Summary: Chapter 26
Now that Offred has a friendship with the Commander, she
feels embarrassed about having sex with him during the Ceremony. Offred
still hates Serena, but she also feels jealous of her, and guilty, since
she realizes that she is now the Commander’s mistress despite the
absence of any covert sexual activity between them. If Serena were
to find out what was going on, she could expel Offred. Once, the
Commander almost touches Offred’s face during the Ceremony, and
she later tells him never to touch her because Serena could transfer
her to the Colonies. He says he finds sex impersonal, and she asks him
how long it took him to figure that out. She is becoming more comfortable
with him. Offred remembers Aunt Lydia telling the Handmaids that
the population would eventually reach an acceptable level, at which
point the Handmaids would live in only one household, instead of
getting transferred, and Handmaids would become like daughters to
the Wives.
Summary: Chapter 27
Ofglen and Offred, now more comfortable with one another,
continue to make their shopping trips. The fish store, Loaves and
Fishes, rarely opens now, because the seas have become so polluted
that few fish still live in them. They continue to visit the Wall,
and Offred wonders if Luke is imprisoned behind the Wall in the
place that used to be a university and now serves as a detention
center. On one of their return trips, Ofglen and Offred stop at
a store called Soul Scrolls. Inside, humming machines print prayers.
Many of the Wives phone in orders for prayers in order to signal
their piety. After the prayers are printed, the paper is recycled
and used again.
Suddenly, Ofglen whispers to Offred, asking her whether
she believes God actually listens to the machines. Ofglen’s question
is treasonous, but Offred decides to trust Ofglen and answers, “No.” The
two women realize they can trust one another. Offred is tremendously
excited. She learns that Ofglen is part of a group of subversives.
As they walk home, a dark black van painted with a white-winged
eye, the symbol of the Eyes, stops abruptly. Offred thinks perhaps
her conversation with Ofglen was recorded, but the two Eyes who
jump out grab a man carrying a briefcase. They drag him into the
vehicle and drive away, and Offred feels tremendous relief.
Summary: Chapter 28
Offred recalls how Moira disapproved of her affair with
Luke, saying that Offred was poaching on another woman’s property.
We learn that Moira was a lesbian. Offred accused Moira of poaching women,
and Moira says it is different with women. It is hot in Offred’s
room, and she has been given a fan. She muses that if she were Moira,
she would know how to take the fan apart and use the blades as a
weapon. She thinks of how strange it now seems to her that women
used to have jobs.
Offred remembers the fall of the United States and the
creation of Gilead. First, the president was shot and Congress was
machine-gunned; then the army declared a state of emergency, telling
everyone to remain calm. Islamic fanatics were falsely blamed for
the -execution of the entire government. The Constitution was suspended.
In shock, people stayed at home and watched their televisions. At
this point, Moira warned Offred that something terrible was going
to happen. Slowly, the newspapers were censored and roadblocks appeared,
and soon everyone had to carry an Identipass. There was a crackdown
on smut of all kinds: the “Pornomarts” shut down, and the “Feels-on-Wheels
vans” and “Bun-dle Buggies” disappeared.
In Offred’s pre-Gilead days, paper money had been replaced
by Compucards that accessed bank accounts directly. One day after
the fall of the government, Offred tried to use her Compucard in
the local store, and her number was declared invalid. She went to
her job at the library, phoned her bank, and got a recording stating
that the lines were overloaded. Later that afternoon, her boss appeared looking
disheveled and distraught. He told Offred and her female coworkers
that he had to fire them, because it was the law. The women had
to leave within ten minutes. Two men wearing army uniforms and carrying
machine guns watched over the procedure.
