r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Sad-Opportunity456 • 2d ago
Ear ID tag Question
When June finally made it to Canada, why didn't she have her ID tag removed from her ear immediately? When she escaped while pregnant, she cut it out so I don't understand why she made it to a place where she could have it removed much less painfully she didn't. Any thoughts?
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u/cottoncandymandy 2d ago
She kept it in to show the courts and world that they were treated no better than cattle. It proves their cruelty.
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u/This_Mongoose445 2d ago
Probably the same reason the survivors of concentration camps didn’t have their tattoos removed, as a constant visual reminder to anyone who sees it of the atrocities going on.
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u/imperfectchicken 2d ago
What better symbol to the Canadians and American exiles than walking around with an actual tag in your ear?
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u/SouninLurks 2d ago
I appreciate and like a lot of the responses to the post. However, I think we might be over thinking it a little. I was under the impression that she removed her ear tag the first time to help her escape. She was a fugitive, on the run, and it would immediately give her status away if she was seen with it on her ear. She didn't know where or what she would have to do to escape and it might have been the thing that got her caught
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u/Micchizzle 2d ago
I have always felt it is b/c she doesn’t feel free.
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u/tri-sarah-tops-rex 2d ago
I think folks have covered why she didn't remove it in Canada. To your other question, why she removed it while pregnant, I think this was done to better conceal herself while in hiding. If she was found with the piercing she'd be easily identifiable as a handmaid. Without it, she's just a woman - be it econowife, wife, aunt or Martha...
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u/Purpledoves91 2d ago
Are we sure Marthas don't have one? It seems like they would have some kind of identifier. Then again, Marthas probably aren't as "valuable" as handmaids.
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u/talkinggtothevoid 2d ago
Yes, we are sure they don't have tags like the handmaids. We see near the end of season 2 that a Martha is shot for not getting her documentation out quickly enough for the eyes on the street. They're like a glass dish to Gilead. Invisible, with the exception to their usefulness as it serves the household, but simply disposed of if broken or no longer in use (or in this context, injured/killed).
I was always under the assumption that she did have it removed in Canada, as a part of her assimilation as a refugee, but they just didn't show it on screen because we've already seen her remove it. That being said, I also wouldn't put it past Gilead to remove the tag from her before she was shown on TV for Nichole, to prevent any attempt at her drawing attention to it (pulling off her mouth covering or bonnet in an impulsive cry for help).
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u/Odd_Light_8188 2d ago
Because in gilead it was a way for them to visually see she was a handmaid. While walking around it marked her as running she needed to be able to hide in plain sight. In Canada it didn’t matter it was basically a piercing.
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u/Sad-Opportunity456 2d ago
All of the answers make a lot of sense. I guess I'm just looking at it as her hairstyle covers at most of the time and if it were me, I would have wore my hair up when I went to court so it could be seen and after that it would have been gone real quick. I was thinking when she was a no man's land that it was going to be the very thing that took her back to Gilead.
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u/clydebuilt 2d ago
She doesn't often make good decisions, that's why we've all been screaming at the TV for years!
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u/ambermeadowcompanion 1d ago
I don’t think she will ever not identify as a Handmaid ever again at this point . When she cut it out the first time, she had been traumatized- BUT - she wasn’t so damaged at that point that she couldn’t heal and possibly get her previous “June “ back. By the time she gets back to Canada for real in season 5 she had been aasaluted at 9 mo pregnant, gaslit , locked in boxes, and traumatized So severely that no one would ever be completely “normal” and would ever end up with that vulnerability piece that a lot of us who have survived trauma , but not to that degree , are able to get back. She is a mf gladiator when it comes to surviving- but that shit damages tf out of a person.
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u/Vampirexbuny 2d ago
If i Remember correctly there was still damage (that was in the process of healing) that had to be fully healed to remove it safely.
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u/followingspaceships 1d ago
Also helps when she’s out in public now in Canada because it’s so rare for handmaids to escape that if she sees another, they can easily identify one another. It’s like a group thing. An “I see you” symbol. It shows her strength too.
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u/lordmwahaha 2d ago
Probably because it demonstrates to everyone around her what she’s been through - same reason a lot of Holocaust survivors kept their tattoos (interestingly, in the book it IS a tattoo rather than an ear tag, which makes the comparison a lot more obvious). Keeping the symbol of oppression serves as living proof that what you’re saying happened DID happen. No one can say you’re lying, because the tag/tattoo is right there.
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u/Strange_Swimming_800 2d ago edited 2d ago
I personally feel like this time around she decided to keep it on as a sign a strength, something she survived, and as a symbol to the rest of the world that Handmaid's are real and that they're oppressed, abused and tagged like cattle.
It also helps her stay connected to the loved ones she left behind in Gilead. Even though she left Gilead, it's still a part of her and always will be.