Cracks in the Dystopia
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.7 “After”
The bombing kills a number of Commanders and Handmaidens. Fred Waterford is seriously injured and is replaced by another Commander while he recovers.
That Commander turns Gilead into a reign of terror, symbolized by a Martha killed for, well, walking while Martha.
And now Serena Joy is starting to rebel…faking the Commander’s signature to try and get things more back to normal.
Oh, and some former Handmaids, including Janine, are retrieved from the Colonies to replace those slain. Hopefully they’re still fertile after that. Or maybe hopefully not…
But that’s not the main point of this episode. This episode is about names.
The murdered Handmaids are buried in a Handmaid only ceremony, with the living clad in black and red. The roll call is…their Gilead patronymics. Even in death, Gilead won’t return them their personhood.
At the end of the episode, first we see Handmaids exchanging names in the grocery store, under the very eye of security.
Then we hear a roll call in Little America where the women get back their names.
Names are a key part of personhood. The right to be called by your name, the right to change your name to one that better matches your inner self, the right to use different names in different situations…all of these should be sacrosanct.
We don’t live in a society where they are. But we all should be willing to claim our names.
The Handmaid’s Tale 2.8 “Women’s Work”
There is a crack in Gilead. The dystopia that seems so solid isn’t. The true purpose of Gilead is not to honor God…that’s a lie. It’s to raise as many healthy babies as they can. Of course, that’s already been twisted by the desire of powerful men to have them be their babies. At least in name…I don’t know if Fred knows the baby isn’t his, and if he does, I don’t know if he would care.
But that power is now running right up against the purpose of Gilead. Angela is sick. And the best neonatologist in Gilead…is working as a Martha.
Serena finds her (a Black woman, to bring the point home) and they discover that nothing is physically wrong with Angela. Her birth mother is able to perk her right up. (I suspect this has more to do with her intended parents being distant and unloving than her actually remembering Janine. They don’t seem like very warm people).
Fred finds out that Serena forged his signature to get the Martha there against his wishes…he would rather allow a prized child to die than violate the rules.
Unless he’s doing it for his own pleasure by taking his Handmaid to a brothel.
Fred is a piece of work. And when he finds out, he beats Serena. Judging by her reaction this may be the first time.
Serena is the architect of Gilead, but when she tries to do the right thing…
Meanwhile, Eden is desperately trying to please a distant Nick. And making things worse. This isn’t going to end well.