Handmaid’s Tale season 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

No, I recall a spontaneously pregnant Commander’s Wife earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about the Marthas and other people in Gilead.

So you have the Commanders, Wives, and the Handmaids. That's been pretty well explained (the Handmaids were all fertile young women who did something "bad" before Gilead - like with June stealing someone's husband - and now have to be punished by giving their babies to infertile Wives).

How did people like Rita end up as Marthas? Is it just because she wasn't married at the time that Gilead formed? Are there a bunch of married couples just going along to get along? Where and what are the "non-important" people doing?

The Econo-people. I can't remember if it was Season 1 or 2 when June was on the run (I think S 1) and she's picked up by a bread delivery guy and hidden in his home. He has a wife and a child. They live in an apartment building. It's never really explained, but basically they are living in Gilead as normal people and presumably given whatever job Gilead wanted them to do. They are subject to all the harsh laws of Gilead.

I think Marthas were basically single women that couldn't have children but hadn't done anything "wrong" before Gilead. There was one episode in S 3 where Lawrence had to pick who got to come to Gilead as a Martha and who would be sent to the colonies, so even being good pre-Gilead wasn't a guarantee.

They were Econopeople. Not explored nearly enough.

Marthas were infertile women, sometimes older, but also women who had their tubes tied or were otherwise unable to bear children. I don’t know if they were first tested out as Handmaids if young.

The Handmaids had proven fertility and documented moral transgressions. That suggested "morally upstanding" women were not forced to be Handmaids, and were eligible to be Marthas. Commander Lawrence's two Marthas (the ones pushed off the ledge) were young and probably fertile. So on the one hand they're not forced to be sex slaves, but on the other they're inherently less valuable and not everyone eligible gets to be one.

Fertile women were expected to bear children. I can’t see young, fertile women being left on the shelf and Marthas were celibate. As Rita reminded us, they were also property. A Martha caught with her Commander or another man could be killed or sent to the Colonies. You don’t hear about them being made handmaids for this sexual transgression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

No, I recall a spontaneously pregnant Commander’s Wife earlier.

It's interesting that the only "happy" commander marriage shown was the one in DC. The lack of rights and forced participation in the Handmaids rituals seemingly eroded the marriages even of true believers. It's also not uncommon in some conservative Christian sects for sex to be promoted only in relation to procreation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

I think it is unfair to character the religion of Gilead as Christianity. I don’t recall Jesus being invoked at all. It may be that the worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, but they don’t seem to have much truck to do with his pacifist, socialist Son who never married or had kids and sided with the meek and sinners.

In the book “good” married Christians were left alone during the initial roundups. Also, June first recognized Serena from seeing her on some “Gospel Hour” show. I think the show avoids very specific references to Christianity for a variety of reasons.

But even in the book, Jesus is pretty much missing. There’s a single Deity that Gilead might have taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but you don’t see distinctively Christian religious tenets. No Jesus Christ and no distinctively Christian doctrine, not Christianity. It seems an inconsistent mishmash of several religious traditions, after all it’s inspired by Jewish Rachel and Leah gave their Handmaids to be impregnated by their husband. And some of the laws seem inspired by other non-Christian, even non-Abrahamic concepts of the man as head of the family and his dominion over all in the household, even servants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

I think it is unfair to character the religion of Gilead as Christianity. I don’t recall Jesus being invoked at all. It may be that the worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, but they don’t seem to have much truck to do with his pacifist, socialist Son who never married or had kids and sided with the meek and sinners.

In the book “good” married Christians were left alone during the initial roundups. Also, June first recognized Serena from seeing her on some “Gospel Hour” show. I think the show avoids very specific references to Christianity for a variety of reasons.

But even in the book, Jesus is pretty much missing. There’s a single Deity that Gilead might have taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but you don’t see distinctively Christian religious tenets. No Jesus Christ and no distinctively Christian doctrine, not Christianity. It seems an inconsistent mishmash of several religious traditions, after all it’s inspired by Jewish Rachel and Leah gave their Handmaids to be impregnated by their husband. And some of the laws seem inspired by other non-Christian, even non-Abrahamic concepts of the man as head of the family and his dominion over all in the household, even servants.

It seems inspired by the OT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

No, I recall a spontaneously pregnant Commander’s Wife earlier.

It's interesting that the only "happy" commander marriage shown was the one in DC. The lack of rights and forced participation in the Handmaids rituals seemingly eroded the marriages even of true believers. It's also not uncommon in some conservative Christian sects for sex to be promoted only in relation to procreation.

Not just conservative Christianity. In some sects of Judaism, married couples are supposed to abstain from sexual outside of the woman’s fertile window and acts that are not procreative are seen as sinful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

I think it is unfair to character the religion of Gilead as Christianity. I don’t recall Jesus being invoked at all. It may be that the worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, but they don’t seem to have much truck to do with his pacifist, socialist Son who never married or had kids and sided with the meek and sinners.

In the book “good” married Christians were left alone during the initial roundups. Also, June first recognized Serena from seeing her on some “Gospel Hour” show. I think the show avoids very specific references to Christianity for a variety of reasons.

But even in the book, Jesus is pretty much missing. There’s a single Deity that Gilead might have taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but you don’t see distinctively Christian religious tenets. No Jesus Christ and no distinctively Christian doctrine, not Christianity. It seems an inconsistent mishmash of several religious traditions, after all it’s inspired by Jewish Rachel and Leah gave their Handmaids to be impregnated by their husband. And some of the laws seem inspired by other non-Christian, even non-Abrahamic concepts of the man as head of the family and his dominion over all in the household, even servants.

It seems inspired by the OT.

Mostly, but even there picky-choosy and with a sprinkle of Taliban and technically atheist Communist regime morals like children’s loyalty to the State over parents so they report them to authorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about the Marthas and other people in Gilead.

So you have the Commanders, Wives, and the Handmaids. That's been pretty well explained (the Handmaids were all fertile young women who did something "bad" before Gilead - like with June stealing someone's husband - and now have to be punished by giving their babies to infertile Wives).

How did people like Rita end up as Marthas? Is it just because she wasn't married at the time that Gilead formed? Are there a bunch of married couples just going along to get along? Where and what are the "non-important" people doing?

The Econo-people. I can't remember if it was Season 1 or 2 when June was on the run (I think S 1) and she's picked up by a bread delivery guy and hidden in his home. He has a wife and a child. They live in an apartment building. It's never really explained, but basically they are living in Gilead as normal people and presumably given whatever job Gilead wanted them to do. They are subject to all the harsh laws of Gilead.

I think Marthas were basically single women that couldn't have children but hadn't done anything "wrong" before Gilead. There was one episode in S 3 where Lawrence had to pick who got to come to Gilead as a Martha and who would be sent to the colonies, so even being good pre-Gilead wasn't a guarantee.

Marthas were infertile women, sometimes older, but also women who had their tubes tied or were otherwise unable to bear children. I don’t know if they were first tested out as Handmaids if young.

The Handmaids had proven fertility and documented moral transgressions. That suggested "morally upstanding" women were not forced to be Handmaids, and were eligible to be Marthas. Commander Lawrence's two Marthas (the ones pushed off the ledge) were young and probably fertile. So on the one hand they're not forced to be sex slaves, but on the other they're inherently less valuable and not everyone eligible gets to be one.

Fertile women were expected to bear children. I can’t see young, fertile women being left on the shelf and Marthas were celibate. As Rita reminded us, they were also property. A Martha caught with her Commander or another man could be killed or sent to the Colonies. You don’t hear about them being made handmaids for this sexual transgression.

It's an interesting question. The weird moral code is referred to multiple times--only fertile sinners become Handmaids. Some Marthas may have been fertile technically but were single and old enough not to be worth putting into arranged marriages with Eyes etc,, which seemed to focus only on totally indoctrinated teenagers. Just like in much of pre-modern Europe, weirdly enough. I'm not sure about the other Commander Lawrence Martha, who looked pretty young, but Beth looked around 35. Most that we've seen looked 35+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

I think it is unfair to character the religion of Gilead as Christianity. I don’t recall Jesus being invoked at all. It may be that the worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph, but they don’t seem to have much truck to do with his pacifist, socialist Son who never married or had kids and sided with the meek and sinners.

In the book “good” married Christians were left alone during the initial roundups. Also, June first recognized Serena from seeing her on some “Gospel Hour” show. I think the show avoids very specific references to Christianity for a variety of reasons.

But even in the book, Jesus is pretty much missing. There’s a single Deity that Gilead might have taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition, but you don’t see distinctively Christian religious tenets. No Jesus Christ and no distinctively Christian doctrine, not Christianity. It seems an inconsistent mishmash of several religious traditions, after all it’s inspired by Jewish Rachel and Leah gave their Handmaids to be impregnated by their husband. And some of the laws seem inspired by other non-Christian, even non-Abrahamic concepts of the man as head of the family and his dominion over all in the household, even servants.

It seems inspired by the OT.

Mostly, but even there picky-choosy and with a sprinkle of Taliban and technically atheist Communist regime morals like children’s loyalty to the State over parents so they report them to authorities.

Atwood said all the patriarchal elements of the system were based on factually accurate historical models so, yes, eclectic. But also truthful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

There was an episode early on where she tried to initiate sex with her husband and he reminded her it was forbidden (that is how I remember it - I coukd be wrong)

And I do love the complexity of the characters. I go from loving to hating Serena on a regular basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

There was an episode early on where she tried to initiate sex with her husband and he reminded her it was forbidden (that is how I remember it - I coukd be wrong)

And I do love the complexity of the characters. I go from loving to hating Serena on a regular basis.

Forbidden to initiate, not forbidden to partake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

wasn't that the point? Jumping in the milk WAS stupid. Janine was right to get mad at June who takes all these dumb risks without thinking through the consequences. June is only alive at this point because of her plot armor.

I agree: common sense dictates she would have gone to the wall or executed on the spot several times over already. The milk dunk was stupid as there appeared to be other places on the train to hide that would have made more sense (plus, the recessed lighting inside the milk tanker was absurd). I think the show is getting close to jumping the shark...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

Agree with this and it's also why I think Serena is fascinating and the actress playing her is so good. I mean, how are you happy for this woman's pregnancy when she was a full participant in creating Gilead, who has done so many truly mean and terrible things, etc.

And, technically, by Gilead rules, her pregnancy was a result of an illegal act. Remember, she's not allowed to have sex with her husband anymore.... In Gilead she would never be allowed to have her own child after they declared her infertile.

I don't remember any rule against marital sex, just the assumption that it was pointless because no pregnancies would likely result. I think the rules only concerned handmaids.

There was an episode early on where she tried to initiate sex with her husband and he reminded her it was forbidden (that is how I remember it - I coukd be wrong)

And I do love the complexity of the characters. I go from loving to hating Serena on a regular basis.

Forbidden to initiate, not forbidden to partake.

That makes sense, only patriarchs initiate and control the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping in a milk tanker was seriously stupid. Why didn’t they duck down inside one of the humvees? Were those locked? I get the poetry of putting these handmaids in milk but come on.

I loved how this episode explored the various ways that characters’ faith inspired them to action. Whether that be Christian faith (Rita) or faith in the future or the movement (June, Janine). We also got to see how June’s desire to always be a leader gets in the way of her survival. That’s what I love about this show. That she’s a hero and an antihero all at once. How often do we get to see women as those kind of lead characters in tv shows? Shown in all their complexity and ugliness/beauty.

wasn't that the point? Jumping in the milk WAS stupid. Janine was right to get mad at June who takes all these dumb risks without thinking through the consequences. June is only alive at this point because of her plot armor.

I agree: common sense dictates she would have gone to the wall or executed on the spot several times over already. The milk dunk was stupid as there appeared to be other places on the train to hide that would have made more sense (plus, the recessed lighting inside the milk tanker was absurd). I think the show is getting close to jumping the shark...

Proven fertile women are Gilead’s most valuable resource, and Aunt Lydia is very powerful. She generally protects the handmaids.

The light was coming into the tank via small windows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question about the Marthas and other people in Gilead.

So you have the Commanders, Wives, and the Handmaids. That's been pretty well explained (the Handmaids were all fertile young women who did something "bad" before Gilead - like with June stealing someone's husband - and now have to be punished by giving their babies to infertile Wives).

How did people like Rita end up as Marthas? Is it just because she wasn't married at the time that Gilead formed? Are there a bunch of married couples just going along to get along? Where and what are the "non-important" people doing?

The Econo-people. I can't remember if it was Season 1 or 2 when June was on the run (I think S 1) and she's picked up by a bread delivery guy and hidden in his home. He has a wife and a child. They live in an apartment building. It's never really explained, but basically they are living in Gilead as normal people and presumably given whatever job Gilead wanted them to do. They are subject to all the harsh laws of Gilead.

I think Marthas were basically single women that couldn't have children but hadn't done anything "wrong" before Gilead. There was one episode in S 3 where Lawrence had to pick who got to come to Gilead as a Martha and who would be sent to the colonies, so even being good pre-Gilead wasn't a guarantee.

Marthas were infertile women, sometimes older, but also women who had their tubes tied or were otherwise unable to bear children. I don’t know if they were first tested out as Handmaids if young.

The Handmaids had proven fertility and documented moral transgressions. That suggested "morally upstanding" women were not forced to be Handmaids, and were eligible to be Marthas. Commander Lawrence's two Marthas (the ones pushed off the ledge) were young and probably fertile. So on the one hand they're not forced to be sex slaves, but on the other they're inherently less valuable and not everyone eligible gets to be one.

Fertile women were expected to bear children. I can’t see young, fertile women being left on the shelf and Marthas were celibate. As Rita reminded us, they were also property. A Martha caught with her Commander or another man could be killed or sent to the Colonies. You don’t hear about them being made handmaids for this sexual transgression.

It's an interesting question. The weird moral code is referred to multiple times--only fertile sinners become Handmaids. Some Marthas may have been fertile technically but were single and old enough not to be worth putting into arranged marriages with Eyes etc,, which seemed to focus only on totally indoctrinated teenagers. Just like in much of pre-modern Europe, weirdly enough. I'm not sure about the other Commander Lawrence Martha, who looked pretty young, but Beth looked around 35. Most that we've seen looked 35+.

I think the you g Martha had been a med student? So, she was ‘bad’ insofar as she’d sought an education, but not bad enough to be a handmaid.