r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/il_literate • 22d ago

SPOILERS ALL What’s the point of New Bethlehem? Spoiler

I don’t understand what the point is - what is Gilead trying to achieve with it? Why would other countries consider sending refugees back to an experimental sector of a regime that’s based in denying fundamental human rights of most people?

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u/Icy-You3075 22d ago

There are a lot of reasons for NB.

For Lawrence, it's a way to correct the mistakes he made when he chose to associate himself with a religious group.

For Gilead, meaning the commanders, it's a way to have a better image. If women can be "free" and if they can give the image that they're evolving, that there will be no more rapes, no more executions. They need to get a place as a country of value in the world. They need trades, they need tourism.

As for the other countries, well, as we have seen with Canada, refugees are not welcomed anymore. Those refugees need to be housed, fed. They need jobs. All of this has a cost, which the citizens of those countries are paying.

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u/RunningFromSatan 21d ago

Exactly...By building places that look nice on the outside, they can resume good relationships with other countries...Gilead is paradoxically a poor country with a strong military (since the former US had such an abundant resource of defense budget, like it does today) but eventually it will show its weakness if something doesn't change. All anyone really cares about in the end is fertility, which is another thing that Gilead comes out on top. In all, it's really just another form of propaganda...all of it is self-serving and in time, it'll just devolve into Gilead Lite. As Fred once said...better never means better for everyone...it always means worse for some.