Lit Log #2 - Visual Representation - Photograph of an Angel
I chose to paint the scene from page 39 of The Handmaid’s Tale, after Offred’s daughter has been taken from her and she is presented with a photograph as proof of her child’s safety. The painting is of this photograph. The book states:
“They showed me a picture of her, standing outside on a lawn, her face a closed oval. Her light hair was pulled back tight behind her head. Holding her hand was a woman I didn’t know. She was only as tall as the woman’s elbow. You’ve killed her, I said. She looked like an angel, solemn, compact, made of air. She was wearing a dress I’d never seen, white and down to the ground” (39).
With the information given, I depicted Offred’s daughter standing beside a faceless woman. She is faceless because Offred does not care to know what her face looks like. She is only concerned about her daughter. The woman and the child are holding hands, as the book states, but they stand far apart. Between them is a gap wide enough for a third person. This is meant to represent the lack of emotional connection between the child and the person who is presumably her new caretaker. I find it unlikely that the people Gilead chose to care for the children are there to make them feel secure and loved. It’s more probable that they are only there to indoctrinate the kids and make sure that their worldview aligns with Gilead’s values. This matches Offred’s description of “solemn”. If the child actually felt at home, she would be more relaxed and carefree. Instead, Offred now sees a sort of seriousness in her young daughter.
In Offred’s view, her daughter is “like an angel”, so I painted her with a halo and wings. She also does not have a shadow on the ground, whereas the woman holding her hand does. This is because Offred says “you’ve killed her”, implying that the daughter she once knew is now deceased. Both the child and the woman are wearing shapeless, floor length gowns. This is in accordance with the ideals of Gilead, which deprives women of any sort of individuality in order to maintain the societal structure they have implemented. It makes sense that the children they abducted would be made to learn these values from a young age. That’s why I chose to paint the daughter wearing a shapeless, plain, high collar dress. It seems like something Gilead would make her wear.
Aside from the two figures in the painting, the background is dull and uninteresting. This is partly because Offred likely does not care much about the background, only briefly noting that the two people are “standing outside on a lawn”. Other than Offred’s perception of the photograph, the other reason I made the image so dull is because it reflects the lack of mental stimulation under Gilead’s control. Gilead wants the lower class, especially the women, to think as little as possible. Offred has mentioned throughout the book that she is bored. Therefore, it makes sense to reflect this in the painting. Because the child is a girl, I doubt Gilead is giving her anything to do that requires any critical thinking. She’s probably just being taught her future responsibilities as either a handmaid or a wife. The painting is purposefully dull as a reflection of the child’s future if Gilead continues to stand.
** note that though I tried to make the painting dull, the effect is not as pronounced as this picture would make it seem. The lighting was just bad.