The Handmaids tale

[DumbledoresArmy]

Anyone else planning on watching this at 9pm on channel 4?

I asked before if the Ceremony is a 'once a cycle' thing, or once a night for four or five nights to cover the Handmaid's fertile period? If they're only doing it once a month they're not exactly maximising their chances (especially as she's not likely to be using an ovulation predictor kit ).

The doctor did seem to be kind, asking if she was being treated well, but then it could have been a test.

More than once would make more sense, but I'm sure I remember it being just once?

I was pondering that this morning too Margot very much a stab in the dark if once a month.

Yes, I think it's once a month.

It's the usual discrepancy of what would make common (or biological) sense and the need to justify it in some kind of (religious) Ceremony.
Nonsense but very valid to the True Believers

I think that's the issue, everyone could be an Eye or an informer. How desperate are you not to be recatergorised as an unwoman or risk being found guilty of sex with another man? Ofred isn't there yet.

In the book the commander and Serena are much older, so children are definitely off the table for Serena. I read that they deliberately made them younger in the adaptation to make the dynamics between the 3 more challenging, and boy, does it work.

BTW I think the commanders and wives can have sex even without procreation being on the cards.

Maybe I'm just a cynical old cow but I really struggle to believe the doctor was doing anything other than testing offred to report back to whoever deals with bad handmaids (the aunts?) and also probably hoping to get his kicks out of either scaring her with the idea she was about to be raped or actually raping her. But then I'm regularly reminding myself to trust no bastard so yeah, I could be wrong

Can't help thinking that the expectation of the regime is that Commanders would be sneaking into handmaidens rooms fairly often and therefore maximising their chances. The once a month ceremony thing would just be to put a gloss on it and keep the wives happy thinking no adultery was taking place. No one is keeping track of her movements around the house after dark...

Batteries, I bet you are right

Hi all I'm new to this thread so sorry if this has already been discussed but how do they decided who will be the cook/other staff at the house and not a handmaid?
I think Fred is high up but their house isn't as nice as the other woman who recently had a baby from the girl wth 1 eye. Not sure if that's important to the storyline or not.

In the book the commander and Serena are much older, so children are definitely off the table for Serena. I read that they deliberately made them younger in the adaptation to make the dynamics between the 3 more challenging, and boy, does it work.

I think its actually a failing of the TV adaptation, as demonstrated by the confusion and discussion on here. It was much clearer cut in the book that Serena has no chance of motherhood without a handmaid because of her age. She is quite arthritic in the book and much older.

To pick up on the WW1/WW2 comparison - yes that is exactly what happened. Also I thought that women's contribution to the war effort in WW1 was ultimately what won us the vote (rather than campaigning) as we had been doing mens work so it was harder to deny us the privilege of voting.

I think the younger Serena changes the dynamic a lot. She cannot have children and seems to desperately want one. In a world where women's lot is to produce children, and the failure to do so is judged to be chosen by God, then she almost a personification of that failure. Add to that a handmaid in your house; having to witness your husband having sex with another woman to remedy your failure; it's awful and you would think it would inspire sympathy. But she's horrible to Offred. She takes it out on her.

The women in Gilead are divided, they all envy something about each other's lives, be it leisure, relative freedoms, power or work. Keeping these divisions to the fore means women cannot unite and fight back.

Excellent post pixie!

Something Ive always wondered is how do they determine whether a woman is fertile or not? If youve always been on the pill then you might be fertile but just never had kids, how do they tell?

I hope they do the bit where you find Moira again in the book I've just reread it and that was so very telling I thought.
When the commander said women used to pretend to be different women by wearing lots of different clothes and offred said now we wear the same clothes and you have different women. He agreed and seemed happy that she understood. Like there was nothing wrong with that. It's the wife/mother/whore thing

The ceremony can be more than once a month as after that scrabble game he said something about being ok for tomorrows ceremony.

I don't think anyone envy's the handmaids, unless it's the pregnant ones they really do get the shitty end of it. Raped by government order.

I've just finished rereading the book, I'd completely forgotten Moura's reappearance.

The pregnant ones all lose their babies, though.

storm I think ofglen said they tested her and found her ovaries worked. Otherwise she would have been shipped off due to being gay

Margaret Atwood is speaking in the royal festival hall in October! Woop

In the book nousername, one of the Marthas was pretty envious of Offred, and what she saw as her 'easy' (i.e. Idle) life. None of the women made an effort to acknowledge each other's sacrifices and circumstances.

Quickly going back to Serena, the way she leapt to suggest a strategy for the negative press from the defected Aunt seemed to suggest a pre-Gilead career or some role in the movement that seized power.

I thought that after i typed, it was Cora.

I was surprised in the last episode that they managed to get so far I figured they would be questioned as to why an aunt took a handmaid out like that. Properly questioned not something they could brush off

In the book, once a handmaiden has produced a healthy child she's guaranteed not to be sent to the Colonies. I think if I was a Martha and facing shipping off at the end of my useful life I would envy that.

In her previous life Serena was a strong, charismatic televangelist type - pushing for wives to be at home, family values etc. One of the key aspects of her character is that, having achieved what she wanted, she's now a seething mass of rage and frustration.
I wonder what the logic was behind making Serena and Fred so young? It definitely changes the dynamic, not necessarily in a bad way, but it does alter the perception of their situation. For one thing, the ridiculous set up of a young, fertile woman handing over her baby to a woman past menopause with an older husband. Maybe that was considered too close to the bone? Or maybe (hope not) the producers just wanted the main characters to be easy on the eye.
I think, whatever the reason for it, the result has been that viewers feel a degree of sympathy for Serena -her desperation for a child isn't laughable because she's young. And horrible behaviour is often seen as not quite so disgusting when it comes in a pretty package; the pipularity of quite a few celebrities attests to this.

pixie that's what I meant in my previous post about Serena. She showed a fantastic strategic mind but was shut down immediately by her husband as it was men's work.

pixie and goddess...SPOILER ALERT

yes you are right, Serena was indeed a major player in the design of the new regime...not so clever of her, maybe she didn't see just how this would play out and she and women like her would have their lives and liberties restricted, albeit maybe in different ways....and have to suffer different humiliations.