Anonymous wrote:The Rose scene did not sit well with me. Yes, her father is THE Commander. So, I guess she grew up in a rules optional world. Pat me on the head because I got my husband a cup of tea (which I giggle is awful) without waking the Martha. She seems very docile and naive.
Women (and men) in Gilliad don’t get to chose their life partner, divorce, remarry, maybe have the baby split Easter’s. Remember Eden? She tried to leave Nick for Todd and they were both killed. Lawrence got a few months to mourn, and then it was “there is no place in Gilliad for those who don’t follow our lifestyle” and Naomi Putnam was pushed at him because they both needed to be in a marriage, preferably with a kid (never mind he had her husband killed; “he is willing to overlook that).
But, Rose sounds like a college co-Ed “I’ve seen how you look at my roommate. You don’t really love me so I’m leaving you”. And that works for college co-Ed’s. It does not work in a world where women become handmaids or are sent to the colonies for divorce.
AND she is carrying a commander’s child? The child of an eye? What’s her plan? Walk away from Nick with the baby, move back into daddy’s house and have a Martha help raise the kid? Get a divorce and remarry? Her father could never set that example. Serena, a top Commanders wife heads home AFTER HER HUSBAND CUTS OF HER FINGER and whips her (and technically she has no baby at that point) and her mother is like: nope. Going back to Fred is your only option.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised Rose was so protected she thinks this is a special plan applying only to her. Or, maybe she will join the Vancouver bound train. But, Nick knows better. Up close and personal from Eden. I’m very surprised he doesn’t sit her down and give her a dose of cold, hard, you are going to get yourself killed reality.
When she said she didn't want to be with him anymore and was leaving, he said, "You can't." I think he meant it literally.