Notes

He doesn't mind this, I thought. He doesn't mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not each other's, anymore. Instead, I am his"
Unworthy, unjust, untrue. But that is what happened"

Offreds description of how things changed slowly as if ehating water so no one had the need to protest them and let them continue till they ntoiced the heat and were boiled- is reminsicent of hitlers steps to war he slowly remillitarised the rhineland and slowly by slowly begun the war tryin to take over.

"She's in her usual Martha's dress, which is dull green like a surgeon's gown of the time before. The dress is much like mine in shape, long and concealing, but with a bib apron over it and without the white wings and the veil. She puts on the veil to go outside, but nobody much cares who sees the face of a Martha. Her sleeves are rolled to the elbow, showing her brown arms." (pg. 9)
'Brown arms' suggests shes balack theyve revived slavery, green symbolises the envrionmental movement of going green and recycling and resuing an dbeing more resourceful- maybe that links in with the resourcefullness of cslaves

wives dress in blue. blue represents a dismal feeling shows how they are upset/ torn by their infertility.

"Her face might be kindly if she would smile. But the frown isn't personal; it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for. She thinks I may be catching, like a disease or any form of bad luck." (pg. 10)
"Go to the Colonies...They have the choice."(pg. 10)- rita dispproves of handmaids yet she best understands theyve also been enslaved.

"Anyways, they're doing it for us all. If I hadn't of got my tubes tied, it could of been me, say I was ten years younger. It's not that bad. It's not what you'd call hard work." (pg. 10)- cora

"Think of it as being in the army." (pg. 7) aunt lydia
"They also serve who only stand and wait...Not all of you will make t through. Some of you will fall on dry ground or thorns. Some of you are shallow-rooted...Think of yourself as seeds." (pg. 18)
"She had a mole on her chin that went up and down while she talked." (pg. 18)

The handmaids tal ehtorughout theres refrence to a black amrket which is significant because a black amrket is a symbol of resistence and hope. If theres a black amrket the regime hasnt been succesfull they cant control all, they cant stop illegal actions, transactions. Black amrkets always represent a breach in regualtion.
There's always a black market, there's always something that can be exchanged.
Offred, Chapter 3
Offred recognizes that exchanges and transactions are a fundamental part of human interactions; she is always alert for something she can exchange, even though she has no possessions of her own.

NICK:
"He's wearing the uniform of the Guardians, but his cap is tilted at a jaunty angle and his sleeves are rolled to the elbow, showing his forearms, tanned but with a stipple of dark hairs. He has a cigarette stuck in the corner of his mouth, which shows that he too has something he can trade on the black market." (pg. 17)
"He lives here, in the household, over the garage. Low status: he hasn't been issued a woman, not even one. He doesn't rate: some defect, lack of connections. But he acts as if he doesn't know this, or care. He's too casual, he's not servile enough. It may be stupidity, but I don't think so." (pg. 18)
"He has a French face, lean, whimsical, all planes and angles, with creases around the mouth where he smiles." (pg. 18)

OFFGLEN:"A shape, red with white wings around the face, a shape like mine, a nondescript woman in red carrying a basket, comes along the brick sidewalk towards me." (pg. 19)
"This one is a little plumper than I am. Her eyes are brown...She walks demurely, head down, red-gloved hands clasped in front, with short little steps like a trained pig's, on its hind legs." (pg. 19)
"The war is going well, I hear...They've defeated more of the rebels, since yesterday...Baptists. They had a stronghold in the Blue Hills. They smoked them out." (pg. 19-20)

GUARDIANS:"They're used for routine policing and other menial functions, digging up the Commander's Wife's garden, for instance, and they're either stupid or older or disabled or very young, apart from the ones that are Eyes incognito." (pg. 20)