Chapter 5

In town, Ofglen and Offred wait in line at the shops. We learn the name of this new society: "The Republic of Gilead." Offred remembers the pre-Gilead days, when women were not protected: they had to keep their doors closed to strangers and ignore catcalls on the street. Now no one whistles at women as they walk; no one touches them or talks to them. She remembers Aunt Lydia explaining that more than one kind of freedom exists, and that "[i]n the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from."

The women shop at stores known by names like All Flesh and Milk and Honey. Pictures of meat or fruit mark the stores, rather than lettered signs, because "they decided that even the names of shops were too much temptation…