What was wrong with Janine's baby in Handmaids Tale?

Baby Angela's illness is a metaphor for the sickness in Gilead that stems from separating baby from its mother. It's not a real medical condition but a nice allegorical one.
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What happens to Janine's baby girl Angela?

Angela Putnam is the biological baby daughter of Commander Warren Putnam and his Handmaid Janine Lindo, who named her baby Charlotte before she was reassigned. Her daughter is now raised as the legal daughter of Commander Putnam and his wife Naomi.
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What happened to Janine's baby Caleb in Handmaids Tale?

Season Three

She reads through them to ascertain the locations of the various missing children and discovers that Caleb died 4 years ago in a traffic accident, long before the events of this episode.
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Was Janine's baby a shredder?

Unfortunately, Janine's triumph is short-lived, as baby Angela turns out to be a "shredder" and does not live. Janine is distraught by this and the trauma takes its toll on her mental well-being.
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What does Offred learn about Janine's baby?

Summary: Chapter 33

Janine walks in with a new Wife, and Ofglen whispers that Janine's baby was born with birth defects after all. She adds that Janine slept with a doctor to get pregnant.
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Janine Get's To See Charlotte! - The Handmaids Tale 2x08 'I Will Hold You Responsible!'



Did Janine give birth to Unbaby?

However, after the birth her child is later found to be a “shredder” or an “unbaby,” meaning it was born with some kind of a birth defect, and is discarded somehow. Janine is almost immediately sent to a new commander after the baby is lost, and Offred loses track of her after that.
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Why was Janine transferred so soon after the birth of her baby?

Once she becomes pregnant with her Commander's child, poor Janine loses that baby too. Although at first the baby seems healthy, Janine will only be able to care for her for a few months before she's handed over to the Commander and his Wife and Janine is transferred to a new posting.
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What is an Unbaby?

Unbaby, or shredder, is the term used in the Republic of Gilead to describe infants that are suffering from birth defects or physical deformities. These die shortly after birth due to their defects. They are usually taken away to be disposed of.
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What caused the infertility in Handmaids Tale?

But what's the cause? In The Handmaid's Tale, infertility is linked to another one of Gilead's prominent problems: pollution. As revealed in the season 1 episode "A Woman's Place," inorganic farming and radioactivity are to blame for declining fertility.
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Why is Ofwarren missing an eye?

Over the course of three seasons of The Handmaid's Tale, Madeline Brewer's Janine has absorbed every blow Gilead has to offer. She's had her right eye gouged out of its socket for speaking up for herself in a society where women have no voice or ownership over their bodies.
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Does Janine know her son died?

Janine has become much more placated in her role as a Handmaid during the later seasons, but discovering her son had been killed in an accident could bring back her rebellious streak.
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Why did Aunt Lydia cry after beating Janine?

After publicly beating Janine, Lydia excuses herself from the company of the commanders, their wives and all the other witnesses in attendance. Alone in a quiet corner of the Putnam household, Lydia cries to herself, overwhelmed with the enormity of her own actions.
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How many babies did Janine have?

So, there is Janine, June's tragic foil. They're both J names. They both had one young child before the events of the series. They both give birth to healthy daughters.
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Why did baby Angela get sick?

Baby Angela got sick because that story arc needed closure. Babies don't get sick or better solely because of contact with humans (unless said humans are carrying disease, but I digress). These can be mitigating factors however and human contact can aid in healing.
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Does Janine's baby get out of Gilead?

The latest episode of The Handmaid's Tale features flashbacks to Janine's life before Gilead and her days raising her son, Caleb, as a single mother. Like June, Janine had her child taken away from her when she was forced to become a handmaid. But while June's daughter Hannah is still alive, Caleb sadly is not.
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Does Commander Lawrence Get June pregnant?

June spends most of season one trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant by Commander Waterford. Out of desperation, his wife has June have sex with their driver Nick, which leads to June and Nick having a secret affair, and she does end up pregnant — by Nick.
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Why is June a Handmaid and not an Econowife?

But the consensus seems to be that handmaids differ from econowives because they committed some kind of sin in Gilead's eyes. "Speaking within the confines of the show ... econowives can be fertile or infertile," wrote Reddit user Tary_n.
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Who got Serena Joy pregnant?

But Fred is the father.” Fans of the show will have to wait until season five to see how the rest of Serena's pregnancy will go, especially when she finds out that Fred has been killed.
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Why is Serena Joy pregnant?

After noticing that Fred's attempts were unsuccessful, Serena suggested that his driver Nick Blaine (Max Minghella) should secretly impregnate June. June became pregnant however later in the series, she was able to help the baby escape Gilead after she gave birth.
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What are the unwomen digging up?

Emily and her fellow "unwomen" are supposedly removing the Colonies' radioactive soil so that Gilead can plant crops in the area — the idea is that removing pollution will help solve the fertility crisis — but their labor is just as much a solution as it is a political tool.
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Are Econowives fertile?

The youngest members of Gilead, such as June's daughter, will eventually become Econowives or Wives, so long as they remain fertile and faithful. They'll be married off to working-class men at the young age of 14 or 15.
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Why are they called unwomen?

In a cold, dry, toxic wasteland, Unwomen (the term used to describe women who have violated Gilead's codes and lose their status) stand toiling in the dust, shoveling dirt into bags without the benefit of the gas masks that the guards wear.
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Where do the handmaids go after they have a baby?

Handmaids are allowed to stay with their babies for a few weeks, breastfeeding them, but after they are weaned, the Handmaids are forced to leave the household and are assigned to a new Commander.
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What does menstruation symbolize to Offred?

As Offred states, the color red symbolizes blood: the menstrual blood of the handmaids, necessary for conception but also a reminder of sexuality.
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What does Moira mean to Offred?

Moira and Offred's friendship is meant to show how women rely on each other in difficult. times, and can use each other as sources of strength. In Gilead, female friendships are. prohibited: “If I could see Moira, just see her, know she still exists.
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