The character of Serena Joy is one of the people arguably most affected by the changes to society, robbed of her notoriety and wealth. However, curiously she was also, originally, one of Gilead’s greatest supporters. Gileadean Society has slowly corrupted Serena Joy, she has become cold, twisted and unloving as a result of the oppressive nature of the regime, which she lives under. As a result Serena Joy is used throughout the book as a 'modern' version of Offred's mother, as their sections are often linked to one another, via free-association. For Example when Offred picks something that Serena Joy does and relates it to her mother such as knitting. This link with her mother is verified when Offred first meets Serena Joy, and states that she had originally had a desire for her to become a mother figure. However this hope is dashed before she even goes through the door.
On the other hand, as it becomes clear in the Historical notes, Offred did not link the thoughts together, a man (Professor Piexoto) did. Therefore, he could have created this link between the two, although he seems preoccupied with the workings of Gilead, not the people within it, so this forging of people could have been accidental. After all, how could a man possibly begin to understand the problems of a woman in such an obviously chauvinistic, patriarchal society?
Serena Joy was an actress/guest on a religious television show in her old life. Offred remembers that Serena Joy was always crying on the show, and asking others to join her religion. This is ironic because after the Christian fundamentalist regime takes over, Serena Joy is extremely unhappy with her life. Her unhappiness is shown through her interactions with Offred, and with the description of Serena Joy's smoking. Serena Joy is described as putting out her cigarette in one long, grinding motion. This action contrasts the latent power that Serena Joy has within her with her powerlessness in her society. She, as a wife, is supposed to be high class, submissive to her husband and like a mother to her handmaid while content to have no power over anything but her house and garden and the women in it. Serena is not content and she does not love her husband, nor does she wish him to be happy in this arrangement. She shows jealousy and hate towards the handmaid who is supposed to give birth to her children and be like a daughter to her herself. Serena Joy is in fact the very example of the "Bad Mother" while Offred's former real and feminist mother was a very good mother (as well as one who loved and wanted her...unlike Serena who sees her as an animal and as a means to an end - a raise in status through the acquisition of a child).
The flowers that Serena Joy grows and wears are a symbol of fertility. Offred sees the irony in the fact that Serena wears flowers, as these are the sex organs of the plants, and she is unable to have children of her own whether that be because the Commander is impotent or she is baron. The way that Serena Joy speaks of her flowers is peppered with sexual innuendo and she also talks about the fertility of the earth. Serena Joy spends a lot of her time in the garden. All the wives are allowed a garden; it's like an outlet. They can use it to grow and raise flowers. It's supposed to "make up" for the fact that they aren't allowed to have children anymore and don't really grown and raise the "daughters" anyway. “The tulips in the garden...redder closer to the stem as if they have been cut and beginning to heal.” A prominent flower in the novel is the Tulip (significance "Two-Lips.") They are described as being red, which symbolises failure and oppression as well as bloodshed in the novel. In chapter three, we see Serena joy in the garden. This plays an important part in her life as it gives her something to love and care for. “Many of them have gardens, it's something for them to order and maintain.” This quote reveals a lot. It stresses how women are inferior to men in Gilead. They are allowed to 'order' the garden around. Secondly we know that the wives cannot have children (the hand maids are used for this). There are many references to children within this chapter - if they have no children at the moment the garden and the flowers maybe thought of a 'replacement’. Serena Joy's garden is well maintained and controlled - like the pieces of string tying their flowers into place. This could be thought of how she cares for this - she would her children.
The picture of irises in Offred's room, the fanlight of blue and red flowers. Offred wanting to steal a daffodil from the sitting room. The presence of all of these flowers in Serena Joy’s house is that they are symbolic fertility and this is why Serena joy tends to them all the time. The regime states that it is the women who are infertile and this is her way of becoming fertile, by tending to these flowers that symbolise fertility and ripeness. Its ironic - she cannot have children but these flowers are incredibly strong and fertile. The tulips are not going to form anything else when they die they are empty and remind Serena joy of herself. She looks at them.
Serena Joy helped bring about the Republic of Gilead with her crocodile tears and ‘Real Political’ know-how. She is obviously a vindictive and manipulative character...in effect she is perfect Commander material. But what is she reduced to? Running a domestic household, pottering about in a garden she hates and lying back while her husband has sexual intercourse with some fertile handmaid slut. Serena Joy is part Lady Macbeth, part Margaret Thatcher, with more than a dash of hairspray helmeted TV evangelist wife. In former times she could possibly have shaped the History of the World. In Gilead she is reduced to the wife of a middle manager. Well, we see her hostility towards Offred. When talking about Serena words such as hit, slap, outrage etc. are used to show her hostility and aggressiveness, also she is associated with the colour blue several times, which emphasises her coldness, the way she refers to Offred as a 'transaction' also helps to further accentuate this quality.
In conclusion the audience does feel a great deal of sympathy towards Serena Joy and deservedly so because she has to watch her husband, the man she loves, have sex with Offred, a handmaid who has ‘invaded’ her home, her territory. She’s afraid that her husband may fall for this younger woman, he already ignores her as it is and now she’s loosing him more, hence her seeing Offred as a threat. Also when Serena wants Offred to get pregnant, the audience begins to sympathise with the character more because Offred does want to help. However this emotion is turned on its head when it is revealed that Serena Joy has been concealing her knowledge of Offreds daughter and uses her knowledge to emotionally blackmail Offred into baring a child for her. Whilst there are certainly times when the reader feels animosity towards Serena Joy, this is to be expected considering her ‘previous life’ and her current situation. Serena Joy is every bit the victim of Gileadean Society that other characters such as Offred and Moira are.