The Handmaid’s Tale: chapter summaries

A possible principle I like: you can write 3-4 sentences about the chapter that answer all of the
following questions, and include only the most necessary detail:

Who did what, when, where, how, (and why)?

Part 1: Night
Chapter 1:
Mass sleeping room (gymnasium). Memories. Angels. (> what I wrote under the chapter number
for structuring help.)
At a presently unknown historical time, at night, the unknown (first-person) narrator depicts the
atmosphere of her current sleeping room, where she sleeps with unknown others (referred to as
“we”). It used to be a gym and she imagines what used to take place there in the past; we are
immediately plunged right into her memories and phantasies by a variety of details that appeal to
our various senses. There are women called “Aunts” patrolling the still dimly lighted room and
there are guards known as “Angels” watching outside, with whom “we” are not allowed to interact.
Information among the “we”-characters (for example first names) is exchanged through secret
whispering.
As to the why the situation is the way it is, we do not learn anything, but we are given certain hints
from which we can infer or merely assume the following:
• the narrator is kept there against her will (> the Aunts are patrolling and the Angels are
watching outside. She ponders a possible “exchange” with the Angels.)
• the narrator can remember a time when her world was different (> the gym must have been
used as a gym, not a sleeping room)
• the narrator aches for the world to return to how it used to be (assumption)

Part 2: Shopping
Chapter 2:
Room. House. Rita & Cora.
The still nameless narrator describes the room she lives in, the clothes she wears (only red for the
outside), the way from her room to the kitchen, and the kitchen, in meticulous detail. She lives in a
large house maintained by the maid, Cora, and the cook, Rita, both of whom belong to what can
be called a class called the “Marthas” (recognizable by green dresses). She eavesdrops on their
gossip and longs to socialize with them, but they shut her out. The narrator is responsible for
shopping and is given tokens for foods to buy.

Chapter 3:
Fill the gaps!
Arrival at Commander’s house. (Un-)welcomed by Serena Joy.
On her way to do the shopping, the narrator passes through the garden, the “domain” of the
mistress of the house (the “The Commander’s Wife”). The Wife often works in the garden assisted
by a so-called ……………………….. . As a member of the group referred to as ………………… ,
she wears the color …………………………. .The narrator remembers the first time she met the
Wife upon her arrival at the Commander’s house. The Wife tells the narrator to stay out of her way
and to keep the interaction with her …………………. at a minimum. It occurs to the narrator where
she had seen the Wife, whom she comes to refer as ………………………. , before; the Wife used
to be a singer, popular for appearing on a TV program for ………………….. called “Growing Souls
Gospel Hour” on Sunday mornings.

(KEY: Guardian, the Wives, blue, husband, Serena Joy, children)

Chapter 4:
Fill some larger gaps…
Nick. Ofglen. On the way to do the shopping. Young Guardians.
On her way to the street the narrator passes Nick, while he is ………………………………………. .
The “Guardians” have a ………………………………. in society. They are not real
…………………….. , but are responsible for …………………………………………………. . Nick
……………………………. at her. Once outside, she meets Ofglen, her ……………………………. .
The words she greets Ofglen with are “………………………………………………….”, She is given
the answer “…………………………………………….”. The two of them head for the shopping area
and are stopped at …………………………………. by two young Guardians who ask them to
……………………………………….. . As the narrator and Ofglen pass the barrier, the narrator
wonders how the Guardians perceive them, the “………………………..” , since in this chapter the
name of the group the narrator belongs to is mentioned for the first time), and engages in
…………………………………. featuring herself with the Guardians.

(possible fillers: polishing the Commander’s car, low status, soldiers, routine policing and other menial functions, winks, shopping
partner, “Blessed be the fruit”, “May the Lord open”, the first barrier, show their passes, Handmaids, sexual phantasies)

Chapter 5: Feli

Chapter 6: Max

Chapter 7: Fabiana

Chapter 8: Andro

Chapter 9: Simon