Lost Time

I drew a clock with the first part of the day, the afternoon hours, having no specific label, and an arrow going around the clocks towards nine o’clock. The later evening hours have labels to them, and there is also an eye in the clock, representing the constant watch that Offred is under. One of the major themes in the Handmaid’s tale is time. Offred’s imagination and her mind is the only thing that is truly hers; she doesn’t own a single tangible thing, not even really her body. A lot of the story revolves around Offred’s reflection during the long periods of time she’s alone, with nothing more to do but reflect on her past life when she was free. She’s a prisoner to a society that uses her for her body, but at least she has her mind and her own thoughts; this, she uses to think about those she misses: Luke, her mother, and her daughter. Offred often mentions how much time she has as a Handmaid. This is what the unlabeled hours on the clock represent and the arrow speeding through that section of the clock. She says “There’s time to spare. This is one of the things I wasn’t prepared for—the amount of unfulfilled time, the long parentheses of nothing.” (p.69) Offred had to adjust to this lifestyle; she used to be free, but now her only use is to get impregnated and birth a healthy child. Her “unfulfilled time” is replaced with flashbacks of the past, echoes from her loved ones that she can’t quite grasp onto. There’s not much for her to physically do; she’s trapped. She tries to fulfill her time doing tangible things to keep herself occupied, like searching her room thoroughly, but all she’s truly left with is her thoughts and her mind takes over. A large chunk of the time she has occurs during the night time, which is why the night hours are labeled. Offred says, “The night is mine, my own time to do with as I will, as long as I am quiet.” Night is often when Offred reflects the most on her past. She views it as her time, which is something that no one can take away from her, just like the memories she still has of Luke, her mother, and her child. That’s something that she will have forever. She owns nothing tangible; her only form of freedom is her ability to form her own thoughts. Yet even with this free time, she still can only do so much; she’s stuck with herself and the thoughts that haunt her. Lastly, Offred has her time at night to herself but she still feels like time is slipping away from her. That is why on the clock there are multiple arrows in the later hours. It shows how her perception of time is being warped and she feels as though she is losing time. “I lie, then, inside the room, under the plaster eye in the ceiling, behind the white curtains, between the sheets, neatly as they, and step sideways out of my own time. Out of time. Though this is time, nor am I out of it.” Offred feels trapped in time; she’s constantly being watched by “the plaster eye in the ceiling,” always being controlled by the higherups. That is what the eye in the clock represents. She has so much spare time that forces her to explore the depths of her mind, yet it still feels like time isn’t moving. “Out of my own time,” implies that she’s out of time to live her life. She has no more freedom, her loved ones have been taken from her and everything else she had stripped. Offred has nothing left to do but use her time to hope that things will get better, that maybe she won’t be a prisoner forever. With my artwork I wanted to highlight the theme of time which was represented through multiple scenes in the story. It has been the only thing keeping Offred going, through her flashbacks and happy memories, and it has allowed her to explore the depths of her mind that she hadn’t before. Time has been a gift and a curse to Offred, but her relationship with it helps add to the plot of the story and offers the reader a better understanding of her past.