One special feature Atwood includes in her story is the limited amount of actual quoted conversation in the text. Much of the conversations that take place in the story are paragraphs of Offred explaining to us what is being said. An example of this is on page 171 when Offred has a flashback about Moira’s opinion on her affair with Luke: “She said I was poaching on another woman’s ground. I said Luke wasn’t a fish or a piece of dirt either, he was a human being and could make his own decisions. She said I was rationalizing. I said I was in love. She said that was no excuse.” I think Atwood uses this technique to make the flashback seem more in the past so we can distinguish present events from the past. On page 168 we see present events indicated by quoted conversation between Offred and Ofglen when they are at Soul Scrolls: “‘Do you think God listens’, she says, ‘to these machines?’ ‘No,’ I say. ‘Neither do I,’ she says.” The rare use of quoted conversation in this passage explains the role of the handmaids and how they are not supposed to speak or express emotion freely, especially about religious matters. The conversation takes place in a whispering tone because the women could get caught be punished. I think Atwood’s back and forth transition between quoted and non-quoted conversation not only helps us identify whether or not a flashback taking place, but it also helps to show how Offred’s life was before she was a handmaid, and the issues women still struggled with before everything changed.