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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Offred look for at the end of Chapter 2?

2. What did the narrator do as a little girl?

3. What was off-putting about the last man Offred worked for?

4. In Chapter 3, what does the narrator think might have happened to her daughter?

5. What is strange about the blankets at the center in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do the women steal something for Moira at the center?

2. Who from the first chapter appears again later in the novel?

3. Who is the girl in the photograph in Chapter 3, and how does the narrator respond to seeing it?

4. What fate has Janine avoided by having the baby?

5. How does the Commander act before and during the ceremony in Chapter 6?

6. Why did Offred and the other women take naps at the center?

7. Why don’t the Aunts have guns?

8. What is the narrator’s attitude towards her audience, at the end of Chapter 3?

9. In Chapter 4, What does the message in Offred’s room say?

10. What happened to Serena Joy that was traumatic in her earlier life?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the book, the Commander states that better doesn’t mean better for everyone; it always means worse, for some. What is the significance of this in the context of Gilead? Give concrete and specific examples to illustrate this statement and explore its significance.

Essay Topic 2

Make-up is no longer available to any of the women in Gilead, except for those who work at Jezebel’s. In what way is make-up a significant symbol in “The Handmaid’s Tale”?

Essay Topic 3

Offred writes about having taken certain things for granted in her earlier life. Write an essay in which you discuss which things in particular she took for granted, and why. What are some things which she always valued, by contrast?

(see the answer keys)

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