The Act of Ignorance

The Wall is something that was introduced to readers in chapter 6. Ofred says it is hundreds of years old, made of bricks, with barbed wire and metal posts surrounding it. The Wall is filled with 6 bodies, and the handmaids are forced to look at them. Ofred notes that the bodies are hung with white bags over their heads, which she states is the worst thing that could be over their heads. My artwork helps readers visualize just that. It shows two handmaids in their red dresses and white hats looking at three bodies on the wall. In the drawing, Ofred looks as if she is walking away while the other handmaid beside her has stopped. I chose to do this because it helps present the idea that some handmaids have already become desensitized to The Wall, while others are still adjusting. In the drawing, you will also see a quote next to Ofred and below the bodies that says “We lived as usual by ignoring,” What makes this scene so significant is how true this can be in today’s society. When scrolling on social media, watching the news, or hearing news from others, it is easy to have little to no empathy for things we see. While I think this can be true for any citizen in any country, I specifically think this idea is very prominent when it comes to Americans and how we live. When reading this part, I initially thought it was very dehumanizing; however, I realized that this is something that citizens do in everyday society. As the two handmaids are looking at The Wall, Aunt Lydia says, “This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after time it will. It will become ordinary,” (pg 11). Many things today seem out of the ordinary, but over tim,e we become accustomed to them just as Aunt Lydia suggests in the book. However, even though this idea may be true, I question how much we as a society have normalized without realizing it. Crime, death, and losses are all things in American society that have become overlooked if they have happened to the average citizen. This is due to the fact that these things are far too common to see. Tragedies are something that we see every day, causing this to be the unfortunate norm for American citizens. As we see these things almost every day, we fail to have any genuine emotions towards it until it happens to us personally. This goes along with Aunt Lydia’s quote, as we continue to hear about different losses, the more they become not so different but somewhat average. As Ofred and the other handmaids continue to encounter The Wall, the easier it will become for them to be less sensitive towards it. The constant repetition of seeing things such as The Wall does nothing but force the handmaids to become numb to anything surrounding death and or loss.