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In spring, settled in a sedate, suicide-proof chamber, Offred, who is conditioned to accept her lot as a Handmaid as though it were a commission in the army, endures a prissy, overly feminized environment run by women. Her red habit, matched with stockings and gloves and topped with white blinders, isolates her from society as she shops daily for groceries. She sets her goals at unattainable levels — not to think too much so that she can survive repression. Although she longs for feminine companionship and conversation, Offred tries to avoid Serena Joy, the Commander’s testy, envious Wife. Undercurrents of murder, assault, and stillbirth float by in the gossip of Marthas, females who guard the household.
To Serena Joy, who has passed her reproductive years, Offred is both “reproach” and “necessity.” Five weeks previous to the opening scene, Offred arrived by staff car at the Commander’s front door, which Serena blocked in a frail show of domestic dominance. On admittance to the family sitting room, Offred perched on a stiff chair as Serena, cold and nervous, stubbed out black-market cigarettes while outlining house rules: “I want to see as little of you as possible.” To Offred, the arrangement was a “business transaction.”
On her walk toward the rendezvous with the obligatory second Handmaid, Offred passes Nick, the Commander’s cocky chauffeur, who polishes the family Whirlwind; he winks provocatively at Offred. Her reaction is a blend of annoyance and caution. She could report him for insolence, but she fears that he is an Eye, or police spy. At the corner, Offred joins Ofglen, a pious, pro-army disciple of Gileadism who, two weeks earlier, replaced a Handmaid who disappeared inexplicably. Checkpoint guards authenticate street passes by punching in identification numbers on Compuchek. A youthful guard peers at Offred’s hidden features and blushes.
The town, so over-regulated and devoid of humanity that it looks like a miniature city, lacks crime, sidewalk litter, and a semblance of normal human habitation. The austere landscape sets Offred on a memory tour of the past, when she shopped with her earnings and wore nail polish and her own clothes. Waiting in line for service at the local market, she observes the stir that accompanies the arrival of Janine, a vain Handmaid who is “vastly pregnant.” Again on the streets, Offred walks with Ofglen past the church and the Wall, where six bodies of former abortionists hang like war criminals, reminders of that morning’s Men’s Salvaging ceremony.
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