Maya Smelser - The Herd and the Household

This artwork represents the relationship between the Handmaids and the Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Just like with a shepherd and his sheep, the Commander both controls and cares for the Handmaids. Like a shepherd used his sheep for their wool, the Commander uses the Handmaids for their ability to conceive. Shepherds must watch over their herd, like the Commander watches over his Household. Throughout the book, the Handmaid’s are controlled in everything they do, who they can talk to, where they go. Etc. They are simultaneously manipulated, through indoctrination and punishment. In chapter 13, the narrator even compares herself to a farm animal, saying, “I wait, washed, brushed, fed, like a prize pig.” (69) She and her fellow Handmaids are treated like animals, to serve a singular purpose. This idea is significant because Gilead relies so heavily on its power structure to function the way it does. The Handmaids are at the very bottom of the pyramid, while the Commander sits at the top. The Handmaids are powerless, like animals in a farm, and have no choice but to follow the commands they are given. The Handmaids are treated as less than human beings, as simply baby machines.

The book also contains a lot of Biblical references and imagery that I wanted to emphasize in my artwork. Sheep and shepherds are a common metaphor in the Bible, typically with God as the shepherd and his “children” as the sheep. Because Gilead is a very religious based society, I wanted to extend this metaphor through my artwork. I chose to have all the sheep looking at the Commander to reference the scene where the Household is listening to him read the Bible. At this moment, the narrator thinks, “we’re all watching him. It’s the one thing we can really do, and it is not for nothing: if he were to falter, fail, or die, what would become of us?” (88) This relates back to the sheep and shepherd metaphor because the Handmaids must rely on the Commander, he is their leader. I wanted my artwork to explore the line between control and care. The Handmaids must be devoted to their Commander, but not by choice, more because they see it as their duty. The Handmaid’s identities exist only as an extension of the Commander. The narrator asks “what would become of us?” because she cannot separate her existence from his. Even their names are linked to their respective Commander. The narrator’s name is “Offred” because her Commander’s name is Fred. Her identity can only be “of” him. Overall, I was very intrigued and unsettled by this relationship while reading, so I wanted to analyze it in my Lit Log.