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Key points
- "The Handmaid's Tale" has brought trauma experiences to the surface, with a visual focus on showing the aftereffects.
- Trauma reactions in "The Handmaid's Tale" and real life are varied and challenging to define — but necessary to give victims a voice.
- "The Handmaid's Tale" demonstrates the realistic, irretrievable loss of innocence, genuine emotions, and love in the women who were traumatized.
The Handmaid’s Tale, a screaming success in its TV adaptation from Margaret Atwood’s famous book, has been termed a warning against misogyny, totalitarian governments, and so much more — but through a clinical lens, its biggest achievement has been delivering rundowns of what trauma looks like and feels like to millions of viewers. Given the impact this series has, it begs the question of whether the portrayal is accurate.
The latest season of The Handmaid’s Tale has been largely centered on the aftereffects of trauma — following June, the captive-turned-savior’s escape from Gilead, and several other battered women as they struggle to come to terms with their experiences. Sexual abuse is rampant in Gilead, and the handmaids are routinely sexually assaulted in the name of procreation. As June and her cohorts try to make a difference from a safe country, they come up against barrier after barrier, many of which are born out of their own trauma.
Most of the escaped women feel largely disconnected from their old lives, and incredibly close to the other victims — a common occurrence for individuals who have been through traumatic experiences together. Aside from other people not understanding the events, many victims feel more attached to fellow victims because they can tell their story without judgment or fear of blame.
Impact of trauma on relationships
As the dynamics between June and her husband Luke show, victims often feel the need to provide comfort to their loved ones after disclosing trauma; this comes at extreme personal cost, as they are typically in survival mode themselves, trying to keep one foot in front of the other. June’s trauma reactions continue to interfere in her relationship with Luke, an interplay that comes as no surprise to seasoned mental health professionals.
The majority of trauma happens in relationships, so it makes sense that relationships are also most affected during recovery and healing. Just as victims are struggling to rediscover their lives, loved ones are also fighting an unseen enemy. Most significant others and family members who weren’t part of the trauma experience will have a difficult time understanding exactly what happened and its impact — and often they can become overwhelmed and frustrated with the sheer uphill battle of recovery. The Handmaid’s Tale does a fantastic job of illustrating the war that rages for victims and their loved ones, without shying away from brutal changes that happen in relationships.
Individualized reactions to trauma
Trauma victims react in different ways, and there is no “right” or “wrong” method of handling traumatic experiences. Some of the women on The Handmaid’s Tale quietly adjust back to their old lives, carrying over some idiosyncrasies from their time in Gilead, but seemingly resilient on the surface. Others wander about in a daze, unsure of how to talk to their old spouses or play with their children; some are outwardly furious and ready for revenge, while a few are portrayed as ticking time bombs, with quiet, simmering rage. The series is careful to show equity with all reactions, an important honor to trauma victims across the globe — normalizing the individualized experiences of and reactions to trauma.
Flashbacks
Some of the most compelling moments in The Handmaid’s Tale are the silent ones. The slow-motion, emotional responses to a trigger. The attempts to reorient from bombarding thoughts. The inability to navigate everyday locations because of flashbacks to trauma.
In one particularly meaningful scene, June stands at the bottom of the stairs in a safe place — paralyzed to go up them because of their similarity to the stairs in her Gilead home. Many victims of trauma can have almost out-of-body experiences, where their physical location does not match the swoops and twirls happening in their minds. To outsiders, this looks odd and unexplainable. To those familiar with trauma, this a powerful visual representation of the melee that follows traumatization.
Pursuing happiness
The quintessence of trauma in The Handmaid’s Tale is the victims’ ongoing labors to feel happiness again. Regardless of their external safety, all of them are depicted as grasping at elusive straws to find their footing. While they recognize on the surface that reunification with families should bring closure and some joy, none of them are able to access these basic needs. The producers’ decisions to evoke a sense of irretrievable loss — of innocence, of genuine emotions, of love — were brilliant. Trauma victims face an intense war within themselves, one that can last a lifetime. Recovering their pleasure and lightheartedness goes hand in hand with reclaiming personal power.
Though painfully intense and graphic, The Handmaid’s Tale has brought trauma awareness to millions of people — particularly the latest season. The horror, isolation, and animalism the series portrays will ring true with countless victims who are unable to put their suffering into words. Though many may disagree with the actors’ healing process, and in acknowledgment of the show’s explicit nature, the risk taken to render the backlash of trauma on national television is essential as much as it is stomach-churning.
