The Handmaid’s Tale Chapter 40: What Really Happened Over the Garage? | Banned Books Podcast
Apple Podcasts 
Spotify 
Amazon Music 
iHeartRadio 
PocketCasts 
TuneIn 
RSS Feed At midnight, Serena Joy walks the handmaid out the kitchen door and sends her up the back stairs to Nick. The handmaid tells us what happened in that room. Then she tells us she made it up, and tells it again.
This episode includes AI-voiced content, including our trusty fact-checking robot, Robot.
Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter. We don’t read ahead, so you’re discovering the story with us.
Things To Listen For:
- Dan wants to know why everybody in this house is playing games.
- Robot informs Jennifer and Dan that they are the weird ones.
- Dan admits they would bumble through Gilead completely clueless, and there may be a T-shirt in it for you.
- Dan cuts in on Margaret Atwood mid-paragraph: “Margaret, you’re drifting.”
- Jennifer asks the scary book people a good question.
Why was The Handmaid’s Tale banned?
This chapter includes a sex scene, and the book is regularly challenged for sexual content. But the scene isn’t what makes it dangerous. The scene happens only because Gilead’s law says men are never sterile, so the women have to work around it in secret. A story that shows a government lying about bodies, and women paying for the lie, is what book banners would rather students never read.
If this is your first episode, you’re fine starting here. Our fact-checking Robot catches you up fast, then we read the next chapter (spoilers).
Banworthy to Bingeworthy
If you like what we do here, calling out the people who want to control what you read, these two shows belong in your feed.
- The Oath and the Office: Constitutional law professor Corey Brettschneider and comedian John Fugelsang mix real constitutional analysis with comedy. They’ve had Senator Ron Wyden on to talk about press freedom and government surveillance. Every president swears an oath to protect the Constitution, and this show asks what that means when those freedoms are under attack. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oath-and-the-office/id1795734509
- Good News for Lefties: Beowulf Rochlen’s show about good news for progressives. He is also our news correspondent on Banned Camp, and this week he brings a story about public libraries giving teenagers across the country free access to banned books.
Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts
Rate, review, and follow us on Apple Podcasts to help other scary book people find us!
Disclaimer
Banned Camp features readings and discussions of banned books for the purpose of criticism, commentary, education, and entertainment, in accordance with fair use guidelines.
The material used from the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is shared under these principles, with the intent of provoking thought and discussion about literature, censorship, and societal issues. The original work remains fully owned by its copyright holders, and we strongly encourage listeners to purchase a copy here to experience the book in its entirety.
https://bookshop.org/a/20953/9780385490818
This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Margaret Atwood, her estate, or the publishers of The Handmaid’s Tale. Any monetization of the podcast is separate from the copyrighted material discussed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was The Handmaid’s Tale banned?
The Handmaid’s Tale has been challenged or banned in American schools and libraries every single year since its publication in 1985. It was the most challenged book in the United States in 2023. It has been targeted for profanity, sexually explicit content, and content deemed “offensive to Christians.” But the deeper reason is that Margaret Atwood showed what happens when a government uses religion, tradition, and “protecting families” as justification for stripping women of their rights, their names, and their autonomy. That’s the part that actually scares book banners, because it looks a lot like Tuesday.
Is there a podcast that discusses The Handmaid’s Tale chapter by chapter?
Yes. Banned Camp breaks down a different banned book every season, one chapter at a time, through comedy, commentary, and discussion. Neither host has read ahead, so you’re discovering the story together in real time. Season 11 covers The Handmaid’s Tale. Every episode mixes a short reading with reactions, a fact-checking Robot, and a look at why the book gets banned. We always encourage listeners to read along with their own copy.
Do I need to start Banned Camp from the beginning?
No. Every episode opens with Robot’s recap of the previous chapter, so you can jump in anywhere. Most listeners tell us they started mid-season and went back to the beginning after they were hooked.
What happens between Offred and Nick in Chapter 40 of The Handmaid’s Tale?
Serena Joy sends Offred to Nick’s apartment over the garage at midnight, hoping he can get her pregnant. Offred describes a passionate thunderstorm scene, then admits she made it up and tells a more awkward, sadder version. Banned Camp reads the whole chapter and reacts to both versions in Season 11.
Why does Offred say “I made that up” in The Handmaid’s Tale?
In Chapter 40, Offred tells her night with Nick two different ways and says neither is exactly true. “All I can hope for is a reconstruction,” she says. It’s a reminder that she is telling the story after the fact. Banned Camp’s fact-checking Robot calls her an unreliable narrator.
Topics Covered:
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood, Chapter Forty, Offred, Nick, Serena Joy, the Commander, Luke, Cora, Rita, Moira, Beowulf Rochlen, Corey Brettschneider, John Fugelsang, Ron Wyden, unreliable narrator, grief for the time before, control over women’s bodies, banned books, banned books podcast, book banning, censorship, literary analysis, comedy podcast
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
