Summary: Chapter 22
Driving back from the birth, Offred remembers Moira’s
escape from the Red Center. Moira caused a toilet to overflow, and
while Aunt Elizabeth tried to fix it, Moira jabbed a metal object
into Aunt Elizabeth’s ribs and forced her into the furnace room.
The object was a long lever from the toilet, but Aunt Elizabeth
thought it was a knife. After exchanging clothing with Aunt Elizabeth
and tying her up, Moira boldly walked out of the center using Aunt
Elizabeth’s pass. No one has seen Moira or heard from her since
then.
Summary: Chapter 23
At home, Offred tells Cora about the child, and the Martha expresses
her hope that “they” (meaning Offred) will have a child soon. That
night, Offred sneaks out of her room and meets the Commander in
his office. She braces herself for a forced physical advance. If
Serena were to discover that Offred was with the Commander in his
study, she could be sent to the Colonies as an Unwoman. But if she
were to refuse the Commander, there could be even more dire consequences,
because he has the real power in the household. Offred eyes the
walls of the study, which are filled with books. The Commander greets
her in the old way, by saying “Hello,” and Offred doesn’t know how
to reply. To her surprise, the Commander merely asks her to play
a game of Scrabble. This is forbidden, since any kind of reading
is forbidden to women. They play two games, and the game feels luxurious
to Offred. As she is about to leave, the Commander asks her for
a kiss. She imagines coming to his study again with a piece of metal
from the toilet, as Moira did, putting her arms around him and killing
him. She kisses him, and he says sadly he wanted her to kiss him
“‘as if [she] meant it.’”
Summary: Chapter 24
How easy it is to invent a humanity,
for anyone at all. What an available temptation.
See Important Quotations Explained
After leaving the Commander and returning to her room,
Offred decides she has to forget her old name and her past; she
needs to live in the present and work within its rules. The Commander’s
unorthodox behavior allows her a chance to get something from him.
She remembers that underneath all of Aunt Lydia’s speeches, the
real message seemed to be that men are “sex machines” and should
be manipulated with sex.
Offred recalls a documentary about the Holocaust in which
the former mistress of one of the Nazi guards was interviewed. Offred’s mother
liked to watch such historical programs, and always explained them
carefully to Offred, even when she was too young to understand.
The guard’s mistress denied knowing about the death camps and maintained
that the guard, her lover, was not a monster. Offred remembers that
the woman committed suicide just days after the interview.
Suddenly, sitting on her bed and undressing, Offred finds
the events of the night incredibly funny. Laughter threatens to
erupt, and she struggles to keep it down. In the dark, she stumbles
into the closet (she also calls it a cupboard), where the Latin
phrase nolite te bastardes carborundorum is written.
She falls asleep on the floor with her head resting in the closet.
Summary: Chapter 25
In the morning, Cora finds Offred sleeping on the floor,
and she screams and drops the breakfast tray, shattering the dishes.
Offred tells Cora she fainted. Cora covers for her and tells Rita
that she dropped the tray by accident.
