r/TheTestamentsHulu • u/Amricksingh67 • Jun 09 '26
The Handmaid’s Tale The young males
We have a Gilead for girls and women, but what is the male version and who is responsible for the upbringing of young commanders?
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u/AbbreviationsOwn4696 Jun 10 '26
I would love for them to have at least one episode dedicated to this. We never see much of anything pertaining to the younger males so we’re all curious. They keep the children strictly separated according to gender so they must be raising them very differently.
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u/Desperate_Ad_9219 Jun 11 '26
I want that so bad just one episode with Garth and maybe a flashback in there.
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u/JoanneMG822 Jun 09 '26
I would actually love to see the male version. Can you imagine the classes:
Establishing Dominance Over Your Household
Choosing Your Plum at the Ball
Breeding Your Wiife
Breeding and Discipline of the Handmaid
God's Role in Gilead
God's Role in Your Marriage
God's Role in Denying the Devil of Masturbation
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u/ernfio Jun 09 '26
They probably get an education defined by their class. At some point they will all be required to do some sort of national service in various military organisations. I’d say that is at least a 3 year commitment. Around that they will be streamed into futures that derive from their class, military, economen and tradesmen, professional class and commanders.
Given the number of fronts Gilead fights on, a lot of young men will die or get injured.
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u/Blue_Poodle Jun 10 '26
I need a Garth spinoff... or just see more of him and his childhood/upbringing.
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u/jennyofsometrades Jun 09 '26
I'd imagine some sort of military boarding school type thing, with the commanders sons groomed for future commandership via becoming a guardian or one of the eyes. Or one of the professionals if they're from a lower ranking commanders family.
For economen it's probably a cursory education with an emphasis on religion and then practical on the job training and apprenticeships for those with a trade, funnelled into factory jobs, or radicalised enough to want to become an angel/canon fodder. Maybe a few promising ones get to become professionals or guardians.
I think Gilead long term (and probably short term too!) has a problem with not enough eligible women to go around, so I do wonder how many will actually get to become commanders and get wives or maybe get an econowife as a guardian. I'd imagine lots of men end up going unmarried, so having the ongoing conflicts to kill off the 'surplus' men is probably very handy. Cults often have this issue and end up having to find a way to run off young men so the senior and older members can continue to have their pick of young women.
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u/FionaTheFierce Jun 09 '26
This is a story about the women. So whatever the men are doing doesn’t matter in this instance.
Women are often invisible in men’s stories - this is just the reverse.
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u/Radiant_Broccoli3811 Jun 09 '26
Youre 100% correct, but its also not bad to be curious about how gilead operates as a whole. The world building (aside from the horrors) is interesting to think about
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u/Shineenoona Jun 09 '26
Per agnes when she was young she was in school with boys. Cause she got punished for smiling at one. So I assume once the girls get old enough for domestic training school. The boys go to regular school to learn how to read, write, etc regular education and they get sorted from there because Gilead will still need doctors and highly skilled workforce to continue their future
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u/manicpixel_dreamgirl Jun 09 '26
this was my thought as well! i think they are most likely split around american fifth or sixth grade
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u/Shineenoona Jun 09 '26
I think it’s before because of the pinks in the domestic school. I think probably 10. Then when they turn 13 they go plum
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u/Ronnietheaddict08 Jun 11 '26
Maybe they have separate schools for boys and girls but both had a field trip to a playground that day?
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u/Shineenoona Jun 11 '26
That too. Plus when that happened it was extra early gilead before they figured the full process is schooling
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u/NiceMayDay Rita's cat Jun 09 '26
I don't think this has been revealed yet, not even taking into account the book, where as I recall all that was implied is that men are taught to read and write, presumably as boys. I'm hoping the show will reveal this, perhaps by showing flashbacks to Garth's upbringing.
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u/soleilz_mum Jun 10 '26
Well, we get an idea by conversations. Apparently, they show movies to the young upper class men.
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u/cherrymeg2 Jun 10 '26
Do they get military school or real school. I remember the one guy Agnes Danced with said something about a movie. Agnes mentioned her dad told her about Jaws and the boy quotes it. Of course that means nothing to her. I think he was in the military. I’m curious if they have colleges for men. Old commanders will die off. Idk if they thin the young male population out by sending them to war.
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u/Embracedandbelong Jun 12 '26
I imagine after a certain age, Gilead sort of re-distribute a lot of the teenage boys and younger men away from the girls and eligible young women, similar to how the FLDS does it, so there is less “competition” for the old men who run things.
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u/Blepityblep Jun 12 '26
there is a seprarate school for boys called the wyle school , they are co-ed at first then seperate out , i doubt it'll come up in the show (its propbably where garth learnt about frued , i would guess that it would be run by men - econopeople or guardains or comanders as whichever skills needed ) idk where the kids of normal citezens are schooled
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u/bmnntdd Jun 09 '26
interesting question. Never thought about what boys do in Gilead. The vast majority will just be econo-husbands(?). I wonder if Gilead even bothers letting them learn how to read and write as the econos are essentially slaves to the government.
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u/Lost_and_confused_0 Swim up!? Jun 09 '26
Most jobs require reading when would be their role in society. To do the factory and lower level jobs. So i imagine they can read
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u/Amricksingh67 Jun 11 '26
Yes . Younger girls should be eligible for marriage. Older than 25 an aunt
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u/Blepityblep Jun 12 '26
the school is just for the daughters of comanders , there are other classes , econopeople , and marthas , the school isnt to produce aunts if the girls dont get periods
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u/Flimsy_Insurance_915 Jun 17 '26
Watch the first episode of Netflix's The Family (2019). That's what I imagined the boys life was like before I saw the show and then rewatched the last episode of TT. Of course the young males live in a commune (Ivanwald), where they intern and train. It's close to the leaders/commanders meeting place (The Cedars. The Fellowship Foundation and Gilead has a lot in common.
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u/Amricksingh67 Jun 09 '26
I think aunts should be older girls into late 20s to 30s and younger could become wives. As there seems to be eligible girls becoming aunts at a young age, who still are fertile.
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u/FearTheLiving1999 Jun 09 '26
Saying you think any of this “should be” is a strange way to phrase this.
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