The Handmaid’s Tale

Questions Chapters 16-17

1. Why do Serena Joy and Offred hold hands during the ceremony?

2. What does Queen Victoria’s advice to her daughter signify?

3. What is the commander’s attitude during the “ceremony”?

4. Explain the following sentence: “There is loathing in her voice, as if the touch of my flesh sickens and contaminates her.”

5. Which of the two women suffers more during the “ceremony”?

6. Why does Offred hide butter in her shoe?

7. What is Offred’s hope for her future?

8. Why does Offred repeat her former name over and over?

9. Why does Offred sneak out of her room?

10.What does Nick do when he sees Offred?

11.What is Offred’s reaction to Nick’s advances?

12.Why do you think the Commander wants to see Offred?

13.Do Offred’s desires seem reasonable to you? Explain.

14.What is the punishment if Nick is found with Offred?

15.Why does Offred wish to communicate with the “next” woman?

Vocabulary

Infer the meaning of the word.

Define the word.

Paraphrase the sentence or phrase.

1. If I were to open my eyes, I would see the large white canopy of Serena’s outsized colonial style four-poster bed.

2. I would not see the carpet, which is white, or the sprigged curtains and skirted dressing table with its silver-backed brush and mirror set; only the canopy, which manages to suggest at one and the same time, by the gauziness of its fabric and its heavy downward curve, both ethereality and matter.

3. …by the gauziness of its fabric and its heavy downward curve, both ethereality and matter.

4. Arousal and orgasm are no longer thought necessary; they would be a symptom frivolity merely, like jazz garters or beauty spots.

5. …superfluous distractions for the light-minded.