“something could be exchanged … some deal made, some trade-off, we still had our bodies.” (p.14)
“red shoes… red gloves… everything except the wings around my face is red: the colour of blood, which defines us.” (p.18)
“”blessed be the fruit” said cara grove to ofglen” (p.46) jade pall smells like a nostril
“jade smells like a fart in church.” this shows that the handmaids were confined due to their lack of being able to fart in church.
“the white wings too are prescribed issue… keep us from seeing, but also from being seen.” (p.18)
“myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairytale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment of carelessness that is the same as danger” (p.19)
“a Sister, dripped in blood” (p.19)
“it’s the red dress she disapproves of, what it stands for … I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck.” (p.19)
“a shape, red with white wings around the face, a shape like mine, a nondescript woman in red carrying a basket” (p.28)
“looking down the white tunnels of cloth that enclose us” (p.29)
“they are supposed to show us respect, because of the nature of our service” (p.31)
“...permit him beyond my white wings … peel off my red shroud and show myself to him” (p.31)
“allotted a Handmaid of their own” (p.32)
“permitted to touch women” (p.32)
“I move my hips a little, feeling the full red skirt sway around me” (p.32) “I enjoy the power”
“there is more than one kind of freedom … freedom to and freedom from” (p.34”
“it’s a long time since I’ve seen skirts that short on women” (p.38) “nearly naked in their thin stockings”
“high-heeled shoes … like delicate instruments of torture” (p.38)
“lipsticks, red, outlining the damp cavities of their mouths” (p.38)
“fascinated, but also repelled … they seem undressed” (p.38)
“I