FIND OUT WHY JUNE IS A SERVANT IN THE SERIES DESPITE ABOUT BEING MARRIED!
The Handmaid’s Tale is available on Amazon Prime Video! If you want to know why June is a Handmaid, read on! Based on Margaret Atwood’s book, the series is set in the land of Gilead, a totalitarian patriarchal theocracy that has taken control of most of America. Atwood’s story centers on June, who serves as a maid in a commander’s house and slowly builds up her experience as a submissive reproductive tool.
The series, now in its fourth season, moved away from Atwood’s novel, imagining June’s life after the book’s end and projecting the original material into a much larger story. June is currently free, playing a central role in the still-raging war between the rebels and Gilead’s army. We tell you everything about June’s status!
DID JUNE CHOOSE TO BECOME A SERVANT IN THE HANDMAID’S TALE?
June was captured. In fact, she is a state prisoner. She is considered adultery because Luke was already married when they met. He left his first wife for her. Gilead claims that her marriage to Luke is adultery. June didn’t have a lot of wiggle room when it came to negotiating. Women who did not want to follow the diet had four choices:
- Work in the toxic waste of the colonies. This equates to certain death.
- Work like Martha, take care of the house. It went back to older women who had not offended the state or young women unable to conceive.
- Jezebel’s work. This is one step further from the colonies, although some would prefer toxic waste rather than sleeping with all those repressed religious men and their deranged sexual fantasies.
- Work as a maid. This “choice” was practically imposed on women who had already successfully delivered a healthy baby.
We don’t know if June was offered any of the other choices, but she was threatened enough by the settlements to know she didn’t want to go. Her only other option was to become a maid. Consider June’s reasons. She wanted to find her daughter. She hoped that on some level she could be reunited with her family. Maids can have access to commanders’ information if they are lucky. If you want to know more about the status of the series, it’s here.
If one intends to leave Gilead with a loved one, the Handmaid’s path offers the best benefits because Handmaids are not hungry. Their workload is relatively light, compared to that of the Marthas and the “unwomen” of the Colonies. As long as they sleep with the commander, they are not at risk of contracting STDs, which is absolutely not the case with Jezebels. Plus, the maid knows what she will face when it comes to sex. A Jezebel could have someone beat her to death. Who would care? However, a Fertile Handmaid is valuable, so she should be treated well.
This is not a genuine choice, as all options involve suffering for alleged crimes against the state. All the Handmaids are ritualistically raped, and they may have to provide more sexual services to the Commander, as June and Janine did. Then she has no rights to the child she bears for nine months.
So yes, June agreed to become a Servant because she wanted to live and find her daughter. She would likely have been sent to the colonies or even executed for trying to flee Gilead with a child, which would be a misdemeanor.
