Beginning in a flashback, Offred recalls the oppressive early days in the Racheal and Leah Center (often referred to as the Red Center). Young women still capable of bearing children are "re-educated" here, after essentially being kidnapped by the regime, in order to become Handmaids (or surrogate child-bearers) to powerful families. Aunt Lydia, in charge of the re-education efforts, dominates these flashbacks, reoccurring in a majority of the following chapters.

The reader gets a sense of what Offred and the other Handmaids went through in these early times after the coup and the establishment of the theocratic regime of Gilead. They sleep on cots in an old gymnasium, but not in complete darkness nor even alone. The Aunts, in charge of keeping these Handmaids-in-training in line, police them as they sleep. The Aunts are armed with electric cattle prods and thongs (leather straps) to keep these young women, treated both as children and animals, in line. Fear pervades their nights and days. They find opportunities in the darkness to whisper and touch each others' fingertips. In the daytime they are allowed to walk, two-by-two, around a football field to keep in shape (and to prepare them for their shopping adventures as Handmaids, introduced in the next chapter).

Now in present time within the narrative, Offred describes her immediate environment in the Commander's house, including the room where she sleeps, the path down the stairs to the kitchen, and the house workers, or "Marthas," named Rita and Cora. She establishes many of the symbols, metaphors, and motifs to come.

Her room, which she refused to call her room, is very sparse. (Aunt Lydia had told the Handmaids to think of the situation as if being in the military.) It's devoid of any glass she could use to commit suicide. The window is even shatterproof. She has a small, hard bed with a faint oval on the ceiling which might once have had a chandelier. There are very few furnishings, but notably a pillow on the seat in the window and a large cupboard for clothes. She describes the outfit she has to wear: red, flat shoes, red gloves, white wings for her head like a nun's habit, and a skirt that goes down to her ankles. She grabs a shopping basket and will meet Ofglen, another Handmaid, to walk side-by-side through town, to shop and get exercise. First she describes much of the house: a large Victorian home, a convex, fisheye mirror on the stair wall (which will be important), a grandfather clock in a hallway, a sitting room (where she is only allowed to stand and kneel during ceremonies), and flowery furnishings of a past time. She sees umbrellas that establish colors for those in the household: black for the Commander, blue for the Commander's Wife, and red for her. Before she exits the back door of the kitchen, the reader learns about the Marthas, the houseworkers, older and dressed in dull green. Cora and Rita area the Marthas in Offred's household. They are always gossiping, particularly about the Handmaids. Rita talks as if Offred had a choice to not "debase herself" by being a Handmaid but Cora says her only other choice would be the Colonies (where you'd die quickly due to cleaning up radioactive waste). Offred can't "fraternize" with them and she flashes back to when Luke, her former husband, said when women socialize it should be called "sororize," to use the feminine Latin word. Rita hands her some tokens to buy groceries in town with pictures on them of the items they're meant for.

Offred describes the back garden and the Commander's Wife, again setting up many motifs and symbols. Her flashbacks to both a previous life before the newly established country of Gilead begin, but also to the first day in the house, meeting the Commander's wife.

The back lawn has a willow tree and catkins, and the garden contains daffodils and tulips of red (and crimson, like blood, near the stem). The Commander's Wife is often here, wearing a large gardening hat with a blue veil, using gardening shears (like big scissors). She's not here now, however. Sometimes this arthritic Commander's Wife sews or knits scarves in the sitting room for the Angels (military troops). Offred flashes back to having her own garden and how time could pass quickly while gardening. Offred then flashes back to meeting this Wife for the first time, five weeks earlier. She had been brought to the front door by a military guard (called "Guardians" in Gilead) of her former Commander. She'd have to use the backdoor of the house from then on, like a marginalized servant from the 1950s) though Aunt Lydia was lobbying for Handmaids to use the front door. (It was early times in the regime and not all etiquette was yet determined. But for sure she couldn't speak until spoken to.) The Wife, smoking a cigarette she must have gotten on the black market, greeted her coldly. Offred longed for a cigarette or alcohol. The Wife acknowledged this was Offred's third household as the previous two didn't produce any children, and joked about this not being a good thing for Offred—implying she would be off to the Colonies if not able to bear a child with this Commander. Offred describes her in terms of former beauty—but very aged. And she recognized her from the time before the coup. The Wife was cold with Offred, saying this is like a business transaction, and not to call her ma'am since Offred isn't a Martha. But she wanted to see very little of Offred. She also made it emphatically clear that her husband, the Commander, was hers, not Offred's. As the chapter closes, Offred remembers who this Wife is: Serena Joy, a former star on a religious TV program who could fake cry with the best of them. Knowing she was under the roof with Serena Joy troubles Offred, not knowing what she's capable of.

Offred describes the Commander's car and his handsome driver (Nick) before going shopping in town with her prescribed Handmaid companion Ofglen. She describes the equally oppressive lives of the Guardians (military guards) around town. Extreme sexual tension due to extreme sexual prohibitions by the regime is palpable.

Offred describes the worms she passes on the ground as fleshy like lips and then discusses how Nick, the driver, doesn't act much like a servant. He's sexy (and she longs for him, too) but there's something fishy about him. In an Angel's outfit, he's washing the Commander's car (a black Whirlwind, a very expensive kind—as opposed to a Chariot or Behemoth) with his cap tilted to the side. She conjectures that Nick's an Eye (or secret police). She goes out to her usual corner on the street to meet her twin Handmaid, Ofglen, to go into town. They exchange all the proper greetings and discuss news. A group of rebel Baptists have been defeated in the Blue Hills. They pass a barrier manned with green-unformed Guardians (but not the Angel soldiers who fight in the war). These Guardians are young and possibly were the ones who had shot a Martha, known by Rita and Cora, recently. (Cora had said they were just doing their job but Rita was upset about it.) Offred and Ofglen show their passes to the young Guardians who check their identities on a Compucheck. One young Guardian stares too long, with Offred staring back, and she knows they must fantasize about the Handmaids since they aren't allowed any connection with women. Considering everything else these young Guardians must think of during the comings and goings of people in the neighborhood gives Offred an opportunity to describe to the reader the world they're all living in: the Guardians often see Commanders of the Faithful passing, and their Wives, dressed in blue, and their daughters dressed in white with white veils, dumpy Marthas dressed in green—perhaps on their ways to Salvagings (public executions) and Prayvaganzas (public ceremonies, like weddings). But the Guardians must also wonder about the quiet black vans with the winged eyes which they wouldn't dare peer inside of. That's the fear the Guardians have — being thrown in the back of one of those vans. They'd rather advance to Angels and then one day attain wives. So, Offred knows she can have a little fun by taunting them (swinging her hips as she passes beyond them) and they wouldn't ever act on the flirtation.

Walking around the well-guarded town (at the heart of the Republic of Gilead) with her "double," Offred describes current places of business but also describes all that is lost in the new regime. They discover that Janine, one Handmaid from an unknown household and a favorite of Aunt Lydia from the "Red Center," is (very) pregnant. They also encounter Japanese tourists.

The well maintained neighborhood, once the home of doctors and lawyers, seems safe and far away from the war still raging, seen only on TV. But the uninhabited streets seem like a museum to Offred. It's situated at the center of Gilead. Offred remembers Aunt Lydia saying that Gilead is everywhere because it's within you. She also recalls walking those same streets and dreaming about buying a house there. They pass Marthas dressed in green and Econowives (poor wives who must do everything in their own households) in multicolored skirts. She considers the time before when she wore skimpier clothes on a daily basis, but a time when women weren't "protected" as they are now. They had freedom. But women once had to be careful, like not answering doors to unknown men. Aunt Lydia had called this "freedom from" versus "freedom to." Freedom from being harassed or assaulted by men supposedly being preferable to having freedom to dress as provocatively as they'd like. The dress shop, Lilies of the Field, was once a movie theater and sometimes showed old movies with self-assured, independent women. But, according to Aunt Lydia, these women had too many choices and could make bad ones. (Come undone like their dresses.) In Milk and Honey, Offred and Ofglen wait in line to exchange tokens for food at a counter manned by two Guardians. There are oranges today, rare since Central America was lost to the Libertheos, and they're hard to get from California and Florida due to railroad bomblings or roadblocks. Ofwarren, very pregnant, enters the store to the glances, hisses, and whispers of fellow Handmaids—until the Guardians hush them. The pregnant Handmaid is just showing off since Handmaids this far along should stay home. Leaving with the purchased items, Offred realizes the woman is Janine from the Red Center—who perceptibly smirks at Offred as she passes. They go to All Flesh where Ofglen purchases steak again (some gossip for Cora and Rita) and Offred gets chicken. Offred remembers Luke complaining about the plastic bags that she would stuff beneath the sink since they were dangerous to their young daughter. In the street, the pair encounter a group of Japanese tourists who seem fascinated but repelled by their Handmaids' outfits. They want a photo but Offred timidly declines. Offred longs for the more revealing clothes of the women and is fascinated by one's painted toenails. Asked through the translator if she's happy, Offred stares at the ground and murmurs unconvincingly that they're very happy.

Still walking around town (with a few choices in their route toward the shops), Offred describes some of the darkest aspects of Gilead, like the stadium where "Men's Salvagings" occur. Also the readers learn that the Wall is where they hang rule breakers (like doctors who had performed abortions in the days before Gilead).

Offred and Ofglen resume their walk and Ofglen says she wants to walk by a small church. Their walk (under a beautiful sky they can barely see due to their white wings) takes them close to a road that leads to a river. Offred reflects on the athletic young men who once rowed in sculls (playing on the word "skulls") on the river. The stadium for both Men's Salvagings and for football games (they still have those) is near there as well. The reader learns that a subway system heading to the city still exists, but they are off limits to Handmaids, secured by Guardians. They don't enter the small church but stand outside, looking at the old graveyard, replete with skulls and angels on aging tombstones. Offred reflects on the term memento mori: remember you must die. Ofglen bows her head and makes a short prayer. Offred wonders if this is for show or if she lost someone.

Now they proceed to the Wall where six former doctors are hanging in nooses. All have white bags over their faces, one with a blood smear like a painted-on smile. The plaques above their heads have fetuses, meaning they had performed abortions in the time before (retroactive crimes). Ex-nurses possibly informed on them to escape prosecution. Hospitals had started destroying records as they saw doctors would be in danger, but nurses or other doctors could inform on them. (Women medical professionals had to inform in pairs since a single woman couldn't legally testify.) Citizens are encouraged to stop and look at bodies on the Wall since it's meant to incite hatred toward the criminals, though mostly causing fear. Offred perceives that Ofglen may be crying but she can't ask any questions. Clenching her basket tightly, Offred remembers Aunt Lydia saying that the Handmaids wouldn't adjust quickly because it's normality they're used to having, not any particular way of life. Given time, this new world will become ordinary.

Back in her room that night, Offred's mind flashes back to various times in the past, including the days of gradual takeover of the Gilead regime. Mostly, she focuses on times of increasing loss of the rights of women. Her fierce and outrageous friend Moira, as well as her cold and distant activist mother, takes center stage in these flashbacks, followed by the day she wakes up after trying to escape Gilead.

Lying beneath the white oval on her ceiling, Offred considers the uses of the words "lay" and "lie"—especially how men use the active "lay" to mean sex. She decides to travel back in time in her mind, setting up a series of flashbacks. 1) She recalls a time in college. Moira was sitting beside her in a bed, goading her to go out for a drink. Moira said she'd just written a paper on date rape. 2) Then Offred thinks about a time when she was very young and her mother was supposedly taking her to a park to feed ducks but, to Offred's disappointment, her mother was actually going there to burn pornographic magazines with friends—one of whom gave young Offred a magazine to burn. She vividly recalls women's body parts turning to ash in the flames. 3) She then remembers waking up after being captured while trying to escape with Luke and her daughter. She'd been drugged and probably sleeping for days. They said her daughter in in good hands but that she was unfit to be a mother (Due to marrying a divorced man? Trying to escape?). Offred's captors showed her a picture of her daughter in an unknown white dress. Since her daughter looked like an angel in the pic, Offred yells that they've killed her (though they hadn't). Then the narrator, snapping back to real time in the narrative, back in her bed in the Commander's house, talks about if she imagines this story is just a story, a fiction. So if the narrative isn't true, perhaps she can control the ending. (This metareference, or breaking the fourth wall, will continue throughout the story.)

Offred and Ofglen are on another shopping expedition in town. The weather is nice but fresh bodies hang on the Wall. Offred reflects on a possible code from Ofglen over the words or word "May day" or "mayday." Returning with groceries, and after a brief encounter with Nick the driver, Offred enters the kitchen where the Marthas (Rita and Cora), scrutinize over the groceries she brings them from town. Finally, Offred has a strange encounter with the Commander who encroaches on her personal space.

This is a chapter of sussing others out, of parsing out friends from enemies. Offred imagines what the nice May day should be like (wearing sandals, eating ice cream), but three bodies hang on the Wall. A Catholic priest in a robe reminds us that Gilead is at war with all Christian sects that aren't of the Gilead variety (Catholics, Baptists, etc.). Also hanging on the Wall are two gay men with purple placards over their heads, meaning Gender Treachery; this reminds the reader that any practice or inclination that is contrary to producing new babies for the regime is a crime. As the pair make their way back, Ofglen comments on what a nice May day it is. It reminds Offred of Luke telling her that the "mayday," as a distress signal, comes from the French M'aidez, help me. (Ofglen will later refer back to this time she tried out the signal on Offred.) A funeral procession of Econowives comes towards them with a jar of a stillborn baby. They treat the Handmaids with contempt as all Econowives hate Handmaids (a class and moral issue). As Ofglen parts with Offred after passing the barrier to their neighborhood, she almost says something but stops short.

After Offred passes through the gate of the Commander's household, tulips more red than ever, Nick tries to communicate with her but she ignores him. Aunt Lydia had made excuses for men, saying that that's how God made them, but made women and Handmaids different (not better but different), and they know to maintain boundaries. Passing Serena Joy (no longer referred to as The Commander's Wife), the reader receives a little more back story and characterization (after commenting on how old she looks, walking cane at arm's reach). Serena Joy's real name had been Pam. Offred ridicules her chosen stage name "Serena Joy" as it sounds like a hair product. (In the Historical Notes we learn Commander's Wives took on popular product names of the time. Did Serena Joy start the trend?) We learn the evolution of Serena Joy's rise to prominence. In later days (before the coup), she did less singing and fewer evangelical TV shows and started giving lectures on how women should stay at home and be in charge of the household. She even appeared in popular national magazines. She flashes back to how Aunt Lydia said the Wives are more dangerous than the Commanders (more likely to have you sent to the Colonies, presumably). But Aunt Lydia cautioned them to be empathetic due to their situations: they can't have babies and must let younger women into their homes for that function. Before Aunt Lydia could finish this thought, she broke off and sighed. (Was Aunt Lydia just being theatrical? Or was she actually sad because she wasn't able to have children?)

Offred enters the back door to the kitchen and encounters Cora and Rita. Cora defends Offred in her grocery choices but Rita is cold and insistent. She also flatly announces that it's "bath day" for Offred, as if she were a child and Cora says she'll take on the task after dusting. Here, we're seeing a good cop/bad cop scenario emerging (or stern parent/submissive parent, perhaps). As Offred ascends the stairs, she sees the Commander trying to look into the room where she stays. It's a breach of custom if not rules. But also a signal of some kind. Awkwardly passing him by, she asserts that the room where she sleeps is indeed her room. She needs her own territory. A safe space.

Alone in her room again, Offred momentarily flashes back to when she was having an affair in a hotel room with her eventual husband Luke. She recalls exploring her current room in the first days and finding some writing from a previous Handmaid. She imagines what the previous Handmaid's life was like, even asking Rita—who says little and again treats Offred like a child.

Playing on the "Waiting Room" idea of the section, she discusses how this room, now her room, affords her the little privacy she has. (Waiting now merely for a bath, she will wait for or anticipate things great and terrible in later chapters.) But it's also a respite from being seen, watched, and scrutinized constantly. When reflecting on the hotel rooms where she would meet Luke before he left his wife, she misses the lost freedom of "not being seen." In Gilead and in the Commander's house, Offred is watched and inspected constantly. The Commander's former breach of this boundary seems even more terrible after this description. Considering the hotel room where she met Luke (while it was still "just an affair"), she goes into detail about both the casual relationships men and women had, as well as the freedom to use mundane products and order food.

Offred's mind then shifts to how she had explored the room after first moving in and discovered some signs of a former Handmaid. She also sees evidence of the past, or echoes, of people being together in the room in the time before—which of course reminds her of being together with Luke in the time before. Offred then recalls finding the Latin phrase in the cupboard after she'd just arrived: Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Excited by the discovery, she had tried to imagine what her predecessor was like, even imagining her to be like a happy version of Moira. She's also tried to ask Rita about her. Rita's response implied there had been many. Acting like it was a specific one Offred was aware of, the response was somewhat ominous: "She didn't work out."

Still exploring her room, Offred flashes back to the Red Center when Aunt Lydia talked about how women once dressed indecently at the beach. Offred also flashes back to Moira talking about wearing naughty clothing. This was in a time when women were slowly losing their rights. The chapter ends as Offred sees Nick open the door for the Commander and she wishes she and Moira could throw water balloons at them as in the old days.

Offred, alone in her room, tries to sing "Amazing Grace" and says how it's outlawed now as are all such songs and hymns with the word "free" in them. She then sings "I'm So Lonely I Could Cry," also outlawed. Not much music anymore except what comes from services on TV, Rita humming, or Serena Joy playing an old disc of herself. Summer dresses made of cotton are hanging in the cupboard she can soon wear—though she'll still sweat underneath (but, as Aunt Lydia had said, they won't have to worry about sunburn). This brings on a mosaic of flashbacks. Aunt Lydia had discussed how women would dress on beaches, which could cause early skin problems. She was trying to give the future Handmaids their best chance in the future, she had said. Offred also flashes back to Moira during college. She had wanted to gather women together to sell sex-related products. Offred can't believe the casual way they once lived, with freedom. The loss of freedom snuck up on them gradually as they ignored it. Near the window there's a pillow with a faded wreath of lilies and the word "Faith" knitted into it. She hears a motor start and sees Nick, with his cap straight now, getting ready for the Commander. When the gray-haired Commander emerges, she thinks of how she could spit on him from there, like she and Moira would throw water "bombs" out the window and boys who wanted their underwear. The Commander leaves, leaving her with an ambiguous feeling for him: not hate but not love.

Offred goes to a male doctor for a regular checkup to ensure she can still become pregnant. The doctor touches her inappropriately. The doctor says he can impregnate her himself if the Commander isn't able. She says no even though the doctor could fake a bad report and have her sent off to Colonies for being infertile.

Escorted by a Guardian with a red armband, Offred takes her monthly trip to the doctor. Separating the waiting room from the examining area is a red sheet with symbols: a sword, intertwined with a snake, and a gold eye (like a handle) one top of it. Lying naked on the metal examining table, one sheet covers her and one hides her face. The male doctor, who smells of smoke, examines all her lady parts, checking for "rot" or "ripeness." After calling her "honey," he offers to help her like he has others. Impregnating her, he means. He says most of the Commanders are either too old or sterile. He shows genuine sympathy for her and the Handmaids' difficult position and says her body is currently in about a two-day window for the best time to be impregnated. She declines and says it's too dangerous, but she realizes the power the doctor has over her. He could fake her charts and have her sent to the Colonies, knowing her history (third Commander, no baby). He says to think about his offer and that he'd see her next month.

Offred takes a required but still luxurious bath with Cora guarding the bathroom door. While bathing, she recalls the time her baby daughter was stolen from a supermarket cart but quickly returned to her and Luke by an employee. Offred surmises the regime has probably told her daughter, who must be eight now, that Offred is dead—if her daughter is actually still alive. Later, Offred steals butter from her supper to use later as skin care.

She describes the old-fashioned bathroom next door to the bedroom. Cora will guard the bathroom while Offred takes a bath, which is a requirement and not a luxury. Offred feels strange being naked and can't believe she once wore bikinis on the beach. The feel and smell of the water makes her think about her daughter at a young age and she thinks her daughter must still be alive. She recalls a time when her baby was 11 months and a woman tried to take her. The woman (around 35 years old) was stopped and the police were called. Luke had said she's just crazy, but they later found that this was happening a lot at that time. Offred thinks about the pictures, clothes, and keepsakes saved of her daughter and thinks about how they're all confiscated by now. She recalls Aunt Lydia saying how you shouldn't get attached to material possessions. She wonders what her daughter is like now, around 8 years old, and figures the regime has told her that her mother is dead. Offred thinks about how it would be easier to think of her daughter as dead but Aunt Lydia had said why bash your head against a wall thinking about it. Cora tells her to hurry up so she starts cleaning herself. She looks at the tattoo on her ankle put there by the regime: "Four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse." Out of the tub, she dries herself and thinks of a film she saw depicting women long ago in a town square being shamed by having their hair shaved off.

In her room, Cora knocks on the door to bring her meal and Offred appreciates the little privacy allowed her. Rita makes her food bland, possibly to spite Offred. She recalls Aunt Lydia saying she needs vitamins and minerals in order to be "worthy vessel." She's sick and has trouble eating, calling how Aunt Lydia said those in the heartland (of Gilead) are lucky to have enough food. Offred is worried that Cora will report her if she doesn't eat. She knows that downstairs the Commander and Serena Joy are eating luxuriously. Before the chapter ends, Offred finds a small pat of butter (for skin care) she hides for later. Now she must "compose herself" because later tonight will be the (impregnation) ceremony—which is why she can't smell of butter just yet.

Still in her room, she has too much time to think—first about a pig experiment while doing prescribed pelvic exercises. Then many flashbacks, first of the Red Center: Janine "Testifying" about being gang raped; Moira first arriving in street clothes; then Moira and Offred secretly meeting in the bathroom. Somewhere between thinking and dreaming, she recalls her first apartment with Luke, then trying to escape Gilead with her daughter. She wakes to the morning bell and Cora.

All Offred can do at this time, in her room, is wait. She thinks abstractly about boredom and how women being bored seemed erotic to men at one time, like in old paintings of women in harems. Furthering the idea of women being objects for men continues when she remembers how prize pigs were made to exercise and tone up to sell better on the market. She also remembers psychological experiments with rats shocking themselves to escape boredom, and pigeons pretty much doing the same. Offred then does exercises on the floor. Remembering the Red Center (and Aunt Lydia), Offred recalls the ballet Les Sylphides they would listen to, which is now in her head as she exercises.

Recalling the Red Center again, after exercises the Handmaids-in-training could take a "cat nap," which was preparing them for this current boredom Offred finds herself in. She recalls it was during one of these catnap times Moira was first brought to the Red Center. It was several days before she was able to talk to her, out on the football field during walks. They were careful to talk because friendships were suspicious to the regime. They decided to start meeting at 2:30pm in the bathroom stalls. That's during "Testifying" time among the Handmaids-in-training, run by Aunt Lydia. Offred recalls Janine was testifying on that day about being gangraped at 14, which might have been a lie, but the Handmaids were encouraged to blame Janine for provoking the abuse (it's always the woman's fault, according to Aunt Lydia). Before going to the restroom, Offred had recalled Dolores peeing on the floor and the Aunts taking her out, not to return for a few days. On return, Dolores was moaning and crying all night. Offred finally made her way off to meet Moira in the bathroom, an old boy's room with urinals, and talked to Moira. She was so happy to have Moira now.

Returning back to her present narrative, back in "her" room, she now considers how her body no longer feels like a thing for her own pleasure—and not really hers. Within her is the possibility of the thing everyone wants, the egg to turn into a baby. The metaphors, symbols, images she uses here are many. Light, stars, and a monthly moon. She now flashes back to her first apartment with Luke, looking into a cupboard with clothes possibly belonging to Luke's ex-wife. She calls for Luke who was behind her, but perhaps she's back in the Commander's house when she says this, because Luke isn't behind her and Offred realizes that Luke could possibly be dead now. This mental event causes her to flashback to the point in time she was running across a field with her daughter, trying to escape after she'd been separated from Luke after the passport control problem. She'd heard a gunshot and pulled her daughter to the ground and covered her with her body. But they are caught and pulled apart. She wakes to a bell and Cora knocking at the bedroom door.

Offred, hears the bell signaling "Ceremony" day, so she descends into the sitting room where, along with Serena Joy, Rita, Cora (and Nick!), she's allowed to watch the news (or propaganda) of the ongoing civil war. They're waiting for the Commander, Nick secretly nudges her foot with his own, and Offred flashes back to the day of escape with Luke and their daughter.

Morning bell is still ringing. It's time for the "Ceremony." She describes the antiquated decor of the house as she descends into the sitting room (or drawing room or parlour). There is a mirror, old paintings, dried flowers and daffodils, and a "white china Cupid" with "its arm around the neck of a lamb." It also smells of the perfume of prepubescent girls. She says much money has passed through the room, since it's an old home always inhabited by rich families. She wants to steal something (like an ashtray or a silver pill box) from the room but doesn't dare. The room is meant for "sitting" and waiting (adding to the waiting room idea), but there's "standing room only"—at least for Rita, Cora, and Nick (implying that the place is full of spectators, like at a basketball game). This assembly is the "Household" and the Commander is the head. Serena Joy enters in a blue dress wreathed in flowers and must sit on a stool, legs open, when the Commander arrives. But Offred still stands and Nick secretly and purposely places his foot against hers under her wide dress. Offred and all attendees are allowed to watch the news (or propaganda) while waiting for the Commander. Being covered is the ongoing civil war: victory in the Appalacians against Baptist guerrillas; espionage plot unearthed of an underground Quaker refuge escape route to Canada; resumption of Children of Ham resettlement to North Dakota (black people being kicked out of the country, in other words). The anchor man is a fatherly old actor who only announces victories. Serena Joy tires of the news and turns it off, forcing Offred to go into her own head. She considers how her real secret name is being guarded (from all, including the audience) like an amulet from the distant past. Offred flashes back to that day in September she, Luke, and their daughter tried to escape to Canada. Her daughter (now dead, she tells herself) had her favorite dolls, and they brought only jewelry and stamps to trade instead of money. They brought only picnic items and their fake visa was for a day, trying not to draw attention. During the drive, Luke says she looks white as a sheet. Returning back to the sitting room, Offred says that's how she feels now. And like smoke, a fading mirage. But she remembers how Moira had told her not to think like that or she won't survive. But still she feels white as a sheet waiting for the Commander. But she flashes back again to their failed escape, Luke was singing and looking too happy. They were warned not to look too happy (so not to draw suspicion) while escaping.

It's still Ceremony day, a day the Commander will try to impregnate Offred. The Commander enters the room and reads Bible verses as a prelude to "performing" the impregnation ceremony. As the Commander ends reading the Bible passage of Leah, Jacob, and the Handmaid, Serena Joy is in tears. During the ceremony, Offred flashes back again to the day Moira tried to escape "The Rachel and Leah Re-education Center" but was brought back beaten up.

Same day, same room (the waiting room). It being a Ceremony day, a day the Commander will try to impregnate Offred, the Commander enters the room ceremoniously. However, protocol was to receive permission to enter but he didn't. His black suit and silver hair and mustache make him look like a museum guard or midwestern banker or Vodka ad model. Offred thinks about how all in attendance, especially the women, will be watching and judging him, his sexual performance, but especially because the household depends on this very act, his ability to impregnate the Handmaid.

He reads various Bible verses as a prelude to "performing" the impregnation ceremony. The verses include the passages about being fruitful and multiplying and when Rachel had told Jacob to give her children or she'd die, so Rachel said to have a child with their maid Bilhah. Offred flashes back to the Red Center when these verses and the Beatitudes (which had been conveniently altered — "Blessed are the meek, blessed are the silent…Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted.") would be read to them at breakfast. At those times, Aunt Lydia would say the Handmaids are spoiled for getting such good food due to austerity measures during the war. Offred recalls covertly talking to Moira who says she wants to escape. As the Commander ends reading, Serena Joy is in tears. The Commander seems annoyed by that and calls for a silent prayer. Offred's prayer is the line in her cupboard, which she still doesn't know the meaning of, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum." Offred flashes back again to the day Moira tried to escape by faking appendicitis but was brought back beaten up, especially the bottoms of her feet. Moira was made an example of. All Offred could think about was Moira's swollen, disfigured feet hanging off her sleeping cot. Offred says her prayer again, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum." The chapter ends with Offred wondering if the regime of Gilead and their theocratic ways are what God had intended for people.

Now the actual Ceremony begins, with Offred lying between Serena Joy's open legs. Offred is glad this Commander isn't as smelly or as ugly as her last Commander, but still she is uncomfortable. The Ceremony isn't fun but "serious business." As the Commander leaves the room, Serena Joy tells Offred to "get up and get out" with "loathing in her voice."

The "Ceremony" is now happening, in the cold bedroom smelling of Lilly of the Valley, lavished in antique furniture, including the four-poster canopy bed. Offred is still almost fully clothed except for the area that can't be. Serena Joy is ceremoniously situated with her legs spread, above and behind Offred. She holds Offred's hands to be "of one flesh." To describe what the commander is doing, only the "f" word will suffice. It's definitely not lovemaking. So, Offred tries to go somewhere else in her mind, even thinking of Queen Victoria's famous advice, "Close your eyes and think of England." She describes the act from all perspectives: Serena Joy is gripping Offred like she's the one it's happening to, the Commander is somewhere else in his mind, and the whole thing is anything but sexual. It's business. If she were to open her eyes, she'd see an old gray-haired man above her, but it's an improvement over previous Commander. He had smelled like a "church cloakroom" or "when the dentist starts picking at your teeth." The current one just smells of mothballs, but must still wear the Commander's uniform. When he's done, he doesn't sink down into Offred and Serena Joy but, after a moment to catch his breath, leaves the room tenderly, as if leaving a sick mother. There's contempt in Serena Joy's voice when she tells Offred to get out, especially jarring since the Handmaid is supposed to have 10 minutes rest afterward. Offred isn't sure whether the Ceremony is worse for her or Serena Joy.

Back in her room, it's nighttime and she uses the butter she'd saved to put on her face. She misses Luke. She sneaks out of the room, heads down to the sitting room and wants to steal something. Nick startles her and says the Commander wants to see her in his office the next day. Before parting each other, Nick puts a hand on her arm and Offred realizes she's attracted to him.

Returning to her room after the Ceremony, Offred changes into a nightgown and rubs the butter she had saved from earlier into her face. This is a kind of vanity since Handmaids and most women aren't allowed beauty products. But for the Handmaids, by keeping themselves beautiful, it's a kind of hope that they will see better days. Lying on her bed, the halo on the ceiling (the place where a chandelier once had been) has now become an eye looking back at her. Her white curtains have become medical gauze, illuminated by the moon-like search lights outside. Going to the window, she does see a moon and begins to romanticize: she needs Luke with her, saying her real name. She can't have that, so she decides to go downstairs to steal something. She passes the fisheye mirror (of course, always an important symbol), and she feels that she's doing something on her own for once. She feels around in the dark for something to steal, but realizes someone's behind her. It's Nick and he tells her not to scream, it's all right. He moves close to her and she wants to taste him, realizing how hungry she is for human touch. They're both illegally in Serena Joy's parlour, so neither can give the other up. He touches her arm under her gown and tells her the Commander wants to see her the next day. They pull away from each other and Offred goes back to her room, turning the knob of "cool porcelain."

In bed on the same night, Offred remembers being in bed with Luke while she was pregnant. She physically needs to sleep by him again, for love not sex. But sex with anyone would be better than no love. She spends the rest of the chapter debating on all possibilities of what happened to Luke: dead on the day of the escape, imprisoned in a cell somewhere, or he made it out via the Quakers. She wants to hope and wonders if Luke, too, is alive to hope.

Lying in bed, Offred feels like trembling glass that could shatter (after the encounter with Nick). She needs to be with someone. She flashes back to lying in bed with Luke who feels her pregnant belly during an approaching storm. She can't imagine this never happening again. Offred knows you don't die from lack of sex but from lack of love. She sees the faces of Luke and her daughter, flickering like saints by candlelight in an old cathedral. But they're mirages. Without them, she's disembodied. She likens herself to the dry white sheets and pleasuring herself would be like trying to pleasure nonliving things (dried rice, snow). She's like a vacant room in a vacant house. (Barrenness: Is no one getting pregnant due to lack of love?) She begins to speculate about Luke's fate: he's dead where they tried to escape (near the passport authority), with a few clean bullet holes in his skull. She remembers the clothes he's wearing but his face is fading in her memory. She also believes he's alive and in a prison cell, cooped up like an animal, the regime keeping him alive to get more information. She also believes he escaped across the river into Canada, and she will receive a message from him soon. Not all of these scenarios can be true, but keeping these contradictions in her mind is the only way she can believe any of them. There's an old gravestone she recalls that has an hourglass and an anchor and the words "In Hope," ironic since the gravestone stands above a dead person. Offred wonders if Luke can hope since only living people can.

Offred dreams of her daughter, then of herself as a child and her mother taking care of her. When she awakes she and the other Handmaids ride in the Birthmobile with Aunt Lydia in order to witness the birth of a new baby (officially, a BirthDay ceremony), that of Ofwarren (or Janine). As the chapter closes, the Commander's Wives are saying derogatory things about the Handmaids (alternately gossiping about as if they are children but also prostitutes), though the Handmaid's don't have much choice in the "professions."

Offred has a few dreams, one where her young daughter runs to her. Realizes this is a dream, she awakes and she herself is a child, her mother comforting her. Once she awakes from this one, she questions her reality and wonders if she is being drugged. She wakes and walks to the window, kneeling on the "Faith" pillow. She wonders what happened to the hope and charity pillows (hope, faith, and charity reference to St. Paul, a Christian apostle). She plays with and then eats her breakfast egg, going into many metaphors concerning it: a moon with craters, a desert, God. She very much enjoys inspecting the egg due to her minimalistic life, her reduced circumstances, since the few objects she's allowed can be savored.

While eating the egg, a siren sounds and a Birthmobile pulls up, and Cora hurries her along. Entering the red van, the Guardians close the van door and take off. Ofwarren (Janine) will be having a baby today and all the Handmaids (and Wives) will gather for the birth. Offred contemplates what kind of baby she will have since (as she learned at the Center), one in four will be deformed. We learn, through Offred's narration, that pollution has caused prenatal deformities through "chemicals, rays, radiation, the water swarmed with toxic molecules". Also due to "medicines, pills, men sprayed trees, cows ate grass, all that souped-up piss flowed into the rivers. Not to mention the exploding atomic power plants, along the San Andreas fault, nobody's fault, during the earthquakes, and the mutant strain of syphilis no mould could touch". She recalls Aunt Lydia saying some women even used forms of birth control, calling them Jezebels who scorned God's gifts. She had told the Handmaids they were taking great a great risk but would bring greater glory. Offred, and the Handmaids, knew it was a lot of work to go through the whole process to have a "shredder" or, officially, an "unbaby." Those who chose not to have babies, Aunt Lydia said, were wicked, lazy sluts. Offred keeps us in this particular flashback for a while, recalling looking down at her desk as Aunt Lydia is talking, and sees carved initials in the wood. The dates range from the 1950s but end in the mid-1980s. Aunt Lydia is still going on about the mistakes made by previous women. She says things that are hard to get are more precious (continuing the "slut" idea). She tells them to think of themselves as pearls. Offred thinks of the biblical saying "pearls before swine." The flashback ends with Aunt Lydia saying the Aunts will lick the Handmaids into shape.

Janine lies on a king-sized bed preparing to give birth, surrounded by the district's Wives and Handmaids, which triggers Offred's memories of watching various films at the Red Center with Aunt Lydia. These memories lead Offred to reflect on her own mother, a feminist who had her at an older age and disapproved of Luke, calling him a "chauvinist pig."

The Handmaids make their way up the stairs toward the bedroom, and Offred sees a lavish banquet set out for the Wives while the Hanmaids will get milk and sandwiches. The Wives surround Commander Warren's Wife in the parlor/sitting room, in an odd ritual with the other Wives surrounding her, rubbing her belly, as if she's the pregnant one. In the master bedroom, Janine (Ofwarren) is propped up on a king-sized bed, ready to give birth with all the Wives and Handmaids of the district there to watch. Aunt Elizabeth (in charge of reproductive education at the Red Center), will preside. Some of the Wives have children of their own. Offred flashes back to Aunt Lydia and to the Red Center (she does this the whole chapter), when Aunt Lydia recites a slogan that mixes up a Marxist statement with St. Paul, saying, "From each… according to her ability; to each according to his needs". She'd talked about how the Handmaids were a part of a transitional era for women (that's why it was difficult for them). Offred recalls how Aunt Lydia had shown violent pornographic films to scare the Handmaidens (naked women being sliced up, for example). Moira claimed the films were faked. Sometimes Aunt Lydia showed feminist movies. In one, Offred sees her own mother in her younger feminist days. Offred flashes back even further—to her mother talking about having Offred at an older age (at 37). Her mother's friends did not condone it, especially since birth defects were a problem (even then). She recalls her mother teasing Luke, calling him a "Chauvinist pig". Offred goes quite a bit into detail about her mother denigrating both of them, but especially Luke. The banter is playful, to an extent, but there's a layer of conviction to it. Offred's mother talks about how she and other women had to go through so much to get the rights they finally attained (tanks running over them— metaphorically?). Offred's naive freedom is a flash in history's pan, her mother had said, and Luke would have been called a queer in former times simply for having a cooking hobby. Offred admired her in some ways, but she refused to inherit the feminist cause from her.

During Janine's labor in the Warren household, the Handmaids exchange news about missing friends, but no one knows about Moira. The Commander's Wife arrives for the ceremonial birth, and Janine delivers the baby—named Angela by the Wife. Offred returns to the Birthmobile with milk leaking from her breasts (a sympathetic phenomenon). Janine's reward for bearing a child is guaranteed protection from being sent to the Colonies.

Still in the master bedroom of the Warren household (filled with the smell of all the women's sweat), Janine hasn't yet given birth. The Handmaids chant in unison (breath, breath, expel, expel), but this is also a time they try to share information about friends that are missing. Offred asks about Moira but she hasn't been seen. Aunt Elizabeth is watching them intently though. Time for the birth, the lights are dimmed, and the Commander's Wife comes in wearing a ceremonial nightgown and sits on a birthing stool. Janine has the baby. All the Handmaids cry—partly due to the situation, partly due to remembered their past lives, like Offred recalling Luke beside her during their child's birth. The Wives help Commander Warren's Wife to her bed (as if she had the baby) where, ceremoniously, the Commander's Wife names the baby "Angela." Offred, the narrator, says that Janine gets to feed the baby for a few weeks and says her reward is to never be sent to the Colonies as an Unwoman. Offred, after confirming for the doctors, who are still awkwardly and helplessly in the van, that the birth went okay, climbs back into the Birthmobile. Her breasts are sympathetically leaking milk—which happens to some of the Handmaids on these occasions. However, Offred and the other Handmaids are left with the feeling they, themselves, are failures for not giving birth.

After returning to her room after the ceremony, Offred lies in bed, too tired to continue the story she is telling the audience (reader or whomever the narrator is addressing), so she recounts the story of Moira at the Red Center. The story of how Moira had tied up Aunt Elizabeth and escaped had been told by Aunt Lydia, to Janine, to Dolores, to Alma, and finally to Offred.

Late afternoon, Offred is back from the Birth Ceremony. She's relieved that Cora will have done the cooking because she's exhausted from the day. Now in solitude, she lies on the bed and stares at the halo or wreath on the ceiling. Though a vague white outline, she begins seeing colors and the feathery exotic hats of women as the light dims. This reminds her of driving tired at dusk and imagining figures in the bushes (possibly like the time she and Luke were trying to escape). But not feeling like going into that story, or continuing with the circle/halo/wreath idea, Offred says she feels like telling the reader about what happened to Moira, a story she heard along the Handmaid network (Alma, Dolores, and Janine—who got the story form Aunt Lydia). Janine had been called into Aunt Lydia's office at the Red Center. In her weak "raw egg white" voice, Janine said Aunt Lydia could trust her, so she told Janine the "terrible thing" that happened that day. Moira had used a metal rod from a toilet's flushing hardware as a weapon against Aunt Elizabeth, making her trade clothes. Moira tied the Aunt up to a basement furnace and used her pass to escape. Aunt Lydia had wanted Janine to "keep her ears open," to find out if anyone had conspired with her. For the most part, Janine by this time was a kicked dog who couldn't be trusted. Her telling the other Handmaids the story told to her by Aunt Lydia shows she was trying to be in their good graces, but Janine had become erratic and untrustworthy. Concerning the story of Moira, however, the Handmaids come to both revere and fear Moira. Offred speculates she could be "at large," or lose. A "loose" woman. But also she could already be dead.

Offred considers how the story she's telling, the entire narrative she's been telling her audience, is a reconstruction of events (which are, as you will find out in the "Historical Notes"). She's aware that any reconstruction of events has its problems with accuracy—especially due to nuances in individual perspective. She begins transitioning into the story she will tell about the Commander, who is in most control of her current circumstances. Yet, she feels apologetic in a way that no men will ever understand from a woman's perspective: knowing she's being taken advantage of and at the same time feeling like she needs to forgive men for the way they are. As far as the current story, she plans on getting out of her current circumstances one day. She can't do this Handmaid thing forever.

But for now, she recounts her recent visit to the Commander's office at night. Well, she started to recount the encounter ("I want you to kiss me," he'd said) but then she backed up a little, to when Cora had asked her if the baby was healthy. "A keeper. A girl," she'd said. "Maybe we'll have one soon," Cora had responded. And Offred had said that perhaps this was the kind of event that made Cora's role in the household worth it. But returning back to her visit to the Commander, her presence is technically illegal, and she's afraid Serena Joy is still out and about—not to mention that the Guardians clean houses. However, she can't refuse his call because it's a command from the Commander. She's curious about what he wants of her and she knows that wanting is a weakness. Once inside his office, the Commander's attempts at being cool are obviously calculated but he's not predatory or even forward. His office is all mahogany, many books, and plants. He's standing in front of a fireplace, trying to be cool, and says "Hello." She's almost moved to tears hearing an old greeting. He shyly asks her to play Scrabble. They do and come up with words that are somewhat sexual. She wins all the games (perhaps by design). She's told she can go home, as if they're on a date. Upon leaving, Offred is told to kiss him — like she means it. Offred, in her current narrative, reconstructs two things: that she could kill him with a rod from her toilet and that he is generally sad.

Alone in her room, Offred contemplates how she's thirty-three and how this is her final chance at pregnancy before exile to the Colonies. She remembers her mother's frank discussions about sex and brutality, and a documentary about a Nazi's mistress. Overwhelmed by these thoughts, she experiences what would once have been called hysteria and waits it out in her cupboard until the panic subsides.

Back in her room, Offred says she needs perspective, referencing that technique in painting, beyond the two-dimensionally arranged shapes on a canvas. She "takes stock" of herself, thinking about how she is thirty-three, has brown hair, is 5'7", and has one more chance at having a baby before being sent to the Colonies. She recalls Aunt Lydia calling men "sex machines," and since they only want one thing, it's God's will for women to manipulate them for that reason. "Context is all", according to Offred, how does she apply it in this context, to the Commander, since he desires her?

She recalls watching a documentary with her mother about the mistress of a Nazi in charge of the ovens at a Jewish concentration camp—especially terrifying since she equated "ovens" with eating food. The mistress said the man wasn't a monster. The woman, now much older but still caring about her physical appearance, had probably built up a false humanity in the man, building up admirable traits—which Offred says isn't hard to do in abnormal times (life Nazi Germany for the woman, life Gilead for Offred). The woman had killed herself a few days after the interview. Offred points out that no one asked if the woman had loved the man and all Offred recalls about the woman now is her heavy makeup. We also learn her mother was explicit about adult things, like sex, war, brutality, etc., from the time Offred was much too young. Having undressed, Offred feels as if something within her has broken, like an egg, and she panics. It would be called "hysteria" in older times. She goes to the cupboard and waits until the episode passes.

During visits to the Commander's room - which reminds her of waiting in hotels for Luke while he was still married - Offred is given magazines and hand lotion, while keeping secret from everyone except Cora (who found her sleeping in the cupboard) that something might be wrong. Meanwhile, life in the household continues with Serena Joy violently cutting tulips in the garden and Cora hoping Offred might be pregnant.

Offred wakes to the sound of Cora dropping her breakfast, literally breaking the eggs on the floor. She'd fallen asleep in the cupboard and Cora thought the worst at first. They decide to keep this whole episode a secret, especially since Cora thinks Offred passing out might be a good sign that she's pregnant. Offred pulls us out of the narrative here and says all that had occurred the previous May, but spring has now gone. Offred further recalls the spring that has passed, when she walked through the garden while Serena Joy brutally cut Tulips with shears. She also recalls one day Serena Joy having been on her knees, as if she were doing penance. What Offred really coveted most of all was Serena Joy's shears (for killing someone? or herself?) She then recalls all the different flowers and plants (like irises) that came and went during spring—a fragrant garden of Tynneson proportions.

But now it's summer, her summer dress itching at her thighs, and desire is in the air—including in the whispers of the willows (rendezvous, it says). Summer's dangerous, unlike a cold winter. Summoned often to the Commander's office, she's afraid of being caught by Serena Joy, though often she leaves to visit other wives—a guaranteed summons on these occasions. Offred makes a second and third visit to the Commander's room, always tipped off by Nick. She still is unsure what the Commander really wants out of her since they only end up playing Scrabble and talking on the first two encounters. On the third, she's given magazines, which reminds Offred of reading them in hotels waiting for Luke to get away from his then wife. More importantly, she learns that he can't show such "old things" to his wife because she doesn't appreciate them, and, effectively, Serena Joy doesn't understand him, as a human. On the fourth visit, Offred gets hand lotion which she must keep in the Commander's room. He watches her put the lotion on as if watching an animal or prisoner in a cage. She feels the need for privacy.

During the next Ceremony, Offred feels awkward and conflicted — the Commander is no longer simply an object, she feels guilty yet powerful regarding Serena Joy, and when he tries to touch her face, she turns away and later reprimands him, fearing punishment. Though Aunt Lydia had promised household harmony among women, Offred recognizes her true role as just another "Outside Woman" in the age-old tradition of powerful men keeping mistresses.

A few weeks later, Offred feels very awkward at the Ceremony (the copulation one). She remembers her mom telling her to "steel herself" before exams or when swimming in cold water. She realizes now how putting on that armor can help remove her from her physical body. Which now comes in handy since the Commander is no longer simply an object, but a real human with needs. Things have changed concerning Serena Joy. She feels guilty, even though Serena Joy seems to be trying to hurt her hands more during the Ceremony. At the same time, she feels she has a certain power over her, though Serena Joy doesn't know about it. The Commander tries to touch her face during the act but Offred turns away. She reprimands the Commander for this during their next private meeting, not wanting to get sent away.

The chapter ends with Offred remembering what Aunt Lydia had said: in the future all the women of a household would live in harmony, with no trouble. Offred knows, however, she's a mistress, an "Outside Woman," like powerful men of all ages have had.

While shopping together, Offred and Ofglen finally reveal their shared dissent against the regime, with Ofglen mysteriously inviting Offred to "join us." Their newfound connection is immediately tested when they witness someone being taken by the Eyes' black van, leaving Offred relieved but shaken.

It's fully summer now and Offred and Ofglen have been shopping. It's sandal and shorts weather (but they can't wear those), strawberries should be in abundance (but aren't), the fish at Fish and Loaves should also be in abundance (but aren't). All fish, rarely available, are muddy tasting from fish farms. Offred thinks about all the seafood she once loved and wonders if all fish in the wild, like the whales, are extinct. She recalls eating ice cream at Jimmies, no longer on the block, with her daughter. At the Wall, she doesn't see anyone the size of Luke hanging. There's no one at all—which is even worse, since it represents potential. Beyond the Wall are old Romanesque buildings that used to be the university, a library there once like a temple. But now the red brick buildings belong to the Eyes. She wonders if Luke was killed there somewhere, but imagines him alive among the book stacks in the library. They walk by Soul Scrolls, a building that holds machines that print out prayers bought mostly by the Wives to signal "piety and faithfulness." Seeing each other's reflection in the window seems scandalous. They speak their minds for the first time. Neither is a true believer in the regime. She knows this is scandal and sedition, so she "steels" herself again. Ofglen says Offred can "join us." (Mayday?) Offred resists asking about Moira and Luke and her child (since she may be privy to extensive information). She has a moment of enjoyment under the sun, since the sun's rays are free. That brief moment is shattered, however, when they see a man being thrown into the black van of the Eyes. Though startled, Offred is relieved it wasn't there for her.

Before Gilead, when women lost their jobs and financial rights in what seemed like an Islamic extremist attack but was actually a far-right coup, Moira warned Offred about the coming changes while Luke discouraged her from joining protests, marking a shift in gender dynamics that made Offred feel she now "belonged" to him. In the present, as Offred lies awake with her fan, she reflects on these memories - including her mother's activism and Moira's predictions - before being signaled by Nick for another secret meeting with the Commander, leaving her wondering what Nick gains from his role as messenger.

That afternoon, Offred can't nap even though she now has a fan. She recalls a conversation with Moira. Moira didn't like Luke. They discuss how Moira likes women and how there's an equal sex dynamic between lesbians. Offred's first job paid little but her second job paid enough to have her own place. It took Luke two years to leave his first wife. She had become a "discer," transferring books to digital discs. She reminisces about women having jobs, which isn't legal now. All money becoming digital is what made disallowing women to control money possible. She recalls the "catastrophe" when the President and Congress were assassinated, blamed on "Islamic fanatics" and the Constitution was suspended. Moira had told Offred "Here it comes." What followed was a far-right takeover, shutting down stores and censoring the media. Women lost control of their bank accounts and were let go from their jobs. Offred can't get ahold of her mother. Moira comes over to discuss what's happening with Offred. Moira says that women can't hold property anymore. All wealth is transferred to the nearest male relative (as in very Islamic countries, as in Medieval Christianity). There had been marches in the last few days but Luke persuaded Offred not to join them. She recalls that the army had looked different (the new regime's army, we assume). She then recalls her mother, when Offred was 14 or 15, coming in from marches with women, most likely concerning abortion rights. Offred recalls hating her mother for ignoring her, but her mother had reassured her she was a loved child. Snapped back to the present, Offred sees that Nick has signaled for Offred to see the Commander tonight. She wonders what Nick gets for doing the Commander's bidding. Some kickbacks or freedoms? Or just the satisfaction of knowing what others don't? She flashes back again to the day she (and all women) was fired: Luke wanted to make love but she didn't. She felt as though the gender power dynamic had shifted. She belonged to him now.

During a Scrabble game, Offred learns from the Commander that "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" was his schoolboy joke meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down" - the same phrase the previous Handmaid, who later hanged herself, had learned from him. Realizing she now has leverage over the Commander, Offred rejects his offer of material comforts and instead demands knowledge about what's happening in Gilead.

Now comfortable with each other, Offred and the Commander play Scrabble again. Towards the end of the game, she feels more at ease with him than she ever did with Luke, even. She feels he's like a kind father. "Daddyish" in her words. After the game, Offred decides she wants to talk instead of reading the magazines he has on hand, mainly to find out more about the Commander's life. He reveals little, except that he was a market researcher before. She asks him what the Latin phrase "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" means. He shows where he had written it, meaning "Don't let the bastards grind you down," as a kind of joke in a notebook as a school kid. She realizes the previous Handmaid learned it from the Commander in this office as well, so she asks what had happened to her. She'd hung herself. Offred says maybe she shouldn't come back but it's obvious he wants her to. She has something over on him now and asks what she wants. She doesn't want hand lotion or anything material: she wants knowledge of what's going on in the regime.

On a restless night, Offred exchanges a meaningful glance with Nick through her window before forcing herself to close the curtain, knowing he can't replace Luke but feeling drawn to him nonetheless. Her thoughts spiral through memories of her failed escape attempt - when they had to abandon their cat - and she realizes she's starting to forget Luke and her daughter's faces, leading her to pray despite the bitter associations with Aunt Lydia's forced prayers at the Red Center.

It's night and Offred becomes philosophical and poetic about how "night falls." She's anxious, in her nightgown in front of an open window, thinking no one can see in—but Nick is below and they exchange a longing glance. She closes the curtain on him, thinking that he's not a possibility. {1+1+1+1 ? 4} She knows Nick couldn't "replace" Luke, but you can't help what you feel as Moira had once said. Offred flashes back to the night before she, Luke, and their daughter tried to escape the country. They'd called their cat "it" instead of "her" to objectify it so Luke could kill it and not tip off their escape. But someone, perhaps a neighbor, does anyway. The regime was waiting for them. Offred, now anxious and lonely, tries to conjure the faces of Luke and her daughter because she'd been forgetting. So she prays, which makes her flash back to the prayers of forgiveness Aunt Lydia made them say in the Red Center, including forgiveness for temptation. Finally, within the realm of prayer, she considers the ideas of power, evil, glory, and hope.

During a sweltering July, Offred learns the password "mayday" from Ofglen for communicating that you are part of the resistance movement. This is during their walk past a hanging body and former university buildings, while later that same day, in a surprising turn, Serena Joy proposes a dangerous plan: that Nick should secretly father Offred's baby, offering a photo of Offred's daughter as incentive. Realizing Serena Joy has known her daughter's whereabouts all along, Offred agrees to this risky arrangement, understanding it's her last chance before being sent to the Colonies for failing to conceive with her third Commander.

Offred wants to wake up from this nightmare of a life but never can. It's a very hot July. Independence day is no longer observed (since Gilead is a new country). "Labour" Day in September is no longer about workers' rights but about women having babies. She tells time now by the moon instead of the sun. Though it seems like prison, she doesn't mark days on the wall. During summer, Handmaids' clothes are somewhat lighter but in no way revealing. As she's changing, she wishes Luke were there to argue with. On her walk with Ofglen, they see a man hanging on the Wall marked with a red "J," which isn't for "Jew" since Jews are marked who refuse to convert to Gilead's form of Christianity with a yellow star. They walk near the area of a former university that looks like a cathedral. Offred flashes back to Moira having said it was an area where undergraduate men ate and would throw "buns" at women who tried to enter. Back to the present, Ofglen says it's now a place where The Eyes are said to have banquets. Ofglen says she heard it through "the grapevine" and that there's a password for this Handmaids' grapevine: "Mayday." Ofglen says she previously tried to use it with Offred but she hadn't responded. Returning home, Nick wears his hat askew, signaling another meeting with the Commander tonight. Out of character, Serena Joy calls Offred over to the garden and, though still authoritative, speaks in a less formal tone, even using the word "damn." Serena Joy has Offred hold her wool as she knits, cigarette propped in her mouth. Serena Joy reminds Offred this attempt at pregnancy is her last chance (before being sent to the Colonies for not having a baby with the third Commander). Serena Joy acknowledges the Commander is likely to blame (for infertility) and suggests another man impregnate her, not a doctor (as Offred presumes) but Nick. Offred reluctantly agrees knowing it's a great risk to her own life. To sweeten the deal, Serena Joy offers to show Offred a current picture of her daughter. Offred has a rush of emotions: her daughter is indeed alive—but Serena Joy has known it all along. To smooth the awkward moment over, Serena Joy offers Offred a cigarette.

During a conversation in his office, where he's becoming increasingly informal and seeking affection, the Commander reveals to Offred the rationale behind Gilead's creation: men had lost their purpose due to women's rights and easy access to sex, so "some" (women) would need to suffer for the greater good (of men). Back in her room with an unsmoked cigarette from Serena Joy, Offred contemplates her trapped existence and the previous Handmaid who found freedom through suicide in this same room.

Going to the kitchen to retrieve a match Serena Joy said she can have, Offred is met with skepticism from Rita. Finally convinced, Rita also offers Offred an ice cube to help cool her down in the heat. Offred surmises Rita must now perceive Offred's newly risen status (though minor) within the household. Once in her room, Offred decides not to smoke the cigarette immediately. She could even use the match to burn the house down, though she wouldn't. She recalls her recent visits to the Commander's office at night. He's been drinking alcohol and becoming more open. He even sits on the floor beside her chair, as if a child looking up to Offred. He wants affection and companionship, but both seem to know it's not possible. Offred does find out more about why the regime took over and formed Gilead. (She'd heard from Ofglen that her Commander was at the very top of the hierarchy.) He tells Offred that men had lost purpose in life. There was no longer anything for them to do with women (a bit vague, yes). Sex by way of prostitution and pornography was too easy to get. They could no longer "feel" and had nothing "to fight for." (From the conversation and the context of the narrative, we presume women's rights were much to blame—in the minds of the Commander and others of the new regime.) The Commander admits that "some" (meaning women) would suffer, but it's for the greater good (for men—or some men). Back to the present, to her room, Offred feels trapped again—even buried. She thinks about how the previous Handmaid had hung herself above Offred's current bed. She thinks about how free that former Handmaid is now.

During a walk to a Prayvaganza at a former football stadium, Offred learns from Ofglen that Janine's baby was a "shredder" (defective or dead), triggering a flashback to the Red Center where Moira had to slap Janine out of a psychological breakdown to protect them all from punishment. The memory highlights the complex bonds between the women, from Moira's protective leadership to Janine's current precarious situation with a new Commander — her last chance after failing with the doctor's illegal intervention.

Offred and Ofglen are walking to a Prayvaganza, Offred describing herself and Ofglen as "picturesque, like Dutch milkmaids". She imagines playing with her daughter in an open field, as they once did, tying dandelions into a ring. Once at the large gathering, they line up two-by-two and head toward a building once named for a dead president "they" had shot. The rows of Handmaids walk into what was once a football stadium with high-ranking Wives and their daughters sitting in chairs on the field and Ecowives and Marthas sitting in the stands. The Handmaids sit on a part of the field cordoned off by red silk rope. Ofglen and Offred sit toward the back so they can talk. Ofglen points out a sick-looking Janine walking in. Ofglen said her baby was a "shredder," meaning baby Angela had an irregularity of some kind (though no one detected any deformation at birth) or had died early. Janine thinks it's her fault, a sin due to getting pregnant by a doctor. She's now with a new Commander and it's her last chance. Offred flashes back to a time at the Red Center, after Moira had tried to escape once already. (Moira was limping due to the Aunts having injured the bottom of her feet.) Janine was either having or faking a psychological breakdown, talking like she was a waitress in the time before. She wasn't dressed yet, so the Handmaids-in-training surrounded her, including Offred, Alma, and Moira. Moira slapped her into consciousness so they wouldn't all get punished (in the form of "extra prayers"). Moira had told Offfred and the rest to do the same if Janine did this again and Moira isn't around (hinting that Moira was planning to leave for good).

At a Prayvaganza ceremony, Offred watches as teenage girls are married off to soldiers, remembering her Commander's justification that arranged marriages are better than the previous era's focus on love, and that women are now "protected and valued" rather than left to struggle alone. In a pivotal moment as they leave, Ofglen reveals she knows about Offred's secret meetings with the Commander and instructs her to gather intelligence from him, suggesting Ofglen's connection to the resistance.

Still at the Prayvaganza, there's a packed crowd and a Commander in charge (not Offred's but one that looks like a football coach) makes a speech. Offred tunes back in as the hymn "Balm of Gilead" is being sung. Offred remembers Moira always replacing "Balm" with "Bomb." Now twenty girls dressed in white enter, most no more than fourteen years old. They are being married off to soldiers who have come back from the war. The girls' mothers had aided in arranging the marriages. Offred recalls something her own Commander said, that the young girls are benefitting from this new societal arrangement since they once had to pick up men in bars, worry about their looks, even getting nose and breast enhancements. Some never were married. Sometimes men left them and their children in poverty. Eventually, said the Commander, women gave up on marriage completely. So now they are all protected and valued. Offred had brought up the forgotten aspect of love. Arranged marriages usually turn out better, the Commander had said. Offred then remembers Aunt Lydia telling the women in the Red Center she better not "catch them at it," and that "love is not the point". For Aunt Lydia, and the entire regime, the only point is to reproduce for the good of Gilead. Ofglen and Offred joke among themselves about the hypocrisy of the current Wives not being sober. Offred feels sorry for the girls getting married because they are stuck with their ugly husbands and will have to deal with Handmaids later if they, themselves, end up being infertile. She remembers Aunt Lydia saying there should be comradery between all women, which Moira had mocked. Offred wishes she could be as crude and rebellious as Moira. Now, as the Handmaids leave the ceremony, Ofglen says she knows Offred sees her Commander in secret? Upon parting, Ofglen tells her to find out anything she can from the Commander.

While trying to avoid memories of her failed escape attempt with Luke and her daughter, Offred contemplates the now-forbidden concept of love in all its forms, seeing herself as a "refugee from the past" in a world where relationships serve only the regime's purposes. Her musings are interrupted when Serena Joy brings a photo of her daughter - older and smiling - leaving Offred relieved she's alive but pained that her daughter has likely forgotten her.

Back in her stifling hot room, her mind is spinning. First, she flashes back to the escape attempt with Luke and her daughter, when they had been doubted at a border crossing with new passports, Luke's saying he'd never been divorced since that was a new law (presumably that you can't remarry). They had a whole story about a picnic but the guard was on the phone calling someone so Luke jumped back in the car and they sped away. However, Offred doesn't want to think about this, so she muses on the subject of "love" — understandable given the wedding ceremony and the discussion with the commander. She ponders all the phrases (falling in love, I fell for him, God is love, love—the word made flesh). She wavers into the ephemeral side of love, the past tense, and then about bad consequences of passion, like murder. Also she thinks of how long you are supposed to mourn for one you loved, like a wife losing a husband to war. The point to all her musing is that these sorts of feelings of love, passion, and loss are literally a thing of the past. All relationships are now arranged for the good of the regime, for the future of Gilead. Offred is a "refugee from the past." As she continues to try to fill the blank space of time, Offred hears a knock at the door. It's Serena Joy with the promised photo of her daughter. She's older, taller, smiling a little. Offred has mixed feelings: she's alive but the memory of her mother is probably washed away.

The Commander's "surprise" for Offred turns out to be a demeaning night out, forcing her to wear a sequined costume and makeup before smuggling her into a secret club with a purple wristband marking her as a "rental." As she's snuck in past security, hiding on the car's floorboard under Nick's ambiguous gaze, Offred catches herself absurdly wanting to check her appearance in a mirror, hearing Moira's voice in her head calling her an idiot.

Later that night, Offred returns to the Commander's office with her newfound confidence within the (albeit awkward) relationship. The Commander has a "surprise" for her, in the form of a humiliating costume—a girdle of sequins and feathers. He will "take her out" tonight. She protests in her sassy way but realizes she has no choice in the matter, no power, even having to degenerate her face with an outlandish paint job. The Commander then sneaks her through the city (adorning a Wife's blue hooded cloak) with Nick in the driver's seat. Entering the gate of the establishment, she must hide on the floorboard since Wives aren't allowed. Nick glances at her through the rearview mirror: look of disgust or indifference? For the final humiliation before the Commander uses his key to the back-entrance of this boy's club, he straps a purple wristband on Offred, identifying her as a "rental," a prostitute for the night. In a strange moment, Offred wants to look into a mirror to make sure she looks presentable, to which her inner voice by way of Moira calls her an idiot.

In a former hotel turned secret club, Offred discovers it's a gathering place for high-ranking officers and foreign delegates, where women deemed unfit for Gilead society — former professionals and scholars - serve as entertainment, the Commander justifying it as necessary for business and men's "natural" needs. In a shocking moment, Offred spots Moira among the women in costume, and they exchange signals to meet in private, forcing Offred to make an excuse to the Commander about needing the washroom.

Inside the establishment, Offred realizes it was formerly a large hotel that she recognizes. She hears a man and woman laughing behind closed doors of one of the many rooms and recalls that she would long ago meet Luke here. Within the large lobby of the hotel, many women are adorned in skimpy outfits similar to Offred's—some tropical, some kinky cosplay, some in outright bikinis. Men are wearing dark suits and uniforms. There's a fake cheerfulness among all. The Commander, after a few cheerfully sexist remarks ("It's like walking into the past…"), becomes worried Offred will give herself away as not belonging, though she knows she merely has to act and look stupid to fit in. The Commander shows off his feathered rental to his buddies around the club (so named by those in charge) before taking Offred to a couch to rest where she notices Japanese and Arab men in the mix. The Commander brags about the place and asks her opinion. She points out the illegality of such a place and he retorts in a further sexist and hypocritical manner: "But everyone's human, after all" and "Nature demands variety, for men." Prodded further, the Commander reveals that the club is primarily for the high-ranking officers of Gilead but also for trade delegates. This place is essential for business. The women are consigned to the place through a variety of means: some were prostitutes before the new government, some were liberal scholars, some former business leaders. All are not fit for Gileadean society but can be of more use than off in the Colonies—attractiveness being the only criteria. He offers Offred a drink and she coyly accepts. The Commander off to fetch her gin and tonic, Offred spots Moira, dressed in an absurd and tattered costume. Moira, possibly a rabbit or a reindeer, looks at ease among the girls and the place itself. After a few beats, she finally meets Offred's glance. A familiar covert signal to meet up ensues, the Commander returns with two drinks, Offred pleads for the washroom and then awkwardly, in borrowed heels, saunters off to find Moira.

During two clandestine bathroom meetings, Moira reveals to Offred how she escaped the Red Center by impersonating an Aunt and found temporary refuge through the Underground Femaleroad before being caught in Maine, after which she chose the club over the Colonies where unwanted groups are sent to die. Though dismayed by Moira's seemingly resigned acceptance of her new life among the "damned" women in the club, Offred learns crucial details about Gilead's early days - when religious tolerance still existed and the Rachel and Leah Centers were unknown — while realizing her once-rebellious friend has lost her fighting spirit, no longer the resistance hero Offred had imagined.

Offred remembers this washroom, its outer door still scrolled in gold with the word "Ladies." But now, a gussied-up Aunt, armed with a cattle prod, guards the entrance. She controls the break time of the women working at the club. Once inside, she remembers the rest area anterior to the toilet cubicles. There's a couch beneath a large mirror (significant, since "lesser women" aren't allowed the privilege). Moira emerges from a cubicle. No need of being stealthy, Moira seems in command of the room. The two embrace and Offred begins to cry. Moira scolds her, saying her makeup will run and there's no time (for sentimentality). The two catch up and exchange crude remarks about Commanders. Not worried that the place is bugged (the regime doesn't care what these women have to say), Moira remarks that "borrowing" Offred for the night is something Commanders do for a power trip since it's technically not legal.

Offred asks her to relate everything that had happened during her escape. Breaking from the narrative, Offred says (from the actual point in time she's relating her entire, book-length narrative) she must fill in what she currently can't remember. Whatsmore, Moira's account comes from two separate bathroom breaks during the night. Here is the story Offred recalls: Moira had tied up Aunt Elizabeth and put on her clothes. Taking on the persona of an Aunt, Moira walked out of the Center and made it past one of many newly installed checkpoints. She sought out the address of a married Quaker couple (which she'd remembered from a mailing list), who fed her and took her to another Quaker couple. This couple happened to be a part of the Underground Femaleroad. In this network was a mailman who was since caught by the regime and hung on the Wall. She was secretly passed along for about nine months until she was caught, along with a couple transporting her, by Eyes in Maine. She was promptly taken to be tortured for a time and then given a choice: the Colonies or the club. Offred worries for Moira because she sounds so indifferent now, readily accepting a life of alcohol, drugs, and sex. She feels she's losing a hero. But Moira comforts her, saying she's now in a "butch paradise," meaning a good place for lesbians. No one cares about their same-sex activities since "they're all damned anyway." Stepping out of the narrative again, Offred recalls wishing Moira had ended up bombing the place or destroying it somehow. (No "bomb in Gilead" after all.)

During a private moment before being forced to have sex with the Commander in a hotel room, Offred's mind splinters between memories: learning from Moira that her mother is alive but suffering in the Colonies, remembering her mother's unexplained disappearance when the regime took power, and painfully acknowledging she'll have to mourn her mother repeatedly. Back in the present, Offred, feeling like a degraded Cinderella with her cattle-brand tattoo, realizes she must fake enjoyment with the disgusting Commander to survive, almost wishing for Serena's presence to make it feel more "normal."

After procuring a key, the Commander takes Offred to one of the private rooms (once hotel rooms). Offred needs a few minutes to compose herself due to all the night's chaos. This leads to the narrative breaking off into many splintered paths. First, she recalls a conversation she must have just had earlier with Moira in the washroom. Moira had for sure seen Offred's mom in a film about the Colonies. Offred is relieved that she's alive but Moira says she'd be better off dead. This leads to Offred recalling times, as an adult, her mother would just drop in on her every few weeks—like the mother-daughter roles were reversed. Then, as the new regime started taking over, they couldn't get in contact with her mother. She and Luke went to her flat and convinced the superintendent to let them in. The apartment was in disarray—something had happened. Luke wouldn't let Offred call the police. He knew the regime had taken her.

Splintering the narrative off again, Offred remembers Moira at various times saying Offred's mother was neat, had pizzazz, or was cute. Then Offred imagines her mother "cleaning" in the Colonies. Offred hopes this "pizzazz" will get her mother out of her situation—but she knows this is just a convenient thought on her part and that, even though she's already mourned her mother's loss, she'll have to do it over and over. Offred's mind then returns to the present where she has a "mirror moment," seeing how much in disarray she is and wishing she had a toothbrush (for her own good or for the Commander's?). She thinks of herself as Cinderella, needing to be home before midnight before going out to see a shoeless. He lies beside her and he strokes her from "stem to stern," down to the "cattle brand" of a tattooed bracelet she has on her ankle. He undresses and she's disgusted, almost wanting "Serena" (intentionally, and significantly, dropping "Joy") with them to feel more "normal". He offers to turn off the light as he perceives she can't actually enjoy the experience. To get it over with and, ultimately, to survive, she knows she must fake enjoyment.

During a midnight rendezvous arranged by Serena Joy, Offred meets Nick in his room above the garage, where their awkward, forced encounter evolves from clinical discussion of artificial insemination to a moment of genuine connection, though Offred admits to romanticizing parts of her retelling. As she struggles to accurately reconstruct the events, Offred reveals her conflicting emotions: imagining Serena Joy's judgment from the kitchen below, feeling guilty about betraying Luke, and realizing that despite her initial assumption this would be a one-time affair, she wants more from this "echo of an echo" of romance.

On the same night, Offred is back in her room, lying in bed fully clothed as a Handmaid again having removed all remnants, she hopes, of the club and the Commander. The floodlights are off, probably of Serena Joy's doing, and Serena Joy knocks on Offred's door at midnight, as was the plan. So, we understand more fully why Offred had mentioned, Cinderella-like, she needed to be home by midnight. Serena Joy leads her down the corridor swiftly for her age, though holding on tightly to the banister of the stairs. Serena Joy leaves her at the kitchen door, whispering that she won't go outside with Offred. She'll stay behind to cover Offred's tracks. In the distance, a storm is coming (of course). Offred becomes an unreliable narrator for a moment, romanticizing the encounter with Nick, as if it's a hot, passionate affair. But then she fesses up and gives a more accurate account. In this second account, Nick is still smoking and gives Offred a drag. This forced encounter proves awkward at first (Nick offers to artificially inseminate Offred), but they start quoting cheesy pickup lines from movies to break the tension. But suddenly Offred becomes sad, thinking of how the old life has faded—this fake romance is "an echo of an echo." Nick holds her to bring comfort and they agree on no romance. Breaking narrative again, Offred admits that in this narrative she made up the sounds of thunder that hid the sounds she made during intercourse (that apparently she's ashamed of). Also, she can't really remember exactly what all happened during the encounter except that at some point she thought of Serena Joy down in the kitchen judging her, calling her cheap (even though she doesn't have a choice). She also does remember thinking this would be a one-time affair. The mixed feelings about this "reconstruction" are obvious. She wants this to be an ongoing affair but she also feels like she's betraying Luke.

In a self-reflective passage, Offred apologizes to her future listener (possibly Luke) for the fragmented, painful nature of her story and confesses to frequent secret meetings with Nick that have become more than just attempts at conception. Though Ofglen had urged her to gather intelligence from the Commander, Offred admits she's lost interest in resistance and escape, instead finding dangerous comfort in her relationship with Nick - sharing everything except memories of Luke - while knowing this contentment in their "cave" puts them both at risk.

Keeping with the recent habit of breaking the narrative, Offred makes a few judgemental remarks about herself concerning the story she's been telling about her experiences with Nick and with the Commander. She wishes she could be telling a different story about herself, one that didn't cast her in such a bad light. She apologizes to the reader or listener about the pain she conveys and how her story is fragmented (again evoking the idea of fragmented bodies, "caught in crossfire or pulled apart by force"). She says all her talk of flowers was to put "some of the good things in." She speaks in second person to the reader, saying that if she keeps telling the story, no matter how sordid, the reader must be alive. Most likely she's speaking to Luke, especially since she recounts going back to see Nick over and over, without Serena Joy's consent or knowledge. These visits are purely out of the necessity of touch, closeness, and sex. She talks about how with the Commander, she must close her eyes but not with Nick. They never use the word love, but she feels safe with Nick in this "cave." However, she knows she reveals too much to him—about Ofglen and Moira, but not about Luke. She flashes back at some point about Ofglen wanting Offred to try to gather information about the Commander, but she doesn't care about any of that anymore. What's worse, she reflects, is that she no longer wants to escape. She wants to stay there with Nick. She tells him she may be pregnant but knows she's wishful thinking. Nick says that no matter what, everything else should remain as usual. Speaking more generally about a longer recent time span, she says that Cora is hopeful about Offred's pregnancy, and she wonders if Cora and Rita know about her visiting Nick recently. Lastly, Offred says that Ofglen has given up on her, talking mostly about the weather now.

During a televised "Salvaging" ceremony at the former university grounds, Aunt Lydia presides over the hanging of three women - a Wife and two Handmaids - while refusing to announce their crimes to prevent copycat incidents, leaving the assembled women to speculate about their offenses. As the Wife is hanged with a white bag over her head, the Handmaids must participate in a ritualistic gesture of consent by touching a rope that winds through their rows and placing their hands over their hearts, though Offred can barely stand to watch, focusing instead on the rope to avoid witnessing the execution.

Offred is walking to a ceremony called "Salvaging," announced the day prior, held only for the women of the district. The Handmaids walk in pairs again, and Offred narrates how the buildings were once the university but now owned by the Eyes, all the while a literal bell is tolling. A platform (reminiscent of a Commencement platform in the time before) has been erected on a field where the women are assembling. It's a gallows, empty nooses hanging ominously. Women have their usual places: Wives and their daughters in folded chairs at the back, Marthas and Econowives on the library steps, Handmaids in front on cushions. A rope winds through the rows of Handmaids. One Wife and two Handmaids are onstage to be "Salvaged." Three women, one Aunt (Aunt Lydia!), and two salvagers in black robes ascend the stage. Aunt Lydia looks older and when she begins to speak (saying "ladies" instead of "girls" since wives are present), there is an audio malfunction and some of the Handmaids giggle. Aunt Lydia announces that since the Salvaging is being televised and, in the past, copycat crimes always occur after previous Salvagings, the crimes of those being hanged today will not be announced. This causes murmuring among the Handmaids, but Aunt Lydia just blinks and smiles. So they speculate amongst themselves—Handmaids: unchastity or attempted murder? The Wife: killing a Handmaid? Attempted escape? (We find out that a Handmaid will get a hand chopped off for reading, but that doesn't happen here.) A white bag is placed over the Wife's head, who's likely been drugged. She's helped onto the stool then hanged, Salvagers pulling down on her legs. At the same time as the hanging, the Handmaids must touch the rope in front of them and then put a hand over their heart to show they consent to the Salvaging. Offred can hardly take these Salvagings anymore so she looks down at the rope (to describe it).

During a "Particicution" following the hangings, the Handmaids are allowed to brutally attack a man accused of rape, but Ofglen reveals to a horrified Offred that he was actually a political prisoner ("Mayday") whom she mercifully kicked unconscious to end his suffering. The disturbing scene concludes with Janine walking past displaying a trophy of the dead man's hair while speaking in an unhinged manner, leaving Offred physically ill yet paradoxically hungry, repeating her mantra "I am, I am."

All three having now been hanged, their bodies swaying before the crowd, Aunt Lydia concludes the Salvaging but announces to the Handmaids that there will be a Particicution. Two Guardians drag a severely beaten third guard before the gathered Handmaids. Aunt Lydia announces that this Guardian, along with another who'd already been shot, was accused of the rape (at gunpoint) of two Handmaids, one of which was pregnant. This enrages all the Handmaids, including Offred. The women are allowed to do anything they want to the man until Aunt Lydia blows the whistle a second time. The Particicution commences, the man stumbles around and painfully mutters, "I didn't…" Ofglen comes forward, pushes him down, and then kicks him violently in the head. She returns to Offred's side. Offred is appalled but Ofglen tells her that the man wasn't a rapist but a "Political" — one of "them." (Mayday, presumably.) Offred had recognized him and put him out of his misery. She cautions Offred not to react because the Wives and everyone else are watching and scrutinizing the Handmaids' actions. After Aunt Lydia's second whistle, the Handmaids get back into their lines but Janine, eyes wild in either a psychotic state or a faked one, walks by with a clump of the man's hair and says, "Hi there…How are you doing?" and "You have a nice day." Offred feels sick and repeats her own prayer, "I am, I am." She also becomes ravenous, for food and for sex.

On the day after the executions, Offred discovers her shopping companion has been replaced by a new "Ofglen," whose rigid adherence to protocol and warning about "echoes" of May Day terrifies Offred. As panic sets in about being potentially compromised and too weak to withstand torture, the new Ofglen reveals that her predecessor had hanged herself when she saw the regime's van coming for her, saying "It was better" - leaving Offred to contemplate her own vulnerability and the fate of her loved ones.

The same day as the Salvaging and Particicution, Offred eats what amounts to a child's lunch. She feels things are back to normal and looks forward to going shopping with Ofglen. Leaving through the back door, she sees Nick washing the car with his hat sideways (signaling to meet the Commander tonight). Waiting at the corner for Ofglen, something seems off. She's smaller. Sure enough, it's a new "Ofglen." During their walk, Offred tries to figure this new shopping companion out. All of Ofglen's responses are wooden and aligned with Handmaid protocol. At the Wall where the Wife and two Handmaids hang, Ofglen says, "Let that be a reminder to us." The proper response from Offred should be "Praise be," but she says yes instead. This elicits a quick glance from Ofglen. Offred considers not taking any further risks but can't help it. She tells Ofglen she only knew the old Ofglen since the beginning of May. "What they used to call May Day," she says. Ofglen's response frightens Offred. She says Offred should clear her mind of such "echoes" of the past. Offred continues the walk in terror realizing that Ofglen isn't from the May Day resistance but knows about it. She also realizes that the former Ofglen was quite possibly compromised and caught. She'd probably give Offred up as being a part of the resistance—to the extent she has been. Her mind goes wild thinking how they know where her daughter is. Maybe they even have her mother or Moira or Luke. And if she's ever tortured, she's too weak of a person not to tell the regime anything or give anyone up. As they are about to part ways, the new Ofglen leans in toward Offred and whispers that the old Ofglen hanged herself because she saw the van coming. "It was better," Ofglen says.

After learning of the former Ofglen's suicide, Offred is simultaneously relieved her companion didn't betray her and terrified into becoming a true "empty chalice," willing to believe everything from the Red Center as her resistance crumbles. Her momentary safety is shattered when Serena Joy confronts her with evidence of her visits to Jezebel's with the Commander, revealing both her fury and, surprisingly, a hint of hurt in her comment, "You could have left me something" - suggesting the loss of her husband's affection is the final thing stripped from her, after losing her youth, fertility, and the very freedoms she once advocated against.

Ofglen (the new one) has departed and Offred is left dazed and breathless. Perhaps very sad about the former Ofglen dying, she's relieved that she killed herself before giving Offred away. Yet, she also thanks God and says she'll now be a true "empty chalice." She's still stunned, however, and Nick washing his car seems incredibly distant. She's willing now to believe everything they taught her at the Red Center. The fear of the Wall (like Room 101 in 1984) has become too overpowering for her to resist even internally. She no longer feels any agency or power: all power belongs to the regime. Serena Joy calls her over and says, "I trusted you," and "I tried to help you". Offred, with Serena Joy towering over her like the true adult, is pervaded with guilt but she isn't sure what Serena Joy knows about her and the Commander. A confession is demanded of Offred but she won't confess and has to ask what she's done. Serena Joy holds out her winter cloak with lipstick on it and then produces the slinky outfit from the night at Jezebel's. Serena Joy says, more to herself than Offred, perhaps, "I told him…" Most surprisingly, she says, "You could have left me something," prompting Offred to wonder if she loved him after all. The reader knows everything else has been taken from Serena Joy (the freedoms of women, though ironic since that's what she had fought for; her youth and beauty; the ability to have her own children; and now, whether it's about love or not, the affections of her husband). Offred is ordered to her room though she wants to run to the arms of Nick. Instead, she does as she's told and calmly goes upstairs.

Offred considers her options as she waits in her room. A black van arrives, but it's Nick who enters, claiming the supposed Eyes are actually May Day operatives there to save her. Offred is escorted out of the house by these men, leaving behind a shocked Serena Joy and Commander, with her fate uncertain.

Back in her room now, slinky costume still in hand, Offred is waiting for something to happen—but she doesn't know what. She feels oddly at peace, perhaps because all the waiting is almost over. It seems to have quickly become dark outside. She considers her options: 1) burn the house down and die in the smoke, 2) plead to the Commander, 3) use the sheets to hang herself, 4) kill Serena Joy and escape, or 5) run to Nick and ask for shelter. But all those require more strength than she has since "Faith is only a word, embroidered." She wishes for an easy, beautiful death, like freezing in the snow. She suddently feels the presence of the former Offred who had committed suicide, prodding her to do the same. She wasted too much time, however, as a black van pulls up and footsteps are suddenly on the stairs. It's Nick, though. Her first thought is that he's been an Eye all along, an enemy. But he reassures her, saying that they, the supposed Eyes from the van, are actually May Day. She should trust them. They've arrived to save her. She's skeptical, of course. The men now start for the staircase with Offred. Nick has vanished. Serena Joy and the Commander are dumbfounded. Serena Joy is beneath the fisheye mirror and the Commander looks old and frail, both spatially beneath Offred on the staircase. "What has she done?" Serena Joy asks. So it wasn't Serena Joy or the Commander who turned her in. The men say she's divulged state secrets. Serena Joy calls her a bitch for betraying them, knowing this could have the Commander purged. Cora and Rita appear from the kitchen. Cora is upset and crying because she had such hopes in this Offred. The narrative ends with Offred stepping out of the house, escorted into an unknown fate. She's either saved or damned.