Serena Joy

Serena Joy

1. Character

   • She is often portrayed as angry, bitter and speaks to Offred "irratably" showing her dislike for Offred. This could be due to jealousy as Offred is more sexually intimate than she is with the Commander - "I want to see as little of you as possible"
   • She keeps the garden and it is her way of taking control of nature. It is a way of asserting power, though only small, it is something to give her a reason to be. It is also something to care for as she has no children
   • The possessive pronoun in "my husband" shows how she is possesive of what she has and we is obviously scared that Offred will take what is hers

2. Appearance

   • "permanent look of surprise, or outrage, or inquisitiveness" shows how Serena Joy is constantly high with emotion, possibly suggesting she is quite an erratic character
   • Her clothes are described as being a "hostile blue", "a blue that shuts you out". Blue is the colour of the wives, but the adjective "hostile" shows her threatening and intimidating behaviour towards Offred
   • Her "chin, clenched like a fist" shows her uptight and proper appearance - presents her as sour and het up
   • She wears a light blue veil - links to Muslim religion and subjugation of women

3. Body Language

   • When having sex, Offred describes how "she is in control of the process", "the rings of her left hand cut into my fingers". This shows how Gilead uses women to oppress other women and it shows how Serena JOy longs to retain power over anything she can
   • "longed to slap my face" shows her hostile and threatening body language

4. Life before Gilead

   • TV star, but Gilead took away her fame and destroyed this life
   • After describing Serena Joy's job on TV in "Growing Souls Gospel Hour" Offred damningly says "So it is worse that I thought" showing the transformation between pre-Gilead and Gilead is far worse than she ever imagined because a free, successful, independent women is now subjugated in a household by the Commander. Links to fantasy genre as it is a violation of what is possible in the real world and causes the reader to think about their society

5. Role in Gilead

   • Wives have no particular use in society as they don't have a child
   • "Maybe it's something to keep the wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose" shows how the role of the wives is trivial