Serena Joy
The Commander's wife represents the struggle women went through if they were sterile, she has to bear the fact that a Handmaid will have sexual contact with her own husband to produce a child which she has absolutely no say in. This leads the Commanders wife with no power and control in the situation which leaves her with a bitter, useless and damaged personality.
She is considered as not important in the current society
that she is part of and all limelight has been taken away from her by the
state. However, this is the kind of state she helped create. Serena Joy is a
pre-feminist activist and suffers the consequence of being a housewife with
nothing better to do than "knit scarves" and watch Handmaids come
into her home and "fuck" her husband.
Being miserable seems to be part of her daily life routine
and her life seems pointless to the point that the Handmaid mentions the Commander’s
Wife "knitting scarves" for the Angels. However she cannot
"hardly believe the Angels have a need for such scarves" representing
the fact that the Commander's wife is just doing it to waste time. This
emphasises the fact she has nothing of importance to do that benefits her in
any way so she is just passing unwanted time.
Serena Joy's life is just utterly useless and powerless, she
cannot even stop another woman from having to come and perform a sexual act on
her own husband, in this day of modern society that would be bizarre to be
allowed by the wife and most definitely be considered morally wrong. However, in the Gilead days it was "routine" and "usual" acts to be performed on regular bases.
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