papier poudre a sheaf of thin paper sheets permeated with face powder. At the turn of the century, these matchbook-sized leaves of make-do cosmetics fit easily into a purse for a quick, surreptitious repair of a shiny nose or face.
paranoid delusion a perversion of reality. Offred loses touch with identifiable stimuli and fluctuates between testing sanity and denying it. She suspects she is being drugged. To test her grasp of reality, she clutches simple data: " . . . where I am, and who, and what day it is."
paranoid excessively suspicious or mistrustful.
Particicution execution by dismemberment.
past the zero line of replacement The birthrate has fallen so far that the population no longer grows.
Pen is Envy a pun on "penis envy," a concept of Sigmund Freud to account for negative behavior that women express against men.
Pielxoto Pieixoto's name suggests Pope Pius IX, a Vatican pope (1854-1878), who, in his first year of office, issued the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The reign of Pius IX produced a sharp swing from liberalism as the Church fought to maintain its powers from diminishment by the aftermath of Napoleon III's rise to power. As a result of the hostile political climate at a time when Rome became a part of the Italian kingdom, the state vs. church power struggle rendered Pius IX a virtual prisoner in the Vatican.
pier glass a bulging, round mirror that produces a distorted image. Symbolically, it represents the Commander's importance to Gilead's spying operation and the prying eyes that deprive Offred of privacy. In its fish-eye reflection, Offred sees herself as a "sister, dipped in blood."
Pornomarts distributors of pornography.
Prayvaganzas a public display of sanctimony, which occurs in Chapter 33.
Quakers a pacifist religious sect that masterminded much of the Underground Railroad and helped escaped slaves elude patrollers as they followed the trail north to New England or Canada.
recollected, if not in tranquility, at least post facto an allusion to William Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. This deduction suggests that Offred lived long enough "after the fact" to compose her thoughts, when safety, privacy, cassette tape, and recorder were available.
Red Center an acronym of the official name of Gilead's indoctrination center, the Rachel and Leah Re-Education Center, where potential breeders dress in red habits.
Romanesque architecture that emphasizes rounded arches and vaults, piers, and arcades.
