Would you be a Handmaid, Martha or Jezebel?

[FortunesFave]

Re-watched some of the Handmaid's Tale and started thinking what I'd be if I lived in that world.

I'd be a Martha I think. I'm too old for them to choose me as a Handmaid and I think my lifestyle would ensure I got to be a Martha.

What were the criteria for Jezebels though?

Probably a Jezebel.🙄

I'm past fertility, so not a Handmaid. Was married to DS1's dad, but not DS2's, so a filthy adulterer unfit to work in a god fearing household as a Martha despite being a decent cook. I hope I'm smart and talented enough to not end up in the colonies or on the wall.

Registry office wedding sounds like it would rule me out as econowife. I might just scrape by as handmaiden at 42 but more likely a Martha (think I'd prefer that to handmaiden!).

Ecnowife if they recognise my non-religious wedding.

If not, probably a handmaid.

I think it would be the colonies for me - not fertile, educated, non religious and dh wouldn't fit in with the regime either

Great idea for a thread OP!

I'm mid-30s, married, 2 kids. Atheist, and not married in a church, so probably not allowed to be an econowife. Would irregular cycles due to PCOS rule me out as a handmaid, I wonder?

My domestic skills are poor, so can't see myself making it as a Martha. Not attractive enough to be a Jezebel.

I guess I'm off to the colonies then!

I’m getting a bit old for handmaidening now at 38, and I’m Jewish so no Martha for me. Although obviously the Gileadists lifted the Handmaid idea from Bilhah and Rachel so maybe Jews would be their special friends (I believe some of the fire and brimstone evangelicals do think of Jewish people in that way?).

Most of us though wouldn’t have the children we have because of the mass infertility. Any woman with a shred of possible fertility in her would be an handmaid (unless she was an econowife) regardless of her religion, sexuality etc. After all, the child is considered to be actually that of the man and wife she is being a vessel for. The handmaid’s particular moral failings are irrelevant.

Econowife
Married, child born in wedlock, active members of our Christian church. I would keep my head down helping people in need when I can as I don’t agree with Gilead,

If I could learn to keep my mouth shut then I suppose I’d be a Martha. But there’s not chance in hell of that, so Unwoman for me.

Single, never married, Mum of 2.
Mid 30s, still menstruate so assume still fertile.
So Handmaiden?

I had 2 abortions though so maybe the wall?

What would happen to my teens (boys)?
What about my ex and his wife? They are married but both had DC with previous partners. Would they be adulterers?

I think I'd be an econowife. Married in church, C of E, husband in in management, two children born after marriage and advancing into my forties.

I have a disability so either Immediate Execution or death in The Colonies as an Unwoman.

Not married so possibly a hand maid. But am late thirties and a family history of early menopause so no idea on fertility so maybe a Martha - do Martha’s have children and were they reallocated too?

I think they'd recruit DS(14) into The Eyes. DH would probably be a driver for a Commander or a handyman type person.

I would probably be a martha. I'm single and childless but I'm 42 so perhaps too old to breed from. Although I'm still having regular periods so if I'm fertile they might give me a shot at being a handmaid.

The wall for me. Old, two TOPs, disabled, fighty, thrice divorced, children out of wedlock, etc etc

I’d make a good Martha but my scandalous past would see me either on the Wall or sent to the colonies.

I’d be the Commander of the Resistance and be building missiles in my secret base to raze Gilead into dust. My daughters would probably be pretending to be commander’s wives but really moles/spies for me. My sons would be training other resistance fighters and running an Underground Railroad to get people out of Gilead to safety.

None - I'd be an econowife as I'm married and "without sin"

Probably at the Wall. Disabled. At least it would be quicker than the Colonies.

FedUpAtHomeTroels I reckon if you pledged total allegiance to Gilead, repeated 'blessed be the fruit' all the time you could avoid the colonies by being a nurse. Although you'd have to care for people who'd had various body parts chopped off.

Egads that grim. I'd be at the wall for trying to help people.

The econo couple that helped and sheltered June were Muslims. I'm going to assume that they were married in the Muslim faith, then pretended to accept the Gilead faith and were allowed into the community, keeping their true beliefs a secret (hence the hidden prayer mat and Quran).

So we'd probably end up like them until we are caught secretly helping out handmaids, after which we'd end up on the wall.

That's the TV version though, unsure if it plays out that way in the book.

Think I’d be an econowife. First marriage for both of us, in C of E church and 2 children post marriage.

@KeepYourDistance2m

Also curious what happens if 1st child is born before marriage. If not for that, I'm sure we could pass as a moral family. DH is black though. I know that wasn't specifically mentioned but there is definitely a white supremacist feel to Guilliad.

Depends if you are talking about the book or the tv series. In the book all black people are referred to as Children of Ham and definitely don't play a role in society. I can't remember if they were sent in boats to a new homeland (but then the boys were deliberately sunk) or if that was the Jews, but either way Gilead is a very white "Christian" society.