Head of the household which Offred is assigned as the handmaid.  

Serena Joy’s husband.  

Appearance described as ‘“like a Midwestern bank president.’ 

Selfish  

He is nostalgic for the past. His relationship with his wife is distant and stained. He is also patronizing and condescending. He controls Offred. 

Nick Bowden 

‘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 up thing, not something born.’ (p 76) 

‘We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the black and white spaces at the edges of print.’ (p.66) 

‘We are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans... no room is to be permitted for the flowering of secret lusts; no special favours are to be wheeled, by them or us, there are to be no toeholds for love. We are two legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.’ (p.146) 

‘Fake it, I scream at myself inside my head. You must remember how. Let's get this over with or you’ll be here all night. Bestir yourself. Move your flesh around, breath audibly. It’s the least you can do.’ (p.267) 

‘I made that up. It didn’t happen that way. Here is what happened.’ (p.273) 

‘And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.’ (p.307) 

‘Are there any questions?’ 9P.324) 

• ‘ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it’ People are indoctrinated. They ignore the injustice, suffering and oppressive environment. 

• ‘better never means better for everyone.. It always means worse, for some’ commander highlighting inequality, hypocrisy, Improvement for some comes with a cost for others. 

• ‘We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom’ Offred looking at those who are disregarded by the regime. Isolation and lack of power.  

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