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The Handmaid's Tale: Top Ten Quotes

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  1. "We learned to whisper almost without sound. In the semidarkness we could stretch out our arms, when the Aunts weren't looking, and touch each other's hands across space. We learned to lipread, our heads flat on the beds, turned sideways, watching each other's mouths. In this way, we exchanged names, from bed to bed: Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June." Ch. 1.
    How the women learn to communicate in secret at the Rachel and Leah Center.
  2. Ofglen gives the standard Handmaid greeting to Offred.
  3. "May the Lord open." Ch. 4
    Offred gives Ofglen the accepted response.
  4. "I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born." Ch. 12
    Offred's thoughts just before she goes to participate in the Ceremony.
  5. "Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She made us dizzy." Ch. 22
    Offred's thoughts after Moira has escaped. The idea of freedom frightens the women who have become used to their limited lives.
  6. "Live in the present, make the most of it, it's all you've got." Ch. 24
    Offred tries to compose her thoughts after her first visit to the Commander's office.
  7. "It was like being in an elevator cut loose at the top. Falling, falling, and not knowing when you will hit. Ch. 30
    Offred describes what it was like when she realized that she and Luke had been betrayed in their plan to escape.
  8. "Every night when I go to bed I think, In the morning I will wake up in my own house and things will be back the way they were.
    It hasn't happened this morning, either. Ch. 31
    Offred on how hope (and illusion) keep reviving, only to be defeated again and again by reality.
  9. "There is something powerful in the whispering of obscenities, about those in power. There's something delightful about it, something naughty, secretive, forbidden, thrilling. It's like a spell, of sorts. It deflates them, reduces them to the common denominator where they can be dealt." Ch. 34
    At the Prayvaganza Offred thinks back to Moira's irreverent attitude at such moments.
  10. "Nature demands variety, for men. It stands to reason, it's part of the procreational strategy. It's Nature's plan." Ch. 37
    The Commander explains his beliefs to Offred at the club.

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Top Novelguides

Apology A Christmas Carol A Clean Well Lighted Place A Clockwork Orange A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court A Doll's House A Farewell To Arms A Hope in the Unseen A Lost Lady A Man For All Seasons A Midsummer Night's Dream A Modest Proposal A Passage to India A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Raisin in the Sun A Room With a View A Separate Peace A Streetcar Named Desire A Tale of Two Cities A Thousand Splendid Suns A Tree Grows In Brooklyn A Walk to Remember A Wrinkle In Time Absalom-Absalom Across Five Aprils Adam Bede Adventures of Augie March Agamemnon Alas Babylon Alice in Wonderland All My Sons All Quiet on the Western Front All the Kings Men All the Pretty Horses All's Well That Ends Well An American Tragedy An Enemy of the People And Then There Were None Angela's Ashes Animal Farm Anna Karenina Anthem Antigone Sophocles Antigone Antony and Cleopatra April Morning Aristotles Ethics Aristotle's Poetics Arms and the Man Around the World in Eighty Days


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Top Novelguides

# Novelguide Title
1 Apology
2 A Christmas Carol
3 A Clean Well Lighted Place
4 A Clockwork Orange
5 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
6 A Doll's House
7 A Farewell To Arms
8 A Hope in the Unseen
9 A Lost Lady
10 A Man For All Seasons
11 A Midsummer Night's Dream
12 A Modest Proposal
13 A Passage to India
14 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
15 A Raisin in the Sun
16 A Room With a View
17 A Separate Peace
18 A Streetcar Named Desire
19 A Tale of Two Cities
20 A Thousand Splendid Suns
21 A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
22 A Walk to Remember
23 A Wrinkle In Time
24 Absalom-Absalom
25 Across Five Aprils
26 Adam Bede
27 Adventures of Augie March
28 Agamemnon
29 Alas Babylon
30 Alice in Wonderland
31 All My Sons
32 All Quiet on the Western Front
33 All the Kings Men
34 All the Pretty Horses
35 All's Well That Ends Well
36 An American Tragedy
37 An Enemy of the People
38 And Then There Were None
39 Angela's Ashes
40 Animal Farm
41 Anna Karenina
42 Anthem
43 Antigone Sophocles
44 Antigone
45 Antony and Cleopatra
46 April Morning
47 Aristotles Ethics
48 Aristotle's Poetics
49 Aristotles Politics
50 Arms and the Man

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