Quotation 3

"I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will . . . Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping."

She speaks of the use her body used to have, and now it only has one use, which is her womb. No other aspect of her body is of any use in Gilead. She feels that she is a sort of resource now, rather than a woman. She no longer is respected as a woman, and she is not regarded as special. Offred is used for her reproductive organs, and her feelings about herself are no longer relevant. p.73