Who's In The bathroom

This piece is of the scene in chapter 13, of the bathroom stalls with Moira and Offred. The two of them go into stalls next to each other so they can speak to one another. This scene represents the only safe place at the school where the maids could talk with each other. Without the Aunts hearing in on the conversations. They spent their time there to just be able to talk. With these stalls being one of the only places they could connect; through a small hole in the wall of the two bathroom stalls, a relic of the past. Offred mentions this on (pg.73) “In the wood there’s a small hole, at the back, next to the wall, about waist height, souvenir of some previous vandalism or legacy of an ancient voyeur.” This small hole in the wall is the only reason they were able to connect so I made it the center of the drawing. Though the stalls are next to each other in the book I wanted to put them side to side to be able to see the characters.

There is a slight yellow background since the bathroom is white enamel with yellow stains. To the right is Offred in her red maid outfit waiting in the stall while Moria sits on the stall to the left. Since this place used to be a boys bathroom and the urinals were left there I decided to put one inside the drawing as well. I put a shower in the background of the drawing to show what brought the idea of why Offred thinks why women don’t have to have to prove they are women to one another. Offred exclaims this on,(pg.73) “Why don’t women have to prove to one another that they are women?”. For the same reason in Offred’s thoughts there is a small blue badge with a “W” in it to represent the badge for women.

There are other thoughts going through their minds where Offred is thinking how she needs a cigarette, and Moira is thinking of these random letters to represent how she thinks the school and the people here are loony and are in a loony bin. There is a small symbol in the top right of a ear being crossed out to represent that the Aunts cannot hear them in here and they are able to talk freely. To the top there are windows, one covered with bars and one without. The window with bars represents how Moria sees this place and the other represents how Offred sees the school. Moria sees the school as a prison where she is locked in, while Offred doesn’t see it the same way as Moria so her window has no bars.

To the far left of the drawing next to Moria’s stall there is an imprint of where the mirrors that used to be bathroom used to be. I drew the mirror in the fashion to also represent how Offred saw it as a baby coffin. Though Moira has already lost her clothes and should be wearing the red dress I decided to dress her in the clothes she was wearing when she came in and would usually wear because she does not see this dress as herself and is constantly fighting back against it.