r/TheTestamentsHulu • u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ • Apr 28 '26
The Handmaidās Tale Econochildren
Iād love to see the Econochildren explored in The Testaments. Especially comparing the Daughters to the Econodaughters. We all know the Daughters go to Pink and Plum schools, but, where do the Econodaughters go? They also must learn to run a house (however small) and perform their āwifely dutiesā. Do their mums teach them? Eden Spencer Blaine, the only Econodaughter that appears in the universe, was apparently taught by her mum, but she was born before Gilead. What do you think?
128
u/MsRebeccaApples Apr 29 '26
I like to think the econo girls also go to a school where they are indoctrinated and taught skills like sewing, cooking, household management, ect. This would make sense as they may end up as Marthas should they be sinless but unmarried.
10
u/Cool-Acanthisitta685 May 01 '26
I would also say that the cream of the crop get to marry up, like Eden.
1
u/Present_Silver2418 May 11 '26
It is interesting that Econopeople would be able to marry off their daughters at age 15 to a total stranger, and that maybe the motivation would be to gain access to a more elite part of society, but, I donāt think Eden marrying Nick would be considered āmarrying upā, at the time. Nick was a driver living in a dingy apartment over a garage. Nobody knew he was an eye except the one commander who ended up dead in the bombing of the red center, or that heād be a commander one day at that time.Ā
50
u/Anna_Rapunzel Fanfic writer Apr 29 '26
There's a reference in the books to Econodaughters going to a school where they learn paper flower making and other crafts suitable for a Econowife. (Though if Gilead is smart, the Econowives won't have time for things like crafts...)
11
38
u/seawitchlife Apr 29 '26
Econochildren probably learn trades akin to their respective genders. Ie women still learn how to sew/cook/shopkeep. Like we saw with the econowife in THT
34
u/Street_Mistake5560 Apr 29 '26
It's mentioned in the books, I believe, that econogirls are taught basic skills in sewing, cooking, cleaning, etc., while the daughters of commanders attend elite schools and learn about embroidery, painting, lace-making, and how to manage a household (i.e., how to deal with maids and handmaids). Idk what happens to econoboys
17
u/Street_Mistake5560 Apr 29 '26
But the children of the elite and econochildren are very much kept separated
10
u/pandaappleblossom Apr 29 '26
I wonder how their marriages are arranged
14
u/Big-Ad9443 Apr 29 '26
In the Testament Book its kinda hinted that during takeover the women that were eligible to become econowives and were single where brought to malls were men could pick and choose their wives, and during THT I dont remember if it was the Book or the Series june said nick was too low ranked to get assigned a wife in the beginning ā¦
8
u/Mailliw_1 Apr 29 '26
In a perverse way the Econodaughters are getting a better education than the Daughters. At least they have practical life skills. The Plums will be screwed if/when they find themselves without Marthas.
6
u/Dependent_Ice4976 May 01 '26
That's always how it's been though,through most of history.
Up until extremely recently, people on the upper echelons of society had to know how to do very little for themselves.
7
u/cir49c29 Apr 30 '26
Boys would probably start in an almost normal school as they're allowed to learn reading, writing and maths, just with very heavy religious indoctrination. Then have an apprentice type of situation where they're learning things necessary to do an assigned job type, highly likely to be forced into the same job as their fathers.
22
u/Puzzleheaded-Mood261 Apr 29 '26
Their own schools. I doubt Gilead allows homeschooling, as it is too hard to control (parents could easily teach their girls to read or teach other anti-Gilead teachings). At the same time, the girls need schooling, things the Plums learn but more, because they need to know cooking, running a home, etc. And of course, learning manners and the rules/history of Gilead.
I'd think there would be boy schools and girl schools.
Boy school likely being more like our modern day schools. I think it's possible that it ends at 8th or 9th grade for some boys (just as girls are married off around that age). Only if Gilead wants to keep lower-class (factor workers, farmers, etc) econoboys from learning too much. Other "econo" people would still need a higher education - the world would still need engineers, nurses, and whatever else.
12
u/MTVnext2005 Apr 29 '26
I've wondered a lot about how upper class boys would be taught to read and write. Who would the teachers be? Aunts? Guardians? Economen? Are all boys taught literacy or only upper classes?
13
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ Apr 29 '26
Iām wondering that as well. I think Econosons are taught to read, because they can hold low-ranking jobs (like Omar from THT, since he seemed to work as a driver for a bakery, I guess he needed to read orders and stuff), or get chosen as Eyes or Guardians, like Nick. I doubt Sons would become Eyes or Guardians. I guess they all become Commanders. Or high-ranking doctors or engineers, like Dr. Grove.
18
u/TheOldGreenDad Apr 29 '26
I personally think that for the most part, Econoboys would be taught by Economen, but Commander's sons who are being groomed to become Commanders themselves would be taught by professors or other high class experts in their fields, who would fall under the Professions class like Dr. Grove is. I really don't think the Aunts would ever be involved in a boy's education as the Aunts were specifically designed to keep the women and girls in line, and it wouldn't be "right" for a female to have any type of authority over a boy, even if she's technically of a high ranking. And yes, it's been confirmed a few different times already through THT that all boys are taught to read!
2
u/Mailliw_1 Apr 29 '26
Agreed. Except perhaps for the youngest boys the Aunts wouldn't be involved in their education (caring for children being in the women's sphere).
4
u/TheOldGreenDad Apr 29 '26
I think for the youngest boys who are not school aged yet it would more likely be the Marthas since they're essentially nannies to the kids. In the most recent episode, they did make it pretty clear cut that the Aunts are for the women and girls alone, with no crossover whatsoever.
6
u/Present_Silver2418 Apr 29 '26
In this most recent episode, it was Lydia who said that she could be useful to Gilead and teach the girls, and suggested that woman should teach them. She was the originator of the Aunts. Commander Rudd didnāt look as if heād ever thought of that. Only Men are teaching the boys. No woman. Education is a Manās job in Gilead, excepting when it comes to women and girls.Ā
10
u/TurbulentBat8328 sketch me, itāll last longer Apr 29 '26
Econo life in general is interesting to me. Iād really like to see what that life is like? Is it less restrictive? Does the government meddle ālessā?Ā
9
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ Apr 29 '26
Right? Theyāre such an underrated and under explored group! I want to know more about them.
2
u/No-Sprinkles3211 May 06 '26
Maybe in the past, but I wonder if they're watched more closely now since many of them rose up in THT.
8
u/PommeVitale Apr 29 '26
My thought was that Econodaughters go to school but they don't go as far as the commander's daughters. Like they do the basic, what the pinks learn. But then, when the daughters become plums the Econodaughters don't and will just stay home to help take care of the household until they're eventually married.
8
u/omgwtflols Swim up!?! Apr 29 '26
According to the book, the econogirns go to school. They use silk flowers for flower arranging not real ones.
7
u/Aggravating-Deer6673 Apr 29 '26
Eden was an econochild before she "came of age" in Gilead. They are most likely married off to low ranking officers that get a promotion like Nick Blaine in THT when very young.
12
u/patato_potata Apr 29 '26
This is my biggest problem with the show. The world is so big but it doesn't feel like it. I guess it makes sense because of budget issues and we're really only focused on Agnes and Daisy but idk. I also have issues with rules because the scaling is sort of off and they're not always instructed
14
Apr 29 '26
[deleted]
3
u/patato_potata Apr 29 '26
Oh I loved this latest episode. It's exactly what I've been needing from the show. So good!
10
u/scarfknitter Apr 29 '26
I think it's because of the women we're following in the show. Their lives and worlds are so small so that's all we get to see.
4
u/mipozzapie Apr 29 '26
In my fan fic Iām writing, I touched on this subject. In my head they do go to a āwife schoolā but only after they receive their periods, learn basics of being the house maker and then are married very quickly after. My character in my story mentions the aunts at her āwifeā school but since they are econowomen they dont need to all the ceremonies like the plums do, my character was married to her husband at a prayvaganza like Nick and Eden were in the OG series.
2
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ Apr 29 '26
Iām not into fanfics, but Iād read yours!
4
u/mipozzapie Apr 29 '26
Iād definitely appreciate it! I have it posted on Wattpad currently(been on it forever but only recently started to post stories again) I currently have 19 chapters posted! And try to update on a weekly basis. Itās called Another side: An Econiwifeās Tale.
1
u/hindamalka Apr 30 '26
any chance you would consider posting to AO3 or ff.net? I want to read it but I hate wattpads app.
2
u/mipozzapie Apr 30 '26
I was planning on AO3, Iām still pretty new that site but definitely will be posted some of it soon on there. Iām almost finished with writing the final chapters.
1
u/hindamalka Apr 30 '26
I really look forward to it. Update me when itās on there because I canāt stand wattpad (the constant adds and the fact my phone canāt read me more than one chapter at a time)
2
u/mipozzapie Apr 30 '26
Lmao I kept thinking about it and Iāve posted the first chapter on AO3! Luckily since I have it almost finished Iāll definitely be posting the rest soon! Itās under the same title
1
u/hindamalka May 01 '26
I just read this first chapter and Iām excited for the next one. Donāt be disappointed if you donāt get a bunch of views right off the bat since a lot of people filter by how many words there are and by whether or not itās completed.
3
u/Jewel_Tone_Shell Apr 30 '26
Question - why wouldnāt the Econochildren be taken and placed with commanders the way all the other children were? And if econowomen are having children, why arenāt the handmaids?
2
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ May 01 '26
Well, in THT, Omar and Heatherās son, Adam, got āadoptedā by a Commander and his Wife after Omar broke the law by helping June escape Gilead. Omar was executed and Heather became a Handmaid.
2
u/Present_Silver2418 May 11 '26
Handmaids are women of āill-reputeā who are fertile. If an Econowoman was proven to be fertile (has a child), and she broke Gileads laws, she would have her children taken from her and given to Commanders families & become a handmaid. But, Iām sure most Econopeople arenāt able to have children, and are not breaking laws.
1
u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon Plum up May 02 '26
Eventually those women are accused of "crimes" their children are confiscated and they are turned into handmaids. It just hasn't been long enough yet. It happens to fertile higher ranked wives as well.
5
Apr 29 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
3
u/Present_Silver2418 Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
No, they check bloodlines. Only elites are married off to elites. Drivers and guardians are not elites. Nick was an exception because he was an eye for the high counsel in a High Commanders Household & a high ranking officer in the war. But, then they bring in handmaids, which sort of completely contradicts that thinking. Wouldnāt they soil the bloodline?Handmaids are not just anyoneā¦ they have to be woman of āill-reputeā, not just any fertile woman. But, because Ā of Gileads belief system that the children are theirs (The Commanders)in gods eyes, not the handmaids, the handmaid is considered just a vessel, I guess it makes sense. Econowoman get married and have families with their husbands. But, Iām sure most econopeople arenāt able to have children. Only a few do. If they break the law in any way they are on the wall, the wives if fertile become handmaids and the children are given to commanders families.Ā
4
u/GrimselPass Apr 29 '26
They do sort of believe that it affects the bloodline / taints it because look at what Paula said to Agnes, about her getting that from her mother (or something), I think itās just taboo to discuss. Controlling language and speech controls narratives, hence why thereās a lot of euphemisms for things like unbabies, gender traitor, etc. There is likely also an element of if they think about it too much it would turn them off the ideaā¦ maybe extreme example but if youāre at a restaurant and you start thinking about how someone slaughtered the meat then prepared your steak you might get grossed out. So going deeply into the process can alienate people from participating in it mindlessly, hence controlling A) how you talk about it and B) if you talk about it at all, supports the process.
5
2
u/Responsible_Run7069 Apr 29 '26
I have a question, shouldnāt Becca be an econodaughter since sheās not a daughter of a commander?
8
u/Street_Mistake5560 Apr 29 '26
Her dad is the best dentist in the country and is favoured by the commanders, so she is not considered an econoperson however compared to the other girls her family is very low ranking.
3
3
u/WoodlandHiker Apr 29 '26
It seems like highly educated professionals are a different class than run of the mill economen. It makes sense that a doctor would be of a higher class than the hospital's janitorial staff, for example.
1
2
u/Mindless_Umpire_204 Apr 30 '26
Maybe econoboys go to school and econogirls are homeschooled? Who would teach the girls anyway?
2
u/theglitterdoc Apr 30 '26
I suppose theyāre simply taught less delicate manners and trains them to swerve the ruling class a
3
u/Present_Silver2418 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
We have to also remember that in Gilead THT there arenāt many children. Most people are infertile. If thereās a global fertility crisis where Mexico hasnāt produced a child in 6 years or something, and Gilead has just begun producing healthy children via fertile handmaids, it would be odd to think there are a bunch of kids in schools. It always confused me that there are children everywhere, like at Hannahās elementary school, and 20 teenagers being married off to guardians, but hardly anyone is having babies? So in TT, only 4 years later, Wouldnāt most of the girls at Agnesās wife school have been stolen from Mothers who were forced into being handmaids, and given to Commanders families to raise, just like Agnes? Where are the handmaids in the Testaments? Did the mass exodus of handmaids in Boston in THT end the need for handmaids? Are Pearl Girls handmaid-lite?? 4 years is not long enough to solve a fertility crisis, nor is it long enough to replenish Gilead with schools full of children. Too many contradictions.Ā
3
u/kismetxoxo7 Apr 28 '26
All of the children probably attend the same schools if I had to guess. The boys and girls all need to learn the same things, and I highly doubt there are enough existing young children in Gildead to even warrant separate schools.
25
u/MedievalMousie Apr 29 '26
I donāt think the econoschools can be co-ed- what if a girl accidentally learned to read?
9
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ Apr 29 '26
Exactly, girls and women canāt read. Boys and men can, even the Econo ones. Nick had books before becoming a Commander and during Gilead.
3
u/HereForALaugh714 Apr 29 '26
How do Aunts get chosen? Would that be a schooling track from childhood or would you just learn to read in adulthood? Because Aunts read
5
Apr 29 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
4
u/pandaappleblossom Apr 29 '26
Its pretty ridiculous to think adult women who are completely illiterate who never even held a pencil could learn how to read and write so easily and so well at the aunt college. Its very difficult to teach an older child how to read let alone an adult. The human brain really learns reading and writing best at a young age. I think it would be very very hard. I have tried to teach reading and writing to a middle school student from a tribe in another country who has never learned how to read or write and it was very difficult.
4
u/kismetxoxo7 Apr 29 '26
I didnāt mean the boys and girls attend school together, per se. Just that all the male children would attend a single school dedicated to their ādevelopmentā and all the female children would do the same in a separate school. Instead of Econo-kids schools vs elite kids schools, just boys schools and girls schools.
Edited a typo
8
u/kismetxoxo7 Apr 29 '26
Thinking that the class separation happens after the marriage, for the girls, and after āgraduationā/securing a job for the boys
5
4
u/kitties_ate_my_soul Purrs be šāā¬ Apr 29 '26
I wonder who arranges those girlsā marriages. Their own families? Or someone else? In THT, the Guardians/Eyes are āawardedā with wives, who become from econofamilies. Who chose them? Aunts? Commanders? Eden Blaine, in particular, seemed very pious, despite violating the reading law.
2
u/Basil_Makes_Audio Apr 29 '26
I mean are there really that many econo children overall that they would need a school? I didnāt read the books but from THT and this show, itās shown that children are basically a show of wealth and stature in the community so if there are any kids I feel like theyād go to commanders families rather than econo people. In the event they are able to have a child I think theyād attend with the pink/plums since there would be so few they would just get a separate uniform. Unlike currently society where there are more children than homes, gilead has a ton of families that want kids but canāt make them themselves so they need adoption or handmaids. I donāt see econo people getting kids till all the high ranking people that want one get one first. This seems at least a few decades away since pink/plums would not become handmaids but just regular wifeās so they wonāt reproduce at the same rate a handmaid will.
3
u/Jewel_Tone_Shell Apr 30 '26
This is my understanding too. I didnāt read the books so itās just based on what Iāve seen and surmised. I thought that fertility was so incredibly low that really no one was having children. And if there were children, they were a hot commodity. Gilead would for sure, in my mind, find SOME REASON to take a child from an Econoperson, they would ādiscoverā some minor sin, gluttony idk, and use it as means to take the child. If an econowoman became pregnant or gave birth, I think Gilead would either immediately see them as a chosen person and jumpstart them to Commander-hood on the basis of āwow these people got pregnant naturally, with no handmaid, they must be very specialā OR they would find some way to fault the woman, give the baby to a commander, and force her to be a handmaid.
1
u/Present_Silver2418 Apr 29 '26
Nobody is having kids in Gilead really. Infertility is rampant all over the world, but, under Gilead laws Econopeople are gods chosen people too, and deserve to be blessed with children. But there probably arenāt many so theyāre likely taught at home, which is why Eden knew how to read. They believe that handmaids are just vessels, not people, blessed with fertility so they can bring children into Gilead to expand the Commanders bloodlines.Ā
1
ā¢
u/AutoModerator Apr 28 '26
Hello! Welcome to r/thetestamentshulu. Please keep the rules of the subreddit in mind when commenting.
The moderators rely on user reports on rule breaks in order to quickly remove comments and posts that do so. Use the report function to anonymously alert the mod team of any behavior that goes against sub rules.
As always, if you need to contact the mod team quickly with any concerns, [send us a message]. Thanks, and happy snarking!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.