Quotation 2

"I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off."

This suggests that Offred is not telling of what is happening from a perspective from affar. She is living the events every day. Gilead oppresses women, and denies them very many liberties. Offred suggests that, because this is a story, she can create her own ending. She says that how it all turns out is in her hands, because she is telling it to her listener. She has found that no matter what, she can always rebel within herself. p.39