Women in The Handmaid's Tale

I think it’s interesting that in The Handmaid’s Tale, women have no power yet there are women in the novel who seem to help the government take it away. Serena Joy’s situation is completely ironic in that she used to preach about how women should stay home and what not yet she thrived on her career. Then when her dream finally sees realization, she hates the situation she’s in. She holds no power whatsoever. Aunt Lydia also serves as a character who takes away other women’s rights. She teaches all of these women what they can and can’t do. Aunt Lydia seems to thrive on the little power she has over these handmaids, and yet when she is no longer useful she’ll probably be sent away just like they are for not being able to produce children. I also think it’s interesting that all the women seem to hate handmaids in the novel, when the handmaids had no choice in the matter. They didn’t choose to be handmaids and yet they’re despised for it. The women in the novel constantly undercut each other for their own purposes. If the women in the novel would stand together and be united they might actually be able to change their circumstances. So in a sense these women seem to have helped the government take away their own rights simply because they didn’t do anything about it and some even supported them. It just seems very odd that none of these women sympathize with one another simply because of the title that’s been assigned to them from a government. It’s like the women believe that they choose what they are now in the novel. The only character that seems to recognize this isn’t so is Cora when she reminds Rita that Offred didn’t choose to be a handmaid but had no choice.