Finding The Joylessness in Serna Joy
While I believe that many who read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are adamant that there is one correct interpretation of the text, each time I open this novel I discover a lesson that I hadn’t the first time or even the last time I read the novel. Maturity might play a factor in this, age has enlightened me to parts of the text that once seemed unimportant to me but now resonate much deeper, close reading could also play a role; however deconstruction and Atwood’s use of opposing binaries to create complex characters and social structures is what I believe to be the true cause of this ever evolving novel. Atwood’s binarys and textual deconstruction, makes it hard for the reader to determine what is real, what is the truth or overall point of the novel given that it continually contradicts itself. While there are a vast amount of examples throughout the novel, for the point of this argument I will only be focusing on one: Serena Joy. Typically she is read as an ‘evil’ or ‘bad’ character. Upon meeting her she is almost instantly unsympathetic and we as readers instantly side with Offred over her. I’d like to challenge this view by breaking down the binaries of privilege and unprivileged in order to illustrate Serena Joy’s joylessness given that she is in as much of a prison as Offred--even if she helped to construct it.
The first introduction of Serena Joy, in passing, seems very insignificant, it isn’t until we deconstruct the language and several key words that we realize she isn’t painted as a strong woman with power as we later come to believe. As Offred is on her way shopping she stops and notes the different colored umbrellas, the Commander's Wife, as she refers to Serena, has a blue umbrella. Offred notes that it is a beautiful day outside and “wonder[s] whether or not the Commander’s Wife is in the sitting room. She doesn’t always sit. Sometime I can hear her pacing back and forth, a heavy step and then a light one, and the soft tap of her cane on the dusty-rose carpet” (9). The color associated with the Handmaid’s is red, and is assumed to be the underprivileged color throughout Gilead as the Commanders Wives wear blue, yet historically red has been a color that is associated with passion, love, strength and determination. Red has even been seen as a masculine color given all it’s aggressive and active qualities that are tied to it; however blue has very different connotations.
While blue is also associated with masculinity, it is more aligned with ‘boyhood’ not yet a man capable of holding power or being sexualy mature. The Commanders Wives, much like the Handmaids hold little power in Gilad, the small power they possess lies within the domestic and female sphere of Gilad which is already looked down upon with those in power. Furthermore, none of the Commanders Wives are able to reach sexualy maturity as none of them are able to have children--they are all barren. In this retrospect, they are seen as less important than the Handmaids. This idea is even reinforced when Aunt Lydia tells all the Handmaids “Yours is a position of honor” (13). The color blue is also tied to sadness which Offred witnessed during the Ceremony she says to herself, “Serena has begun to cry. I can hear her, behind my back. It isn’t the first time. She does this every Ceremony...She’s trying to preserve her dignity…”(90). Serena is filled with hurt every time she watches her husband have sex with another woman in front of her. She feels betrayal. She feels shame that she is unable to perform and give him a child and she most likely feels guilt for helping create this world in which she is disconnected from the man she loves. All of the Wives are referred to as ‘blue Wives’ (31) which initially seems to describe the coloring of their clothes but also describes their emotional state they are perpetually blue not unlike the Handmaids--while they may seem privileged they are very much unprivileged in many ways.
Similarly in that first introduction we are told that the Commander's Wife has a sitting room. Sitting, is an act of submission in stark contrast to standing, walking, acting. This is the one area of the household that belongs to Serena that “is supposed to be [her] territory, he’s supposed to ask permission to enter it” (my italics 86). Yet even this room is a facade of any power that Sernea holds just like Offred has to hold on to memories as her only possession because she no longer has any material possessions. The Commander can enter the room whenever he pleases because the house is his house. Serena’s only job is to reside there in a passive state, remain quiet and not interfere with her husband. So while on the outside she may appear as the privileged party, she is just as imprisoned and unprivileged as many of the women in Gilad. Serena and Offred are similar in that they truly own nothing and that any power they do possess lies internally, lies within the relationships they are able to create and manipulate.
Furthermore, she is described as pacing back and forth--illustrating that she is stuck and unable to move forward. Offred though oppressed, speaks of rebelling. Given that she is not in a prized position, she is able to manipulate her way throughout Gilad culture and eventually escape. One reason this might be easier for Offred as well is she is young and sexually attractive which is a privileged position to be in where as the Commander’s Wife is older and walks with a cane. She has signed to DNR to an extent and is truly unable to escape the situation that she put herself in. She is her own slave master, a horrific way to spend your last years knowing that you will continue to shackle yourself where as Offred has the privilege and ability to free herself from the chains that were placed upon her.
While Serena Joy is depicted as an evil and unsympathetic character, a close examination of language shows that she is much more complex than that. Given all of Serena’s conflicting binaries she becomes a representation of someone who is simultaneously privileged and oppressed. Offred, and some readers are unable to see this; however this deeper reading of Serena Joy allows for a richer understanding of the novel, and her character and illustrates the uncertainty and complexity of human nature.
