Serena Joy In The Handmaid's Tale

Serena Joy’s intelligence puts her in a situation of manipulated power. She has the brain power to drastically affect Offred’s standard of life but her status as a wife limits her to an extent. Offred, however, does call the house her domain and remains respectful to her superior since she was taught “to watch out for...the Wives” since “It is only natural” for them to hate the handmaid’s.” (Atwood 46). The handmaids are taught to be submissive and pity the infertility that the upper class wives must endure. From the beginning of their relationship, Atwood crafts an environment that lends itself to giving Serena the upper hand. Offred describes “Serena Joy..in the garden...maiming, positioning the blades of the shears” with “blitzkrieg” and

Even in Offred’s love life she is strategic about her expression. She says, “Neither of us say the word love, not once… it would be romance, bad luck” (Atwood 270). By choosing not to love Nick, she regains her control sexually. Since Serena Joy was the original reason the relationship began, Offred uses her intellect to guide her feelings and look for possible gain. Since all the Offred’s life is lacking is intimacy, it is only logical to remain in a close relationship with Nick now that they relationship has begun. Offred uses this relationship to placate her complacency but also to muster up her courage to run away when the time came. In another light, Offred is intelligent simply because she knows things. An early comment she says is that “Men at the top have always had mistresses, why should things be any different now?” (Atwood 163). Since Offres knows this it implies that she not only is acquainted with the culture of life before Gilead, but also that she is well versed in cultural norms from other time periods. Since Offred knows this, it enriches her character, making her more complex and strong. The complexity of Offred is demonstrated by her narration that illustrates an individual fighting complacency in a system that encourages it. Offred’s intelligence is evident in her knowledge and description of the past, but the changes that the system of

Her status as a wife gives her the ability to do much harm to Offred’s psyche and alter the path that the novel takes. Serena is very much so an oppressive force to Offred but she is also mean and demeaning to the other lower class women while Offred treats them as equals. Both women are in similar situations of living in a man’s world but the way the two do so are starkly different. Serena Joy uses her powers for evil and Offred, in the end, escapes to share her story for the greater good of womanhood. Serena is the true oppressor of Offred, not the Commander, Nick, or even Gilead. Atwood knows that this fact is true even in today’s society which is why she crafts Serena to be the way she is. Offred, however, is guilty of being a bystander. Her role as a conformist is why women are the oppressors of women. Her passive attitude and utter hopelessness by the end of the novel is representative of all of the women that sit by and allow oppression to occur. Margaret Atwood saw this and wrote The Handmaid’s Tale to remind women that they need to stand strong in their identity and never allow a man to rule their life. Atwood artfully ends her argument with Offred’s peaceful escape but the tension between the two women will endlessly probe that the patriarchy is effective because women allow it to