Section 6: Household - Chapter seventeen

Synopsis of chapter seventeen

Back in her own room, Offred rubs over her face the butter she had saved earlier. It is the closest she can get to a face-cream. She decides she wants to assert her own will, even if only in a tiny way, by stealing something. She creeps down to the sitting-room, and decides to take a dead daffodil, because it is something that will not be missed. Then she realises that there is someone else in the room. It is Nick, who comes up to her and kisses her, before telling her that the Commander wants to see her in his office the next day. Puzzled, Offred goes back to her room.

Commentary on chapter seventeen

no … face cream ... a decree of the Wives - The Handmaids are universally resented by the Wives rather than being seen as a help to the state.

The Rachel and Leah Centre ... Red Centre - Red is the colour of the Handmaids because it represents the womb and fertility. The training centre is actually called the Rachel and Leah Centre because both Rachel and Leah gave their maids to their husband Jacob to bear his children (see Genesis 30:3-11).

touched again, in love or desire - Once more Offred shows the importance of warm human physical contact of which she feels so deprived. Although the cushions ‘Hope' and ‘Love' have been removed from her room (see chapter 10) the feelings still exist in Offred. (See also Themes and significant ideas > Human relationships.)

I want to be held and told my name - Offred longs to be valued again as an individual. (See Themes and significant ideas > Individualism and identity.)

I want to steal something - Offred's identity, her husband, her child and indeed her whole life have been stolen from her. She wants to assert, even in a small way, her own will and power.

The active, is it a tense? Tensed - Offred again shows her awareness of words by punning on the idea of the active voice of a verb and the idea of action, and also on the idea of a verb tense and of being ‘tense' in the sense of ‘ taut'.

In the wood at midnight - Offred is aware of her situation as being like a child lost in a dark wood, in fairy tale. Atwood has been much influenced by the idea of myth and fairy tale. (See also Themes and significant ideas > Myth and fairy tale.)

we're mirrors - Just as Offred had earlier seen Ofglen as her double, now she recognises that she and Nick are in parallel situations. (See Themes and significant ideas > Doubling.)

so good to be touched - Again Offred stresses the need to be touched, to feel the warmth of human relationships.

Is this what I would die for? - Offred's priority is to survive; her rebellious actions are tiny, and, she hopes, unnoticed. She is no overt rebel as Moira is.

Investigating chapter seventeen

Consider the importance of names
- How far do they help to define one's identity?
Which characters in fiction have aptronyms (names which are appropriate to their character, such as Mrs. Malaprop from the play The Rivals) or names which suggest something of their qualities (such as Jane Eyre)?
Why might Atwood choose not to reveal explicitly the real name of Offred?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, Give me children, or I shall die! ²Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb? ³Then she said, Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her. ⁴So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Then Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷Rachel's servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Then Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Then Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, Good fortune has come! so she called his name Gad. ¹²Leah's servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said, Happy am I! For women have called me happy. So she called his name Asher. ¹⁴In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Please give me some of your son's mandrakes. ¹⁵But she said to her, Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also? Rachel said, Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes. ¹⁶When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes. So he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband. So she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. ²⁰Then Leah said, God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons. So she called his name Zebulun. ²¹Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah. ²²Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. ²³She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying, May the Lord add to me another son! ²⁵As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you. ²⁷But Laban said to him, If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. ²⁸Name your wages, and I will give it. ²⁹Jacob said to him, You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me. ³⁰For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also? ³¹He said, What shall I give you? Jacob said, You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it: ³²let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages. ³³So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen. ³⁴Laban said, Good! Let it be as you have said. ³⁵But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons. ³⁶And he set a distance of three days' journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban's flock. ³⁷Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. ³⁸He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, ³⁹the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban's flock. ⁴¹Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, ⁴²but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

¹And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. ²And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ³And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. ⁴And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. ¹²And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher. ¹⁴And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁵And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes. ¹⁶And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. ¹⁸And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. ²⁰And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. ²¹And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: ²⁴And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. ²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. ²⁷And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. ²⁹And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. ³⁰For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? ³¹And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. ³²I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. ³³So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. ³⁴And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. ³⁵And he removed that day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶And he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. ³⁷And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring-streaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. ⁴¹And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. ⁴²But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's. ⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

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The Handmaid's Tale Contents

Section 6: Household - Chapter seventeen

Synopsis of chapter seventeen

Commentary on chapter seventeen

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