The Handmaid's Tale Key Quotes: Children

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The Handmaid's Tale Key Quotes: Children
"I once had a garden. I can remember the smell of the turned earth, the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands, fullness."
- Chapter 3.The garden works as a metaphor and substitute here for childrearing. Offred was able to care for both the garden and her child and both represented her "fullness" and maternal nature. The Republic of Gilead has taken this away
"One of them is vastly pregnant... She's a magic presence to us, an object of envy and desire, we covet her."
- Chapter 5. This pregnant woman represents not only the future of the human race, but the idea that "[they] too can be saved." Having children is the one thing they can do to rescue themselves from death.
"Give me children, or else I die. There's more than one meaning to it."
- Chapter 11. This doesn't just mean the childless mother will suffer from grief and anguish. Death is a legitimate worry here.
"She'd like me pregnant though, over and done with and out of the way."
- Chapter 31. A successful pregnancy for a Handmaid means a release, not just for her but for the household she serves. Children are a way out for all of the different classes within society,

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