeping an
open mind justifies cruel acts by the government. “Gileadean
society was under a good deal of pressure, demographic and
otherwise, and was subject to factors from which we ourselves
are happily more free. Our job is not to censure but to
understand.” (page 297)