The narrator seems to narrate her story in a stream-of-consciousness style. She often speaks of the present situation and something prompts her memory to talk about past situations and her escapades with Luke in her former life. She then rants on for a page or so, only to return to her reality and deal with her present problems. She also make statements that seem to be random. She makes jokes about the topic in this way. Quite frankly, I find this style of narration to be very amusing. I enjoy finding out more about the background and context of the story, as well as life before the Republic of Gilead, in this manner.
Religion also seems to play a major role in the story. The society may have been founded with a basis on religion. However, the founders emphasized the story of Jacob and Leah in order to justify the necessity of adultery. Leah offers her handmaid to Jacob because of her infertility. Similarly, the wives of Gilead offer their handmaids to their husbands to continue the human race.
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If not mentioned, I would not have noticed this interchanging of events, but it only represents Offred's denial to her current life. In order to stay sane, I think Offred needs the constant reminder that her life used to be good and where her actions were not restricted and questioned. Her way of remembering her previous life may also be Offred hanging on to a glimpse of hope that maybe she will return to her life the way she left it and being a handmaid has been nothing but a dream. In this way, she is keeping her emotions and freedom of thought and not succumbing to the lifeless reproductive vessel Gilead wish her to be. Her representation of information kept me interested too. My questions were being answered and made the story less confusing. Your association to religion seems extremely plausible from the various references to the Bible right at the beginning of the book.
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