The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Even my mother’s face, usually pale, thinnish, looked ruddy and cheerful, like a Christmas card; and there was another woman, large, with a soot smear down her cheek and an orange knitted cap, I remember her. You want to throw one on, honey? she said. How old was I?

She keeps asking how old was she when things happened

But they have to catch you in the act, with two witnesses.

that it wasn’t a superstition and he wasn’t being a jerk, studies had been done.

Way to imply conversation

The man has a large dark mark on his forehead;

But if you happen to be a man, sometime in the future,

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.