A chair, a table, a lamp. Simple, clean, and right. A handmaid does not want; her only purpose is to bare miracles. So I should not invest time in her room. There will be multiple handmaids who come through my home. Each fertile when I am barren. There has already been a handmaid here, she was not fit for this sacred position. There was lust in her, a thing that has been forbidden in Gilead. She manipulated my husband with this lust and strayed from the path laid out for her. I love my husband very much, but he gave into this sin and so I pray for him. This sin that this woman coerced my husband to take part of ultimately cost her the most sacred thing: life. Although a tragedy to loose such an opportunity for a new child, we must move forth. …show more content…
Ofwarren is said to be due for childbirth today. Ofwarren’s commander’s wife is someone who I call my friend. I have helped her each step of the way, holding her hand and praying for a healthy newborn. I truly hope for an easy birthing day. It is a long process as we have retreated back to our traditional routes. The birth is all natural, no epidurals, no hospitals. All the handmaids and Commander’s wives migrate to the house in which the baby will be born. Doctors wait outside the house in case there is a medical emergency. The wives are placed in a separate room than the handmaids. We prepare the expecting wife for her new journey of motherhood, while the handmaids prepare the expecting handmaid for the birth. Once the handmaid is ready to push, the wives bring the expecting wife in and she is placed behind the handmaid. We as wives and as friends try to keep the mother to be calm and collected as the handmaid’s push. It is always a blessing when the child is born alive and healthy. It makes the whole process worth it. Ofwarren gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She is healthy and happy in this world. I try not to be jealous, but I secretly envy my friend. I wish that Offred would be with child so then I could enjoy the gift of
Celianne, a fifteen-year-old pregnant girl, was raped when a dozen men raided her home and forced her brother and mother to sleep together. She found out she was pregnant and boarded the boat as soon as she’d heard about it. The child represents the hope of a new life, away from the persecution awaiting back in Haiti. Celianne finally gives birth to a baby girl and the acting midwife prays for the baby to be guided by God, “Celianne had a girl baby. The woman acting as a midwife is holding the baby to the moon and whispering prayers . . .
After reading the book which mentions the maternal and neonatal situation in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, is pitiable. (1) Child birth takes place under lantern light, in Mud bricks with profuse sweating without electricity, no running water, no emergency backup. With only the grace of God and the skill of a midwife that child birth takes place in remote villages in the country of Mali, West Africa, having the third highest total fertility
In the poem titled " The Midwife Addresses the Newly Delivered Woman" the author portrays the strengths and fortune of an Aztec woman after she has successfully given birth to a child. The author mentions how courageous and brave the woman was while she went through the hard exhausting physical labor. This poem also remarks on the roles of women living in Aztec culture. Also the poem compares the difficulties women faced when giving birth to the hazards men were subject to in the art of warfare. In addition the author of the poem also warns the mother not to be too prideful as this gift is given by the creator, not her. In the poem the midwife also warns the mother of the hazards still to come to her and her newborn infant.
One may notice some characteristics of the author's culture as she puts emphasis on the importance of the period of time a woman goes through during her labor and giving birth to healthy newborn and religion in crediting God.
Whenever Sira, Aminata’s mother went to help women deliver their babies, Aminata would go along too. She would watch and help her mother, eventually le...
... Offred does not have a living friend or companion beside her, but instead the companion is inside her. It is herself who is guiding her in the life she is now living. In the end it is clear to Offred that she is still the same woman as she once was, the changes with the new government did not change her the same way it changed other individuals. A discovery was made, she was no longer Offred the Handmaid.
“Everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which define us”(8).
The widely used motto “United we stand, divided we fall” exemplifies the importance of a strong, stable human structure needed to succeed. It may be the structure of an empire, or the biological makeup of the human body, these systems in our world are not only desired by human nature, but are essential for progress. Though it’s true that humans naturally desire patterns, structures and standards in their lives, the underlying intention for these patterns isn’t to provide shelter or refuge, but to rather provide a pathway to function and achieve various goals, moral or immoral.
As the title suggests, a “pushed” birth is one that is unnecessarily induced, and/or managed, with an abundance of unjustifiable intrusions. The title of the book describes the feelings of many American women who feel “pushed” into making drastic decisions – decisions that they may not be emotionally prepared for. Block expresses that the title of her book came long before she even wrote it (Block, 2007, page xiii). Through her many conversations with expectant mothers, she would often hear them express a desire for a non-interventional and natural birth. Unfortunately, many women “felt tremendous pressure from their medical providers to go against instinct and … to induce labor, to schedule a cesarean, to lie back during labor when every cell in their body felt like moving. Women are supposed to push their babies out; instead, they felt they were being pushed around” (Block, 2007, page xiii).
The Handmaid’s role is to produce Keepers (babies that are born without any birth defects) for their host family. Housemaids are made to wear all red besides their nun-like white wings that work as blinders. Red represents passion and sin that can be turned white by the cleansing power of God. Commanders are the patriarchal head of the house who have a duty to father children either by their Wife or a Handmaid if needed. “Not every Commander has a handmaid; some of their wives have children.
As a young wife and mother, Ashima Ganguli experiences labor and delivery just like many other American women, in a hospital. Motherhood is offered as a transnational identity, representing the traditional gender roles sometimes considered subordinate. Ashima quietly observes the habits of the American women that surround her. She overhears husbands telling their wives they love them. This is something a Bengali husband or wife would never say. While maintaining many traditional Bengali beliefs and practices, giving birth in a hospital is more typical of an American woman. Traditionally, Indian women are known to give birth in the home where they grew up, returning to their childhood, without the presence of their husbands or inlaws.
In The Handmaid’s Tale there are three types of women: handmaids (the breeders), wives (the trophies), and the marthas (servants.) The narrator of the novel is Offred, who is a handmaid. Handmaids are women with viable ovaries. Every two years, handmaids are assigned to a commander; the leader of the household. Weekly, the handmaid and Commander try and conceive a
As The Handmaid’s Tale is considered an allegory of the social injustice women face against traditional expectations of their role in society, the symbolism of the Handmaids and other women as a whole for repressed feminine liberty and sexuality allows Atwood to connect her work to the theme between gender and expectations in her society. As Handmaids in the Republic of Gilead, females are stripped of their previous identity and are defined as a tool of reproduction for the men who is assigned them. At its core, these females are forced against their will to be mere tools, experiencing unwanted sex at least once a month, which Gilead names “The Ceremony”, hiding its true nature as a form of rape. Offred
Offred is assigned to be the handmaid for the Commander and Serena, his wife. Every month when Offred is fertile in her point of her menstrual cycle, she is forced to have sex with the Commander. He reads them the Bible before they have sex. When they sleep together, Serena holds Offred’s hands during it. No one says a word while they have sex. This is called The Ceremony.
... is only alive in her dreams, she aches for her and fears that her child will not remember or even she is dead. Atwood writes about motherhood, and the irony lies in the fact that Offred did not have an ideal relationship with her mother even though Gilead’s system was not established, yet Offred who is separated for her daughter shows affection towards her child by constantly thinking and dreaming about her. Even though Offred felt pressured from her mother, she still misses her, ‘I want her back’ and she even reminisces about when she used to visit her and Luke.