Power Is In The Hands Of The Beholder

The artwork I drew above illustrates the relationship between Offred’s real world and the various universes in which she could exist in. As this is the current reality of Offred’s life story, she is currently positioned in the center of the page. Since her current life is that of a handmaid, her only responsibility is to maintain her health in order to bear children, and healthy ones at that and that is her only duty. The work of what it means to be a handmaid is given to us in several portions of the book, piece by piece, each time disclosing a new aspect of their function.“ Hair must long but covered.” You can get a brief overview of the various requirements connected to the image above. Their hair is certainly tucked away, concealed from view, as you can see in the drawing. They must wear red shoes and dresses, and their gowns must be long and sleeved. Because they are so valuable and practically considered a treasured asset in this new civilization, this is done to protect them from other people and the outside world. The quote, which comes from Chapter 6, states, “We learn to see the world in gasp.” They are kept hidden behind Gilead’s walls and the wings that are essentially there to cover up their faces are used to hide their faces indicating that they had little to no Freedom and an extremely sheltered.

As you can see, there are four distinct looks that correspond to the various personas of the novel’s key characters. Offred’s surroundings are arranged to represent the different potential outcomes that might take place in her reality, or simply the various results she has encountered during the narrative. The Jezebel’s specific outfit is described as “the women on the other hand are tropical, they are dressed in all kinds of bright festive gear.” This is stated in Chapter 37 when Offred is introduced to The Club scene, this is very unfamiliar to her and it is a culture shock because she is so used to being covered up and modest. She also even refers to the girls in the club as looking ‘clownish’ because they are free to wear almost anything they want. Her past life as a College student is another persona, it was her past life, where she was able to live as she liked, not under the Gilead rule with no freedom. She didn’t have any stipulations tied to her name and she definitely didn’t have to worry about what she wore. She was a college student, doing college things living her best life as a Free woman.

Finally, the Wives and the Un-Women are the final two characters I drew. Gilead gives a lot of Power to the title of Wives. Every woman in its society aspires to be like them and especially to hold the title of being a Wife. In fact, the wives aren’t really presented in Gilead unless one of their handmaids bears them a child. This happens because their age or their infertility stops them from being able to conceive their own children, and wives are usually of old age. The birth of the child gives the wife some attention. In chapter 21 this quote states; “the wives are here to bear witness the naming.” Meaning once the handmaid gives birth all the responsibility is then transferred over the the wife to name the child and raise it as their own. In the novel we aren’t informed a lot about the Un-women, we know only little bits and pieces about who they are, where they are, and what they do. In chapter 20 we learn that the Un-women are “feminists from the days before Gilead.” This gives us a little bit of insight that the Unwomen are just feminists who are not going to conform to the Men’s rule and in the community of Gilead that is seen as forbidden, and breaking the rules. Therefore you never see them inside the gates of Gilead and we barely hear about them unless they are mentioned on the TV which is forbidden to watch.