“This is the kind of touch they like: folk art, archaic, made by women, in their spare time, from things that have no further use. A return to traditional values. Waste not want not. I am not being wasted. Why do I want?” (7)
Offred begins her thoughts with the phrase, waste not want not, a common idiom meaning the less one wastes, the less one will find themself in need or want of something. Then Atwood applies this phrase to Offred herself when she asks, “I am not being wasted. Why do I want?” Atwood might make this attribution because the Handmaids are considered no more than objects and this idiom is usually used to refer to objects, rather than people.
"Idiom: Waste Not, Want Not." Using English. Web. 05 Sept. 2011. <http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/waste+not,+want+not.html>.
"applies" -- again, nice language
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