The Handmaid’s Tale

But all of that was pertinent only in the night, and had nothing to do with the man you loved, at least in daylight. With that man you wanted it to work, to work out. Working out was also something you did to keep your body in shape, for the man. If you worked out enough, maybe the man would too. Maybe you would be able to work it out together, as if the two of you were a puzzle that could be solved; otherwise, one of you, most likely the man, would go wandering off on a trajectory of his own, taking his addictive body with him and leaving you with bad withdrawal, which you could counteract by exercise. If you didn't work it out it was because one of you had the wrong attitude.

I felt love going forward without me.

hope is rising in me, like sap in a tree

hope is rising in me, like sap in a tree. Blood in a wound.

I could scream. I could run away. I could turn from her silently, to show her I won’t tolerate this kind of talk in my presence. Subversion, sedition, blasphemy, heresy, all rolled into one.

Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.

The tension between her lack of control and her attempt to suppress it is horrible. It’s like a fart in church.

In this house we all envy each other something.

I need to be very clear, in my own mind.

evidence from a single woman is no longer admissible;