Power

In the Handmaid’s Tale, there is a system of roles in different social and power levels. At first glance, the social status and power seem to be simple: the commander has the most power, then the wife, then comes the Marthas and the male helpers like Nick, and at the lowest lever, the handmaids. However, when looking deeper into the story, the wives always seem to be jealous and hateful towards the handmaids. Why is that? This is probably because the wives are nothing but a shell. They have no actual worth in the society. The whole point of the society is to suppress women, however, still find a way to reproduce. In this sense, the handmaids are actually more important in the society than the wives. Yes, the wives get more freedom to see each other and gossip, but they have nothing to do most of the time. All they can do is tend the garden do pretty useless things around the house. In the birth ceremony, the wife pretends to give birth to the baby, when the handmaid is actually giving birth. After the baby is born, the wife replaces the handmaid on the bed to take the role of the mother of the baby. I think the reason why this society works this way is because it doesn’t want connections to be formed. The handmaid gives birth, but the wife takes over from then on.