Chapter 3-Perceptons of Serena Joy

Chervaughn Archibald-William

Chapter 3-Explore how the perception of the Wife/Serena Joy is built through the chapter.

Serena Joy, who is the Commander’s Wife at the household that the Handmaid is at, says very little throughout the chapter but the reader gets a perception of her from the very beginning of the chapter to the very end of it. This commentary entails the perceptions that the reader gets while reading through chapter three.

Serena Joy can be seen as territorial. This is shown in the first encounter with herself and the Handmaid. She blocks the Handmaid from walking through the door until she moved. The Handmaid also says, “She wanted me to feel that I could not come into the house unless she said so”. This connotes that she tried to impose her status in the home over the Handmaid. The reader can see that that was the intent of Serena Joy; to make the handmaid feel unwelcomed into her household .Serena Joy probably is probably used to many Handmaids ‘passing’ through her household seeing as she says to the Handmaid, “You’re the new one”. She wants it to be known that she is in charge of the house. This is also rude on the Wife’s part because this is their first encounter.

A perception of The Wife is that she can be seen as insecure. She uses her garden to compensate her not having children, “Many wives have gardens, its something for them to order and maintain and care for.” The verbs order, maintain, and care can be associated with the growing-up of children. They do not have children of their own so the garden can be called as her ‘baby’. The reader may feel empathy for Serena Joy. She uses the garden to replace this unfortunate issue, thus, the reader gathering the perception that she is insecure.

Another perception that the reader gets of The Wife is that she likes to be creative both in the garden and in her knitting. The reader gets this impression from the way Atwood describes her involvement in the garden and how she makes extravagant scarves for the Angels. This creativity in her can also be connected to her being lonely or again not having children. Doing these things occupies her time away from being on her own and not just doing anything.

Serena Joy admires and is proud of her work. “Sometimes the Commanders Wife has the chair brought out, and just sits in it, in her garden”. The personal pronoun, her, when speaking about her garden connotes that she takes charge and commands this part of her life seeing as she has a lot of time on her hands. For someone to sit and watch their work shows that they are self-righteous which can also be said for The Wife.