#aplit16martha

Hey people of AP Lit!!! This is my final project for The Handmaid’s Tale. I would really appreciate it if you guys could check it out and comment on the discussion page. My goal was to create a discussion, and that can’t be done without you guys! 

I was absent the day we talked about the marthas in class, and I’m a little unsure of their purpose in the book. To me, the marthas seem like they’re there to reiterate the absurdity of the women hating each other. The marthas resent the handmaids for being fertile, but it’s not like they have any choice in the matter. If any group of women in the book should be working together, you’d think it would be the handmaids and the marthas; what with their situations being so similar.   

Okay so low key I don’t get the Marthas. Like lol why are you so bitter to the ony person that gives you purpose. Low key what would they even be if Offred wasn’t there? I don’t really think you get to be rude to the only thing keeping you alive. Shut it down. Plus, hello she’s giving you a kid so chill on her. All you have to do is cook and clean which is something most people have to do anyway so that bitterness? It can just fade.

Listening to students take on the character as their identity and respond to questions really put it into perspective. Many of us wondered why Rita always acted so angry or insensitive. Martha’s feel like they have responsibility towards the family they serve, yet have a hate towards them. The same applies to their relationship with handmaids, despite wanting the handmaids to give birth and provide the family with all the perks a baby brings. I think a lot of the resentment Rita felt came from a fear that they would never get a baby. In the book it mentions how there were previous handmaids at the house, none of which ever got pregnant. Perhaps Rita knew that this meant Offred would be no different. As a result she felt no need to treat Offred as a prized possession or her chance for a better life. Maybe she pinned the blame for their baby-less history on the handmaids, or maybe she even suspected the commander was sterile, despite this being heresy in the eyes of the law. Either way, she feared a lot, and I’m certain one of the most influential fears was that they would never have a baby to improve their life, her in particular. 

Women are supposed to work together not against each other. But even in today's society, jealousy is the cause of all woman's separation. Woman look at each other and think she's prettier than me. I have to be prettier than her. I'm not saying all women, but as a general stereotype. This also contributes to the opposition of woman's groups in "The Handmaids Tale." The commanders wives are jealous of the handmaids because they can give their husbands a baby, something they can't give him. The handmaids are then in turn jealous of the commanders wives because they get to roam freely without worry. It's all just an endless cycle. But Atwood creates this cycle in her book on purpose. She creates it to make women ask why. Why does Serena Joy and Rita treat Offred this way? It makes women ask questions and offer ways out. It makes women think. Then maybe in turn women will think and apply it to today's society.

Does the title ring a bell? As soon as we discussed the ideas of girls pitted against each other, I thought about the idea of black on black violence, and how the two are related. Both groups are sort of self-deprecating one another, by challenging one another when both social groups have like interests and goals. I think the role of the Marthas, and especially the relationship between Rita and Offred work to talk about this. Why fight if you’re on the same team? Using sports as a analogy, teamwork wins championships. You aren’t going to succeed by disagreeing and arguing. A whole group working together is so much more powerful, as shown between Offred’s futile singular resistance vs the whole organized Mayday Operation. Power is in teamwork, which serves to show why the Republic would separate females and pit them against one another. 

In class we talked about whether the Marthas had a higher status than the handmaids. I can see how both groups have a higher status than the other but in different perspectives. If you look at it from the perspective of value, then the Handmaids have a higher status- they are the women who can reproduce, and this quality places them ahead of the Marthas. However, the Marthas have more freedom to do what they want. They have more control over their lives and they aren't subject to rape. I think Atwood purposely created these different groups of women to prove a point. No matter what the year is or how society works, women will always be placed into groups- both consciously AND unconsciously. The groups will be determined by the what society thinks there value is, not what their true value is.