MovieChat Forums > The Handmaid's Tale (2017) Discussion > Lots of questions about the series, most...

Lots of questions about the series, mostly about making babies

posted 4 years ago by ladyvincenza (1)
10 replies | jump to latest

Hi! I love the series (though it's creepy as hell) and I've read the book, albeit not recently. I have a lot of questions about the series that I don't think the book would answer. Since children were so rare and precious, and the rate of stillborns or other birth problems was apparently pretty high, why do the women give birth at home *and not* in a hospital? Or at least without a doctor present? Also, if you really are trying to achieve pregnancy, why wouldn't the Gileadites make use of medical fertility methods? Why do the Gileadites (is that the denonym?) insist these are "wrong"? And even if they prefer a more old-fashioned approach to achieving pregnancy, having "ceremony" just once a month may not be sufficient. Make any joke you want, but when I was trying to get pregnant, my doctor recommended having sex more than once around ovulation.
How do other countries deal with the fertility crisis? I assume they use medical fertility treatments, but is this mentioned?
On a different note, who is the head of state of Gilead? What is his (I'm assuming it's a guy) title?

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12440) 4 years ago

The author was not very intelligent in the science or logic dept. Much of her lousy writings are symbolic of her hatred for Christians, men, and conservatives. Much of what she wrote, as you said, doesn't make much sense.

[–] Allison44 (602) 4 years ago

Margaret Atwood - " not very intelligent " ? That's the single most idiotic sentence I've read all week. This is fiction you wanker. You know, made up stuff ( simple language tailored to your special needs).

[–] ItalianBuju (793) 4 years ago

Wow, you're a peach lol
Why are you all over this board if you dislike it so much?

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12440) 4 years ago

For education purposes, of course :D. You see, the Sons of Jacob are very stupid in their approach to re-populating their own twisted version of America. They refuse to use artificial insemination, cloning, or tanks to grow babies. They refuse to use anything other than handmaids and old-fashioned impregnation, and refuse to admit that the process is much too slow compared to the rate at which adults in the nation are becoming sterile and/or dying off. It's basically Margaret Atwood saying that these fanatics are almost completely anti-science and shortsighted, save for treating ordinary ailments with male doctors working for Gilead's government.

[–] Druff (1469) 3 years ago

How weird that the author would incorporate the absolute stubbornness of religious fundamentalists into a story about religious fundamentalists.

[–] cv1cv (397) 3 years ago

AmeriGirl26: You are an utter moron. You confuse the mentality of the characters with that of the author. As someone else pointed out, this is fiction, it's not a political or religious essay by the author. And her name is Margaret Atwood, not Margaret Mitchell. Margaret Mitchell had nothing to do with this novel; she wrote Gone with the Wind, which was published before Atwood was born.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12440) 3 years ago

I'd like to thank you for letting me know exactly how high your IQ is and what you're made of. You're just mad because I'm right, and it burns you that I speak the truth without any pretense. Regardless of what the dried out old skag's name is, her books are trash, as is this show. If you think for one moment she wasn't using her stories to criticize certain political and religious groups, you're dumber than a box of rocks. Now have a good day and go fuck yourself.

[–] cv1cv (397) 3 years ago

So now you fancy yourself to be a mind-reader. I'm not angry at all, and certainly not because you're "right". If I thought you were right I wouldn't have accurately described you as a moron, and you're latest comment has now removed all doubt about that. I see now that it is impossible for you to grasp that this is fiction and not a mouthpiece for the author. I'm sure you can't appreciate the Harry Potter novels because you think the author believes in magic. Or you can't appreciate Stephen King because apparently he thinks that monsters are real. Maybe you can contribute constructively here after you graduate from middle school.

[–] Grimace788 (257) 4 years ago

I was wondering this as well. With the birth rate so low you would think that just for practical reasons they would need women to get pregnant by any means possible.
It seems that only a small number of women are able to get pregnant and when they do only 1 and 5 gives birth to a baby that survives. That is not even close to a replacement birth rate. In 50 years they will have almost no people left. Any other civilization could easily conquer them at that time.

[–] Furienna (3322) 3 years ago

I think I have to agree with a previous poster that Margaret Atwood didn't think this through.
Or, that she actually thinks that all Christians are this ridicously anti-science.