Summary chapters 1-7

Hey guys,


To refresh your minds: here's a summary of the first 7 chapters. While I was working on it, I noticed it was kind of too elaborate. So I am sorry, but next time, I will just give you a quick overview of the rest of the book! Otherwise, it takes so long to read, and nobody has ever been attracted to reading long, very long texts (right?).
Hope it helps!

Love, Iris

1. Night

The narrator (Offred) starts the book with telling about the past; how she and other women slept in what had once been the gymnasium. They were not allowed to speak with each other, and Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Sara patrolled as they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts. The Aunts were not allowed to have guns, only the Angels were. The Angels stood outside with their back to the women when they had their twice a day walk around the football field.  As the women were not allowed to speak to one another, they learned to whisper without sound and lip-read. That way, they exchanged names.



2. Shopping

The chapter starts with Offred describing the room she lives in now. It has white curtains, a chair and a braided rug. Above the chair is a framed picture but without glass. Also, the window is shatterproof and can only open partly. Aunt Lydia used to say that where they are is not a prison, but a privilege. She can measure time by the bells that are ringing. Offred gets dressed in complete red, except for the white wings around her face (which keep her from seeing and being seen), as she is a handmaid. She walks through the hallway, descends the stairs and goes to the kitchen, where Rita, a Martha, is busy making bread. Once, when Offred was listening outside closed doors, she heard Rita say that she would never lower herself to such a position as a handmaid. Cora, another Martha, replied that what Offred is doing, is beneficial for all of the women and that she did not have any other choice.

Offred would like to talk to Cora and Rita and hear their gossip, but she is not allowed to ‘fraternize’ with the Marthas. Rita gives Offred tokens which have pictures on them for which they can be traded, like eggs, cheese and steaks.

Offred leaves the house at the back door into the garden, which is the domain of the Commander’s Wife.  Usually, the Wife sits in the garden and knits. Offred heard that the Wives knit scarves for the Angels at the front lines, but she doubts whether the scarves are used or whether they just give the Wives something useful to do. Offred thinks about the first time she entered this house, and she hoped that the new Wife would be different from the previous one. But when they met, the Wife made clear immediately that Offred must stay out of sight as much as possible, and that the Commander would be her husband forever. As she talks to Offred, the Wife smokes a cigarette, which is an item from the black market. Handmaids are not allowed cigarettes, coffee and alcohol. Eventually, Offred recognizes the Wife as Serena Joy, who used to be a soprano in the Growing Souls Gospels Hour, a Sunday morning programme which Offred used to watch as a child.

As Offred leaves the house and goes shopping, Nick, a guardian of the Commander, winks at her while he is washing the car. This is illegal, so Offred ignores him, as she is afraid that he is testing her and might be an Eye. At the corner of the street, she waits for another handmaid, Ofglen. Handmaids must walk in pairs when shopping, as that way they can check each other. Offred and Ofglen arrive at a checkpoint with two Guardians. The Guardians at the checkpoints are too old, too young, or unfit for the army. The young Guardians are often very nervous and fanatical. Offred heard Rita and Cora talking about young Guardians which had recently shot a Martha when she was trying to get her pass out of her pocket. The Guardians thought she had a bomb so they shoot her. Guardians are not allowed to marry without permission, and as masturbation is a sin, and pornographic films and magazines are forbidden, they must be yearning for sex. Only when they become Angels they will be allotted a wife. When Offred walks away from the checkpoint, she moves her hips a little, as she knows the Guardians are watching her. She enjoys this little power.

As Offred and Ofglen walk into town, Offred thinks about how things were in the pre-Gilead period. Women had to be careful and not open their doors for strangers. Nowadays, no one whistles or speaks to them. Aunt Lydia said that there is more than one kind of freedom. Back in the days, it was freedom to. Now they are given freedom from. The shops are named by pictures of meat or fruit, as handmaids are not allowed to read. When Offred and Ofglen are in the shop waiting for their groceries, another handmaid named Ofwarren enters the shop. She is in her latest phase of pregnancy, and is probably only coming to the shop to show off with her pregnancy. The handmaid’s former name was Janine, as Offred remembers she was in the red centre too. Janine used to be one of Aunt Lydia’s favourites. Offred think about her husband Luke, her daughter and the life they had together. Offred used to save plastic bags in the kitchen, of which Luke disapproved, as their daughter could put one over her head while playing. Offred felt guilty for being so careless. When Offred and Ofglen go outside, a group of Japanese tourists want to take a photograph, but Offred says no. Offred and Ofglen envy the Japanese women, with their ‘naked’ legs, their high heels and their polished toenails. If the tourists ask whether they are happy, Offred replies that they are very happy, as handmaids must not be immodest.

When they are done shopping, Ofglen suggests that they could walk by the church. On the other side of the street, opposite of the church is the Wall. The leaders of Gilead hang dead bodies of political criminals on there, with plastic bags covering their heads. One of the bags has a trace of blood on it, as if it were a red smile. All of the six bodies have a sign of a foetus on their neck, which means they performed abortion before Gilead was formed (as they were doctors). While looking at the bodies, Offred feels relieved as none of them is Luke, as he was not a doctor. Offred remembers that Aunt Lydia used to say how something which seems not ordinary to you, will become ordinary eventually.


3. Night

The night is Offred’s time alone, as she can do whatever she wants as long as she lays still. She thinks about her former life, moments with her friend Moira, going with her mom to the park. At the park, her mother and other people were burning pornography magazines. There is a huge period of time in her life of which she can remember almost nothing. She thinks it has to do with the medication they gave her. She solely remembers waking up in a hospital bed, screaming and asking what they had done to her daughter. They told her she was not able to raise her daughter, and that others now took care of her. She was showed a photograph of her child, wearing a white dress and holding the hand of an unknown woman. Offred makes up an imaginary you, to which she is telling the story, as it is forbidden for her to write it down.