The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Sanity is a valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money. I save it, so I will have enough, when the time comes.

But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.

You might even provide a Heaven for them. We need You for that. Hell we can make for ourselves.

Better never means better for everyone, he says. It always means worse, for some.

Now, tell me. You’re an intelligent person, I like to hear what you think. What did we overlook? Love, I said. Love? said the Commander. What kind of love? Falling in love, I said. The Commander looked at me with his candid boy’s eyes. Oh yes, he said. I’ve read the magazines, that’s what they were pushing, wasn’t it? But look at the stats, my dear. Was it really worth it, falling in love? Arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, if not better.

I try to remember if the past was exactly like this. I’m not sure, now. I know it contained these things, but somehow the mix is different. A movie about the past is not the same as the past.

I would like to be ignorant. Then I would not know how ignorant I was.

Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.