Scenes

Scenes-
The scenes that have stuck out the most to me so far was the two ceremony scenes. The first time we read about the scene Offred is wondering who is this worse for, her or the commanders wife. We read that the commander treats this like any other job. We read about Serena Joy's response to this, with her digging her ring into Offreds hand, is this a sign of jealousy? We read about Offred's reaction, she does whatever she can to focus on something other than the present. Then the next time when we revisit the ceremony, theres a level of awkwardness to it because of the secret meetings between Offred and the Commander. Then the Commander attempts to touch offreds face something that is strictly against the rules. Offred worries about her meetings of scrabble with the Commander will be found out. With the first ceremony scene it stuck out to me simply because of how weird it is. You have the Commander having sex with Offred while Offred is lying on top of Serena Joy all so the Commander and Serena Joy can have a child. Why wouldn't you allow the Commander to sleep with Offred without Serena Joy's presence? You would think that it would make the whole issue less awkward for the three parties involved. I don't understand as to why you would want all three people to be involved in this process. Another scene that stuck out to me was the Birthing scene, when Janine has her baby. All of the handmaids get picked up by the "birthmobile" and get taken to the house where Janine is. But you also see that a bunch of Wives are there too. Upstairs in the room where Janine is all the handmaids are gathered and sitting on the floor. All of them are chanting in unison to show support for Janine. And yet even with the Aunts in the room, the handmaids are trying to exchange gossip and information while the Aunts are distracted. When the juice is brought to them they quickly find out that it has been spiked. Then once the baby is starting to come the wife of the Commander that slept with Janine rushes into the room in a white cotton nightgown and the two are sat on the "birthing stool". Once the baby is born the wife is tucked into her bed like she had just done all the work, the baby is placed in her arms, and all the wives rush upstairs to see the baby as all the handmaids are taken home. But why does the Wife get all the glory? I realize that the handmaids are just there for birthing purposes but the wife acts like she did all the work. Not once is Janine able to touch HER child. I know that in Gileads eyes its the Wife and Commanders child but that is absolutely ridiculous. I can't believe that someone could create a world like this where the fertile women are second rate and in a sense unimportant besides their ovaries.