The Handmaid's Tale - Plot - Part 3/4

Chapter 25 The next morning, Cora finds Offred asleep in the closet, where she had dozed off. Cora thinks it a suicide and drops a tray in surprise. But Offred awakes and they conspire to cover the mishap.  Offred explains her ongoing relationship with Fred, who she noe visits several times a week. During these events, they play Scrabble and she is permitted to read from his extensive collection of banned literature. Using her new position of influence, Offred asks for hand-cream. He provides.  Their nature of their relationship is strangely banal. Offred is to provide the understanding that his wife no longer can. 

Chapter 26 By the time of the next night of the Ceremony, the relationship has changed between Fred, Serena and Offred. The handmaid can no longer objectify the commander as she had previously done. For Serena, she cannot feel simple hate for either, in her knowledge that she is  really playing the role of the 'other woman' now. Offred feels guilty, despite these people being the architects of a system that has taken everything from her.  Fred is carelessly familiar, reaching out to touch her face. Offred knows that one wrong move and she will be sent to the dreaded colonies, where 'unwomen' are made to work in the wasteland. 

Chapter 27 Summertime. Offred takes her daily walk with the seemingly devout Ofglen. They pass a place called Soul Scrolls. This is an automated prayer company. The wives telephone their order and a machine recites the requisite prayer.  Ofglen takes a chance and asks whether Offred believes God is listening. A sacreligious question. The ice broken between them, Offred learns of a covert resistance within the Handmaids.  As they talk, a van speeds to their area. It screeches to a halt. It has the mark of The Eyes, the secret police. They fear they have been caught, but the Eyes grab a man off the streets instead. It is not safe here.

Chapter 28 'We are not each other’s, any more. Instead, I am his.' Offred remembers the early days of the new order. After the catastrophe (presumably earthquakes), things moved quickly. Bank accounts belonging to women were frozen. Their funds could only be accessed by a male. A massacre took place in Congress - the US President and all leaders in an attack they blamed on Islamic extremists.  Newspapers were censored. Borders were closed. Pornographers were put out of business. Dissenters were arrested. Minorities were marginalized. Women were fired from their jobs. Protests were quashed. Offred remembers being vaguely patronized by Luke. After all, nothing was taken away from him. Maybe he liked it.

Chapter 29 'If your dog dies, get another.' Offred is with the commander. She begins to question his past. He claims to be an ordinary guy, who once worked in Market Research , and then 'sort of branched out.' This confirms his role in the conception of Gilead. More so, it hints that this society was deemed one that the populace would find to be palatable, perhaps even attractive, to the men who would live there.  She asks about the latin Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Offred realizes that this room was the source of the message (Don't let the bastards grind you down). The previous handmaid had killed herself, after carving the words. Serena had discovered their 'affair'. The very same arrangement that now took place between Fred and the new Offred.

Chapter 30 'What we prayed for was emptiness, so we would be worthy to be filled: with grace, with love, with self-denial, semen and babies..' Watching Nick, Offred thinks back to the last night with Luke. They had tried to be so careful. But they had forgotten about their cat. They could not take it. They could not leave it. Luke said he would take care of 'it'. They were still caught.  Offred prays to God. Not to the God of Gilead, but a God that she believes exists. A more benevolent God. One who may deliver them from this state. She thinks of suicide as a way out. She doesn't know if anyone is listening. She is low. She is lonely.

Chapter 31 Ofglen and Offred walk together. On the wall hang two men. the crime of one is being a catholic. The second has only a 'J' to identify him. Perhaps a Jesuit or a Jahovah's witness, she thinks. Ofglen talks more about the network. 'MayDay' is their code-word.  Home, Serena calls her over. She wonders if her husband is infertile. A blasphemous thought. Serena suggests Offred gets pregnant by other means. Nick.  If they are caught, it means death. If she refuses, it may mean her death. She has no choice but to agree. Thankfully, she is attracted to Nick.  Serena offers Offred a cigarette. She tells her to retrieve a match from Rita. She also explains how she might be able to retrieve information about the taken daughter.

Chapter 32 With the match, Offred contemplates her ability to burn the house down. This is a form of power. She thinks back to the previous evening with the commander. He talks more about the beginnings of Gilead: 'The main problem was with the men. There was nothing for them any more...[an] Inability to feel...Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.' Gilead is a uniquely American construction -  a society based on market research, constructed to satisfy the 'needs' of men, like a shaving foam, or automobile might.  Once again, Offred contemplates suicide as a means of escape. 

Chapter 33 'Not a dandelion in sight here, the lawns are picked clean' The handmaids are called to a Prayvaganza - a religious gathering where there is an opportunity to talk in secret. Ofglen tells of Janine, whose baby has died. Hysterical, she believes she is being punished by God for using a doctor to inseminate her.  Offred remembers Janine from the training. One day, she became hysterical and imagined she was reliving her old life as a waitress. Before the Aunts noticed, someone had to do something. Moira, still sore from her 1st escape attempt, intervened and slapped Janine until she made sense. Offred realizes that, even then, she was planning her real escape.

Chapter 34 'Is anything wrong, dear? the old joke went. No, why? You moved.' The Prayvaganza hosts a mass wedding. These are arranged marriages between Angels and the young brides chosen to reward them. Love is no longer a factor in marriage. The commander once explained how most societies never valued love as a requisite for wedlock.  At the end of the ceremony, Ofglen attempts to co-opt Offred into the resistance. She says they know of the affair and tasks her to find out anything that she can.

Chapter 35 Offred thinks about the past. About Luke. About love. How they took it for granted. Like it was in some way mundane.  Love, in a way, was the engine for the birth of Gilead. Enough horror stories in the news about loved-ones being found in ditches and freezers caused a suitable amount of fear. Fear of loss. She cries at the loss of love. There is a knock at the door. Instead of Cora, Serena has brought her tray. Also a polaroid. It is Offred's daughter. She is older now. Nearly 8. It is heartbreaking to see her. To know that, to her daughter, she is merely  'A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become.'

Chapter 36 In the commander's office, Fred tells her he has a surprise. He wants Offred to perform a role-play. He has a gift. Sleazy lingerie. Make-up. She is told to get ready. She dresses. He then provides one of Serena's cloaks to cover. Under cover of night and with Nick as their driver they get in the car. At the first checkpoint, the Angels think it is a wife. At the second, Offred must hide on the floor of the car. She guesses that this is something Fred has done before, with her predecessor. They drive to a club for commanders - Jezebels. Fred gives her a property tag to wear on her wrist. If anyone asks, he says, say you're an evening rental.