Luke vs. The Commander

My artwork is symbolizing how the Commander is replacing Luke in Offred’s life. Seeing as the Commander took her to the hotel where she would have affairs with Luke, I thought it was fitting to draw Offred looking at herself in the mirror side by side, the left being in “the time before,” and the right being in Gilead. Each quote I chose to put on either side of the mirror is significant in that it is her inner thoughts towards each man in these two periods of her life. The quotes highlight Offred’s cynicism, which only grew with her new role in Gilead, as a surrogate for the Commander’s Wife’s child. In the past, she was naive, and was only worried about whether or not Luke loved her, but now, she is thinking of the whole picture, and appears rather resigned about the whole thing.

I thought that each scene had an interesting parallel between the other, in that Offred is, in both cases, the mistress. Moira’s response highlights that aspect: “She disapproved of Luke, back then. Not of Luke but the fact that he was married. She said I was poaching, on another woman’s ground” (171). Offred’s response, however, was to defend Luke and his choices. This was an obvious indicator of her love for Luke. At that point, she didn’t care whether or not he was married, as long as he loved her and she loved him.

In Gilead, the Commander is someone she is serving, and this has led to an obvious power-dynamic that the Commander has been continually abusing to get Offred to fit the roles he wants her to. At first, they were playing Scrabble, and it was more of a transactional companionship. But now, the Commander has fully “corrupted” her, as Moira explains to Offred when they are in the break area: “your gang are supposed to be such chaste vessels. They like to see you all painted up. Just another crummy power trip” (243). The Commander did just that, dressing her up, exposing her skin and face to all at Jezebel’s, before having sex with her in the hotel, forcefully. This all corroborates the theory that the Commander follows a pattern of abuse of power towards the Handmaids in his service, that led the previous Handmaid to kill herself. The Handmaid’s warning, then, may be in reference to that pattern, as Offred asked for the meaning of the Latin phrase “nolites te bastardes carborundorum,” soon before being “invited” to Jezebel’s.

The difference in perspectives on being a mistress of the two men in her life during “the time before” and Gilead really highlight how much Offred has changed as a person due to the societal pressures of Gilead. She has clearly become much more cynical towards men, possibly as a result of her experiences at the Red Center, where she was taught that men are uncontrollable and that she and the other Handmaids need to have restraint. But the overall differences in treatment of Offred by both men who she is having an affair with further highlight the differences in “the time before” and Gilead that impact Offred and her physical and mental wellbeing directly.