What can we tell about Serena Joy and her attitudes to the regime and handmaids?
             The introduction to Serena Joy is quite hard to interpret in the way that it doesn't seem to, and can't, tell us much about her attitude and what she is thinking as it is written from the perspective of another person. However it does tell us rather a bit about her appearance or how she behaves in front of the handmaid.
             We get quite a the feeling she seems quite a cold person, in the way she talks especially, but in this book you can never be sure if it is how the people really are or the way they are behaving because they are expected to act that way. We also learn about the effect the regime has had of the people, particularly the wives. The sentence about Serena Joy not stepping aside at the door to let her in and about there being "...push and shove, these days, over such toeholds". This gives us the impression that even the wives of commanders and generals, who are meant to be important, powerful people are restricted in many ways and also that they may feel invaded by the presence of the handmaids and the purpose they are serving in their homes. The way that Serena Joy makes Offred stand on the porch, uncomfortably, until the Guardian has gone also seems to confirm this point.
             There is a detailed description of Serena Joy in this part of the book, the blue dress, the cane, the pursed lips and the blonde hair. The conversation is strict and unemotional between Serena and Offred, "So, you're the new one" almost makes Offred into an object they have bought and also takes away her individuality as she is just referred to as one of many. She isn't welcoming to Offred and simply tells her to "Shut the door behind you". This tells us that Serena does not like the handmaids, either because she knows what they are there to d
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