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Handmaid's Tale Quotes

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The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood has a great deal of quotes with strong meanings behind them. The quotes in the novel force you think because they apply to how people live their lives in our own society. One quote that I thought applied to some of my own personal experiences was from chapter 30, and it said “ You can’t help what you feel, Moira once said, but you can help how you behave” (192). In this quote the narrator contemplated her feelings toward Nick. She believes that she may like him, but doesn’t think it would be honorable to replace Luke, her husband from before. In addition, the quote explains how she heard Moira, her old friend, say that sometimes you have feelings, but you need to choose not to act on them. This is a very relatable idea in today’s society and I believe that I can relate it to my own personal experiences. As a matter of fact one example of how this would relate to my life was when I had feelings for this guy I worked with, but I knew I couldn’t say anything about how I felt. I knew that if I said anything it would ruin how things were and that was not something I was about to risk. I knew if I spoke up about how I felt and it ended badly, then every time I worked with …show more content…

There have been countless times in my life where I have felt very jealous of someone, however I have always known not to act on my jealousy because the best thing I could do was to behave and use some self-control. The idea that you may have feelings, but also the choice on whether to act one them is very clear and relatable in the quote from The Handmaid’s Tale. This book is one that has brought up some very controversial themes about society, but also brings up some good points that are very relatable to everyday life. Therefore, it is clear that this quote from chapter 30 was able to connect to my own personal

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