Chapter 4

• one of the Guardians assigned to our household
• 'Whirlwind' ... 'Chariot' ... 'Behemoth' ... 'This at least hasn't changed, the way men caress good cars.'
• Perhaps he was merely being friendly. Perhaps he saw the look on my face and mistook it for something else. Really what I wanted was the cigarette.
• I stand on the corner, pretending I am a tree.
• Some of you will fall on dry ground or thorns. Some of you are shallow rooted.
• This is supposed to be for out protection, though the noition is absurd: we are well protected already.
• The truth is that she is my spy, as I am hers.
• Her name is Ofglen, and that's about all I know about her.
• But I'm ravenous for news, any kind of news, even if it's false news, it must mean something.
• I don't see the floodlights and the pillboxes, because of the wings around my face.
• The young ones are often the most dangerous, the most fanatical, the jumpiest with their guns. They haven't yet learned about existence through time.
• Doing their job, said Cora, Keeping us safe

  Nothing safer than being dead, said Rita, angrily. 


  Rita has more room to freely criticise Gilead, while Cora is more restricted with having her tubes tied and thus being to blame for infertility.
• 'Nevertheless, I think of placing my hand on it, this exposed face.' ... 'such moments are the rewards I hold out for myself' ... 'Such moments are possibilities, tiny peepholes'
• red shroud
• 'I'm ashamed of myself for doing it, because none of this is the fault of these men, they're too young.

  Then I find that I'm not ashamed after all. I enjoy the power, the power of a dog bone, passive but there.'