The Handmaid's Tale Book Notes Summary

Offred returns to her room, and takes stock of her life. She is thirty-three years old. She is five foot seven inches tall. She has viable ovaries, and one more chance to use them. Something has changed tonight. Offred can now ask for something.

She remembers an interview with the mistress of a supervisor of one of the Jewish death camps of the Holocaust. The woman denied that her lover was a monster. Offred can imagine the endearing idiosyncrasies the supervisor could have had. The documentary noted that the woman killed herself a week after the interview had taken place. Offred feels uncontrollable laughter boiling up in her. She covers her mouth as she drags herself into the cupboard to hide the noise. She tries to compose herself and eventually falls asleep.