For the opening song on my playlist, I chose “A House in Nebraska” by singer-songwriter Ethel Cain. The song is off of Cain’s breakout album “Preachers Daughter.” “Preachers Daughter” tells the story of the fictional character Ethel Cain, voiced and created by Hayden Anhedonia (Cain’s legal name.) Ethel Cain is a young woman from the Florida swamps, born into a Southern Baptist family. Her father (the preacher) dies, Ethel is shunned by her strict, religious community, and runs away with a man who goes on to drug her, pimp her out, and abuse her. In the end, she ends up being murdered and cannibalized by a different lover. In a way, this story alone reflects the experience of women in Gilead. Passed from one cruel mistress to the next, from the Aunts to the Commander’s Wives, inevitably cursed to die a sad death, eaten alive by the patriarchal surveillance machine. “A House in Nebraska” comes earlier in the story, though, when Cain’s first love Willoughby disappears from their town. She yearns for him, yearns for a time “Where the world was empty, save you and I / Where you came and I laughed, and you left and I cried / Where you told me even if we died tonight, that I’d die yours,” This verse is reminiscent of Offred’s yearning for her past like. Her past marriage, full of love, her baby who was produced by this great love. On page 97, she thinks “I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name.” But, both Ethel and Offred have been subdued in one way or another and have now succumbed to their isolation, accepting it. While Ethel sings “I feel so alone / I’m so alone out here without you, baby” Offred thinks to herself “I want everything back, the way it was. But there is no point to it, this waiting.” (Atwood 122)

Next up in the queue is 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love” a dreamy jukebox single about using someone for the services they provide, then moving to the next, never considering the hearts or minds of the unlucky individuals who cross your path. “I keep your picture upon the wall / It hides a nasty stain that’s lying there” While there would never be a photo of a Handmaid hung on a wall, other than maybe as a cautionary tale or on a wanted poster, the “picture upon the wall” within Offred’s world is more or less the babies that “hide the nasty stain” of the Commanders Wives inability to reproduce. Early on, Offred thinks about the Commander, and how she feels about him; “I don’t know what to call it. It isn’t love.” (Atwood 58) Into the 24th chapter of the book, Offred’s relationship with the Commander begins to shift. You could almost imagine the commander listening to these lines (if he has a secret way of enjoying music, that is) and pondering his next move with her: “I like to see you, but then again / That doesn’t mean you mean that much to me / So if I call you, don’t make a fuss / Don’t tell your friends about the two of us”

Shifting gears, Radiohead’s “Let Down” and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” are opposite sides of the same coin. They show two responses to a controlling Power that looms over its people, two paths a citizen of Gilead could go down. In “Let Down”, Yorke sings that he wants to “grow wings / A chemical reaction / Hysterical and useless.” Like Offred and her contemporaries, who long for a way out, but know that their desires are futile, just hysterical attempts. “Fight the Power” takes a contrary stance to this belief that the people’s indignations are pointless, yelling out that instead we must “fight the powers that be”. While Public Enemy may not have been referring to a dystopian patriarchal power, their protests align with many of Offred’s thoughts, and the ideals of radical groups in Gilead. On page 106 she talks at length about all the places she thinks Luke might have ended up, one of them being with a group of radicals-maybe Quakers-who are trying to “revolutionize, make a change.”

In 1959, Nina Simone released “The Other Woman”, singing from the perspective of a woman whose husband has been unfaithful. She’s jealous of the mistress-she “is perfect where her rival fails / and she’s never seen with pin curls in her hair, anywhere.” In 2014, on her album “Ultraviolence” Lana del Rey covered the song. Del Rey sings from the perspective of the mistress. She’s jealous of the wife of the man she’s having an affair with, she knows that “The other woman will never have his love to keep / And as the years go by, the other woman will spend her life alone.” Del Rey and Simone sing the same lyrics, and in a way they’re one in the same, but they convey different points of view. Offred and Serena Joy fulfill the same roles. Each woman wishes she could be the other-at their first meeting Serena commands that Offred remember “[The Commander] is just that; my husband. Till death do us part,” and that she wants to see “as little of you as possible.” Offred is jealous of Serena’s creature comforts. Her cigarettes; “I looked at the cigarette with longing”, and her allowance to engage in frivolous housewife activities like knitting, flipping through the TV, having cookies and tea with the other Wives. Maybe Serena doesn’t “cry herself to sleep” like Simone wrote, but she cries during Ceremonies. She doesn’t “keep fresh cut flowers in each room” but on page 81 she wears “one of her best dresses, sky blue with embroidery in white along the edges of the veil: flowers and fretwork” to the Ceremony. Del Rey’s rendition speaks more to Offred’s experience-not just because before everything happened, she was the other woman “when Luke was still in flight from his wife.” (Atwood 50)-but because that’s the category that she has been placed in under His Eye.

(NOTE: it says there’s 6 songs, but that’s just because I put 2 versions of the same song-I hope that didnt break the rules too much.)

The artwork that I’ve created depicts The Commander, Offred, and The Commander’s Wife, Serena Joy, lined up. I have utilized colors to show that they hold different beliefs and have little in common. Offred is wearing her handmaiden uniform, with her face obscured from view. The Commander and Serena Joy are on opposite sides of her, as they don’t have a strong relationship together. As we come to learn more about Offred and The Commander’s relationship, we find that they are beginning to bond. From early on, we know that Offred and Serena Joy do not have a mutual relationship. During the Ceremony, Serena Joy treats Offred with a cold attitude. “Serena Joy lets go of my hands. ‘You can get up now,’ she says. ‘Get up and get out.’ She’s supposed to leave me to rest for ten minutes, with my feet on a pillow to improve the chances. This is meant to be a time of silent meditation for her, but she’s not in the mood for that. There is loathing in her voice, as if the touch of my flesh sickens and contaminates her. (pg. 95)” It’s obvious that Serena Joy has no patience for Offred, shooing her away despite the rules. Atwood mentions, “This is meant to be a time of silent meditation for her, but she’s not in the mood for that”, proving that Serena Joy isn’t worried about reflecting on this moment. In fact, she’s trying to escape the feelings she’s having. Offred feels the same way, wondering, “Which of us is it worse for, her or me? (pg. 95)” From this interaction alone, we can deduce that the relationship between Serena Joy and Offred is withdrawn and purely transactional. Serena Joy is worried about what Offred can do for her. As the story progresses, a connection begins to grow between The Commander and Offred. He invites her to his room, a private meeting that is strictly forbidden. “I’d like you to play a game of Scrabble with me.’ he says. I hold myself absolutely rigid. I keep my face unmoving. Scrabble! I wanted to laugh, shriek with laughter, and fall off my chair. (pg. 138)” Although Offred was prepared for a sexual encounter, she was met with an invitation for a simple game. Before she left, he requested a kiss from her. “Thank you,’ he says, ‘For the game.’ Then he says, ‘I want you to kiss me.’ (pg. 139)” This leads to the idea that the commander wants a romantic relationship with Offred. He isn’t being fulfilled by his marriage with Serena Joy, and wants something more. There are no mentions of a true connection between them. Instead, the Commander looks to Offred for love. He knows the power he holds over her and uses it to establish the connection he lacks with his wife. Serena Joy and the Commander are separated by Offred in this piece to symbolize their lack of connection. Offred and the Commander have a secret relationship, causing their colors to seep together. Serena Joy is cut off from them, not near her own husband.

In the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the Doctor that offers Offred “help” is closely akin to people who profit or otherwise benefit from the pain/suffering of others, even if they technically are still helping them. For example, smugglers that charge exorbitant prices and corporations/vendors that sell needed goods like food and water are extremely inflated prices. The doctor’s offer may have been with good intentions, but the doctor holds the power, greatly benefits, and is at little risk of getting in trouble. He wields this power to coerce Offred.

While the doctor isn’t portrayed as a villainous type or evil by Atwood, he certainly isn’t a hero. He obviously benefits from his ‘help’ . With Atwood describing the moment where he offers to ‘help’ Offred, and the look he gives her, as “It’s genuine, genuine sympathy; and yet he’s enjoying this, sympathy and all. His eyes are moist with compassion, his hand is moving on me, nervously and with impatience.”. His sympathy and desire to help may be genuine, but it’s not a real offer to help. It’s to disguise his lust. His clear impatience for her response and his hand on her is a tell that he actually cares more about getting what he wants from her then actually helping her.

Furthermore, the clear power imbalance between the doctor and Offred is certainly weighing on Offred’s decision. With Atwood writing “this is not the last word as far as he’s concerned. He could fake the tests, report me for cancer, or infertility, have me shipped off to the Colonies, with the Unwomen.. None of this has been said, but the knowledge of his power hangs nevertheless in the air as he pats my thigh”. This unspoken threat makes it so no matter what Offred does, she’s at great risk. In this environment consent is impossible because Offred’s answer will be clearly coerced from her via threat or societal pressure. She doesn’t want this but she fears she will have to in coming months to not be declared an unwoman.

While this exact dynamic is more rare in the real world, there’s of course coercion like this (See Andrew Cuomo’s allegations), and someone will always benefit from someone else’s need. The best example of this is smugglers. Specifically those that are helping fleeing refugees. To cross the American Mexico border, smugglers charge refugees $2,000 USD, and if you need to cross multiple borders, it’s upwards of $10,000. These smugglers are certainly helping desperate families and people fleeing danger. They no doubt are taking a risk, and feel bad for the people they’re helping. They are still charging almost two months’ pay for an upper middle class Mexican. For a Venezuelan family it’d be five times the cost while they make a tenth of the money. While the doctor isn’t charging a monetary cost Offred still would need to give away the little autonomy she has in Gilead. Not to mention the risk involved with either option. When help comes from exploitation it can’t be called help, whether a doctor or a smuggler.

Even in wealthier countries like America there are widespread examples of ‘helping’ for personal gain. This is mainly done by corporations/stores via price gouging. This was seen a lot over COVID, and before/after hurricanes. With hotel costs, right before hurricane Helene, increasing costs per night by 300%. No doubt that the owners of the hotel felt as though their providing of shelter and safety to fleeing people was a good thing. Justifying the price raise as meeting the demand raise, just as the doctor justified his behavior by saying it’s to help her.

This exploiting of the needy for personal gain is no doubt timeless, and will most likely continue through human history. Atwood's depiction of this is so powerful because it doesn’t make the reader dislike the doctor, it humanizes him. Of course he is coercing Offred and making it impossible for actual consent, he still is suffering under this system, even if not nearly as much as the women, so his actions are a bi-product of the removal of freedom and bodily autonomy from everyone in Gilead. 

Sources: https://www.unodc.org/toc/en/crimes/migrant-smuggling.html (Smugglers cost) https://everhour.com/blog/average-salary-in-mexico/ (Average wage in Mexico) https://www.statista.com/statistics/1416427/average-salary-venezuela/?srsltid=AfmBOop9edCMhg2fGd_vx4yleuFLVJtQgF8non1PDQTpZYO1ocJfOiEt (Average wage) https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/ftc-doj-cfpb-warn-consumers-about-potential-scams-price-gouging-wake-hurricanes-other-natural (Price gouging) https://www.thefamuanonline.com/2024/10/03/local-hotels-raise-prices-amid-hurricane-helene-evacuation/ (Hotel price raises)

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood often uses the clothing and their corresponding colors to identify characters’ status in Gilead. One sad section is when Offred is walking through town reminiscing about her past when she thinks, “I think about Laundromats, What I wore to them: shorts, jeans, jogging pants. What I put into them: My own clothes” (28) This section in particular mainly inspires my work, as it highlights not only the way that the handmaids are barred from choosing their own clothes, but the way that not having that choice removes the handmaids’ sense of ownership they have over themselves. So in response to that thinking, I wanted to portray the handmaid’s new sense of uniformity paralleled by a messier image of a laundromat with strewn-about clothing. In particular, I was intentional about the specifics of both the handmaids’ pose and what the laundromat looked like. For the handmaids, I wanted them to be in their cloaks as well as their hoods so that they were shown to the viewer not as individuals. As for their posture, I wanted to refer to another quote on the same page where Offred states that, “Now we walk along the same street in red pairs” (24). This was not only an inspiration for the parallel, but the reason that the handmaids are positioned in an orderly line. I wanted them to be as contrasting as possible to the pre-Gilead side of the laundromat. I went back and forth a lot on how the laundromat should be portrayed before landing on the current design. The main element I knew I had to include was that no matter how many clothes I put in, there should be no red clothing shown except for the handmaids, and that the space should look messy and disused. When drafting this portion, I referred back to a line that Offred states after she runs into a group of tourists visiting Gilead. She thinks, “Their heads are uncovered, and their hair too is exposed, in all its darkness and sexuality. They wear red lipstick, red, outlining the damp cavities of their mouths - of a time before.” (28) It was really important to me when portraying the loss of choice in clothing to show that the handmaids think about both the way in which they viewed pre-Gilead and their choices as well as how they now see “immodesty” nowadays. I wanted to emphasize the fact that they are not only forced to wear their red uniform, but how they would now view with disapproval their former fashion choices on another person. This perspective was why the clothes are arranged as they are on the floor. I wanted the handmaids to be close to the clothes, all the while not paying attention to them, as a means to show that not only are they being controlled, but the control extends so deep it had left the clothes as perceivably “unwanted,” as they do not meet the standard of forced modesty. Overall, the significance of clothing as a tool to control the handmaids is not only an important aspect of how they are treated under the regime in Gilead, but also a means to better understand the way this control affects the handmaid’s relationships with their bodies and sense of expression.

Handmaid’s Tail Playlist The Power of Music in a World Without

Control by Halsey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8V5dAli-Q - This song by Halsey explores the themes of bodily autonomy and power within someone’s body. It also circles in on manipulation over someone’s body. The key lyrics in the song discuss wanting control and then losing it, this mirrors Offred’s experience in Gilead. The Words “Find who I am again” relates to the handmaids being stripped of their identities to be put in a box. Offred says “To be seen is to be penetrated” These themes highlight all the handmaids’ feelings when it comes to their responsibilities. The power that is held above their heads by the commanders and wives. It reveals a hunting dystopian essence to the song and book, about women, their bodies and mind manipulation in all of Gilead.

Sad Girl by Lana Del Ray- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvm6DpqqbLk&list=RDjvm6DpqqbLk&start_radio=1 This song’s exploration of being trapped in a predetermined role resonates with the handmaid’s situation. As Lana describes feeling locked into a specific identity and relationship dynamic, just like the handmaids are forced into roles defined by their fertility. The song’s undercut of preformative femininity also connects to how Offred must perform a very specific way in Gilead. Being compliant with the rules and regulations of the society while hiding their true identities. Offred reminisces on times where she didn’t have to hide herself. The memories of those she loved and the feeling of being close to something. Lana highlights the point of being trapped into a desired relationship, which to me relates to how Offred currently feels with the commander. A quote that highlights the burden of what love or lust has become/ “It’s not about passion or love or romance” This is shared during the ceremony. Additionally, the song’s themes of feeling isolated and emotional numbness reflects on the physiological state of the handmaids. As they are cut off from real desired human connection.

Pink Matter by Frank Ocean- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaLV003llhY&list=RDuaLV003llhY&start_radio=1 Pink Matter is a rather unique spin on Offred’s love life. Reaching in on relationships and physical intimacy which resonates with Offred’s complicated feelings about the various relationships in her life. Like her memories of Luke, her dangerous attraction to Nick, and even the twisted dynamic with the Commander during their private meetings. Like the song, Offred’s narrative often dwells on the tender, confusing aspects of human connection when normal relationship structures have been destroyed. The themes of memory and longing in “Pink Matter” mirror how Offred constantly returns to thoughts of her past life, her daughter, and what genuine intimacy felt like before Gilead. The song’s dreamy, introspective tone captures that same quality of mental escape that Offred uses to survive, retreating into memory and imagination when the present becomes unbearable. In Gilead, she must navigate relationships where genuine emotion is dangerous with Nick, she wonders if their connection is real , with the Commander she performs interest while feeling revulsion. This mirrors the song’s exploration of what’s genuine in intimate connections. Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTHB4jM-KQ&list=RDSQTHB4jM-KQ&start_radio=1 The song’s central theme of being unable to drag someone away from a situation resonates with Offred’s powerlessness regarding her lost family and friends. In the times she lives in companionship almost seems forbidden. “ I don’t smile, why tempt her to friendship”She cannot reach her daughter or Luke, no matter how desperately she wants to. There’s that same sense of loving someone but being helpless to change their circumstances or bring them back that permeates the song. The idea of enduring through difficult times connects to Offred’s survival strategy throughout the novel. Like the song suggests about weathering storms and staying strong, Offred must find ways to persist through Gilead’s oppression while maintaining hope that things might eventually change. She has to survive the present while holding onto the possibility of reunion. The theme of graceful acceptance mixed with underlying pain reflects Offred’s complex emotional state. She’s forced to appear compliant while internally grieving her losses. There’s a dignity in continuing on despite heartbreak that both the song and Offred’s character embody.

Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCGD9dT12C0 Little Lies is a perfect song for Offred’s meetings with the commander. The song’s exploration of maintaining pleasant falsehoods to preserve a relationship directly parallels how Offred must navigate her evening visits to the Commander’s study. She pretends to enjoy their games of Scrabble, finds interest in his books and conversation, and performs a kind of companionship that disguises her true feelings of disgust. Just as the song suggests telling “sweet little lies” to keep things comfortable, Offred tells the Commander what he wants to hear. The power dynamic in these meetings reflects the song’s theme of using deception as a survival mechanism. Offred recognizes that the Commander wants to feel like he’s special to her, that their relationship transcends the brutal reality of Gilead. The Commander, for his part, seems to tell himself lies about what these meetings represent. He appears to believe he’s offering Offred something meaningful, maybe even romantic, when he’s actually just another form of her oppression dressed up as kindness. These small pieces of self deception perfectly show the meaning of having mutual little lies in order to keep the peace and remain safe.

Sit Still Look Pretty, Daya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdymkbLAuAk&list=RDIdymkbLAuAk&start_radio=1

When I saw this song title, it reminded me of what the Handmaid’s roles are. The Handmaid’s job is to have kids for the Commanders. If they aren’t able to do that, they get sent away. The unwoman who fights back against the system is what truly represents the lyrics to the song. In the song, it says, “But no, I’m never gonna be ‘cause I don’t wanna be, No, I don’t wanna sit still, look pretty.” The Unwoman didn’t want to just sit there and be used. They wanted to fight back. The lyrics also reminded me of Offred’s mother. Offred’s mother was a feminist who fought back against the system just like the lyrics to the song. Offred’s mother was even in a documentary that was shown to the handmaids.

Fake Love, Drake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz_01KVkOBI&list=RDjz_01KVkOBI&start_radio=1

“Fake Love” reminded me of the relationship between the Commanders and the Handmaids. Their relationship is very fake, and it is fake love during the ceremony. They have no actual relationship or feelings towards each other. The process in which the ceremony is done makes it even more fake because they have to follow specific rules. “Kissing is forbidden between us”(95). All of this causes the Commander’s wife to be upset because she wants to have her own kid. A lyric in the song represents this: “Whole time they wanna take my place.” The commander’s wife wants to have a kid that is actually hers, wanting to take Offred’s place, but only in that situation. Offred would also rather be in the Commander’s wife’s place. She would have more freedoms and have people around her that she loves instead of being all alone with many restrictions.

Good Days, SZA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BdlKkvjEgA&list=RD0BdlKkvjEgA&start_radio=1

“Good Days” made me think of what is going on in Offred’s head. Offred is constantly thinking about her old life. She keeps thinking about Luke and her child. Mentioning how she misses them and her old life. She also has memories involving her old friend Moira. “I dream that I get out of bed and walk across the room, not this room, and get out the door, not this door. I’m at home, one of my homes, and she’s running to meet me, in her small green nightgown with the sunflower on the front, her feet bare, and I pick her up and feel her arms and legs go around m,e and I begin to cry, because I know then that I’m not awake,”(109). Offred is constantly thinking about her old life or the “Good Days”. This lyric from the song sums up what Offred’s mind is like. “Still wanna try, still believe in (good days), good days, always Sunny inside. Good day, living in my mind.”

Love Yourz, J Cole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjlU4w4fSo&list=RD6tjlU4w4fSo&start_radio=1

“Love Yourz” also made me think about what is going on in Offred’s head, but in a different way from “Good Days”. As mentioned earlier, Offred is constantly thinking about Luke and her life before she was a Handmaid. She mentions that she is holding out hope that Luke is still alive and that she will see him again. “The things I believe can’t all be true, though one of them must be. But I believe in all of them, all three versions of Luke, at one and the same time,”(106). Offred has the same mindset for her friend Moira. In Chapter 21, she goes around asking for her. Offred holding out hope for her family and friends is the only way that she can look at her life positively. She is trying to love her life. Similar to the song which says: “No such thing as a life better than yours.”

Emotionally Scared, Lil Baby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58I5UeOOhkE&list=RD58I5UeOOhkE&start_radio=1

“Emotionally Scared” made me think about how Offred feels. Offred doesn’t have anyone around her to talk to, and she is forced to live a life that she hates. She is always thinking about her old life in her memories. This causes her to miss it and get upset. She also does the same thing every day and is tired of it. She is even tired of her memories. “I’m too tired to go with this story. I’m too tired to think about where I am,”(129). Offred can’t even think about her old life fully because of how tired she is of everything. One lyric in this song made me think of this quote: “But I’m tired of being tired of being tired”. Offred is struggling emotionally, and she just wants to have someone to love. She is tired of her life and everything that is happening.

I chose to emulate the interactions between Offred, Ofglen, and Japanese tourists through the artistic medium of air-dry clay. Although it was brief, at just under three pages, I was really impressed with this scene because of how it overflows with so many deeper meanings. There are beyond endless ways to perceive even the shortest sentences. Just like how every detail in The Handmaid’s Tale is intentional, I wanted to include that same objective in my own art piece. The tourists stand on the left, each wearing different types of colorful, vibrant clothing. The clay women are wearing multicolored dresses and bright lipstick to represent the freedoms that lie outside of Gilead. They are free to express their identities through what they wear. I also purposefully chose to keep the tourist’s arms sleeveless because of the modest lifestyles that Offred and other Handmaids are forced to live. Along with being forced to dress modestly, Offred’s mind has somewhat conformed to the new norms of her society. “Ofglen stops beside me and I know that she too cannot take her eyes off these women. We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds about the things like this” (28). Despite her thoughts of retaliation, moments like these remind readers that Offred, amongst the Handmaids, is manipulated as well. Similar to this example, when she mentions her past, she tends to make subtle disapproving and even disappointing remarks about what she used to wear and what she used to do. When she says “We are fascinated, but also repelled,” it made me think about how Janine’s past was addressed. She was forced to listen to her trauma be invalidated through her peers chanting it repeatedly at her. She eventually broke down physically but allowed herself to fall deeper into Gilead’s deception at the same time. Manipulation keeps the Handmaids from regaining their self-worth, it is meant to keep them timid, diffident, and unlikely to retaliate against Guardians or Commanders. I chose to depict this through my artwork by giving the Japanese tourists faces but keeping Offred’s and Ofglen’s bare. This represents the uniformity that Gilead brings to all women. No Handmaid is allowed to have a sense of self, they are seen as objects, all meant to be treated in the same inhumane way. When the interpreter for the tourists (man in all blue) approached Offred and Ofglen, the presence of objectification became more apparent. The way he asked questions then reported back to his group made the interaction comparable to animals at the zoo. He even asks if they could take photos which is why I crafted a small camera. “I can feel their bright black eyes on us, the way they lean a little forward to catch out answers, the forbidden, we excite them” (29). They, similar to the zoo animals, are heavily segregated from the outside population. Margaret Atwood’s intention behind this scene is to emphasize to readers the true severity of the differences and isolation between the Handmaids and the rest of the world.

From the first page of The Handmaid’s Tale, the main character, Offred, blatantly lacks many human rights. She is treated barbarically and almost like an animal. She is degraded as such in the gymnasium. The handmaids are at the very bottom of the Gilliad hierarchy with by far the least rights, authority, and respect. Despite this, they are vital to the continuation of the human race. This leads to an interesting dynamic throughout the story as the handmaids are stripped of their humanity yet protected as royalty. Offred thinks about her complex situation at the beginning of chapter 13, “Like a prized pig” (pg. 69). That she chooses a pig of all animals is meaningful. Pigs, unlike cows or chickens, which produce milk and eggs, are only used for their meat. Offred is also only needed for one thing: to make babies. Other than that, she is treated as swine. In my drawing, Offred is at the center in her handmaid robes. She is in a pig pen surrounded by mud and a wooden fence. Though she is being treated as a pig, she is protected by an armed guard. This is a figurative depiction of Offred’s situation, but also how she has been brainwashed to think of herself. The guard is a very important part of the drawing because he looks out of place at a farm protecting a pig pen. But this is the same as in Gilliad, where handmaids are protected from the outside world because they are vital to the future of mankind, despite having no control over their own, much like a prized pig to a farmer.
Another important element of the art is the pig ball that Offred is kicking around the pen. On page 70, Offred goes into intense detail about what a pig ball is. Through her description, the reader can easily make the connection from the pig ball and the handmaids: “for pigs who were being fattened in pens… the pigs liked to have something to think about.” Offred was “fattened” in the gymnasium, and in the same chapter speaks about her boredom and the disregard she has been given. What makes the pig symbolism even stronger is when, at the end of this paragraph, Offred says, “I wish I had a pig ball.” She has been broken down to a point where, in her mind, even a muddy farm toy would be suitable and entertaining.

“We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.” I liked this quote because of the connection it had to my artpiece and my overall argument. This quote brings up themes of oppression and the search for self-identity within a completely unjust society. The artpiece I created depicts a handmaid wearing a dark red dress, accompanied by a white cone hat that completely covers the majority of her face. The handmaid is shackled by the wrists, as celestial fingers with chains wrapped around them control the maids’ every movement. This drawing symbolizes the loss of identity experienced by the handmaids and shows how the women of Gilead are controlled like puppets under this system. The large hand represents Gilead’s government and the men who wield that almost god like power. The chains around the fingers illustrate an unnatural enforcement of power as the Hand of Gilead decides the Handmaid’s every movement. We can see this theme of bodily control throughout the book, as Gilead has supremacy over one’s every action. The chains that are used to control the handmaid represent the strings used to control a puppet. In this book, Gilead, along with the men in charge, are the puppeteers, as the women are viewed as nothing but puppets to their regime. The handmaid imprisoned by the chains symbolizes all the unjust horrors that the women of Gilead have to go through daily. In the state of Gilead, the color red seems to represent fertility in women. We see that the red dress worn by the handmaid represents their lack of self-identity, as Gilead sees them only for their ability to reproduce. Another key detail that I added was the cone-shaped hat atop the handmaid’s head. This cone hat is worn to promote modesty and isolation among the handmaids, as they are forced to wear the same garments, taking away what little individuality they have left. Now I would like to focus on the faceless figure of the handmaid. Originally, I had planned to add a face, but after further consideration, I chose to leave her face blank to show the handmaid’s loss of self-identity. One of the last details I added was the tape covering the handmaid’s mouth. The tape represents their limited ability to speak and converse amongst each other, offering a stark contrast to the world they once knew. This artwork shows the extreme injustices within the state of Gilead, as this dystopian society uses extreme gender roles that benefit men. The hand of Gilead is also positioned over the head of the handmaiden, further showing the unjust class system within Gilead, as men are on top of the social and political hierarchy. Furthermore, my artpiece captures the essence of the Handmaid’s oppression by the hand of Gilead. This artpiece wasn’t a particular scene within the book, but a symbol of Gilead’s supremacy over the handmaids. I believe that my artwork is significant because it shows how much the lives of handmaidens are controlled, whether it be physically, verbally, or mentally.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y53nqFMe15WK-uRQtC9wi6KcPLhA-iM2jvjwWjBs0Q4/edit?tab=t.0