LiT Log 1

                 Patience - Guns N’ Roses 

I feel like this song is the embodiment of Offred’s heart and soul as she looks out and wonders for Luke’s well being. But then there is the ever longing thought of if she can barely live like this not even knowing or having any attachment to the commander or Serena Joy. But with patience we as both the reader and her as the main protagonist have to have patience as she builds up her resistance for her chance at power. On pg 122. She touches on this with her words being “I want everything back, the way it was. But there is no point to it, this is what I want.” She is alone in her new life as she has been rewired and made to think differently in this society that is meant to only keep her down. In the song “Patience” they get the message across that you merely need to have patience even in the hard times. The harmonious melody and soulful lyrics of “Patience” evoke the feelings of nostalgia, longing, and hope. The three feelings that race her mind in the book with her having many flashbacks such as her escaping, her life before being handmaid and Luke. Longing represents the everlasting effect she causes as she looks for something bigger and better than Gilead and it’s important because doesn’t communicate these desires at all. It’s unsimple as she meant concealing and can’t get these feelings off as she puts on a fake smile. But then there is hope instilled in her as she feels this as if dim light is flickering the dark waiting to be turned on. With her seemingly getting on the Commander’s good side as they play, scrabble and indulge in meetings more often than not creating the hope that one by one Gilead can be freed from the shackles of men. But first there must be patience as she perceives it coming as she deals with these emotions head on.

               Helmet - Steve Lacy 

Steve lacy creates the heartbreak anthem as he is expressing his frustration and dissatisfaction in a relationship that isn’t fulfilling them. “But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind. “Being used as an animal in the story she wants to let go of her life in Gilead as she is stuck there without a choice. They realize they need to be true to themselves and let go of their partner. Despite the rewiring efforts to change her, she often remembers and comes to the realization that she will never get over him as she is presented with a new lover. In the song we get to see Steve Lacy go back and forth with these thoughts as he sings “You just gotta let me go as I’m tryna let go of you.” This verse is a representation of the emotions felt as it’s just her vs her fighting a mental battle as she tries to mix the old with the new.

              La Vida Es Fria - Josh Joshua  

Les via es Fria is the perfect song to fit the whole identity of Offred and her search for why the world is so cold. In her world Luke was still her lover and her child was still in her arms as it looked upon the sky but in this new world there’s no more Luke and there’s no more her baby as her life has been Stripped Away and she’s been rewired. With the song la Vida is Fria we get a longing lover still searching for the answers to why the world is so cold but as no one wants to work it out he is left stuck still yearning for love that is gone. As in the chapters that go on and on and on about her flashbacks and her Nostalgia trips the memories relay of her being happy and as her life in Gilead progresses she still wants something that is going and that’s something that makes her whole. In the song Jason Joshua sings “La vida es fria, Her heart is turned to stone, Nobody wants to stay together, Nobody wants to make it better.” As he sings these lyrics we can compare what life is like in Gilead to the lyrics in “La Vida Es Fria.” In Chapter 23 we see Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn’t really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it, even as far as death. All the more as she recognizes the years of pain she has endured she still knows of the situation she is currently living in and that’s what makes her Fria to.

                  Somebody To Love - Queen

This song is quite the build up as a damaged, depressed and ultimately longing for love Freddie Mercury is leaving his sorrows. With the change of seasons and the book heading into the spring we will get with it spring weather. Cloudy, Rainy and most importantly the sun. For instance, Freddie finds himself experiencing dread when he wakes up in the morning and indeed can barely stand beholding his own image in the mirror just as Offred can’t either. With that triple threat we get Offred’s coming out party as she wallows from the depressed rains and eventually into the loving arms of the commander as she looks to create a power struggle. With her planting her seeds in the love triangle between herself, Serena Joy and the Commander it’s not like they’re going to get along better. So this is how Offred is embodied through the song ‘Somebody to Love” as it says,” They say I’m going crazy. They say I got a lot of water in my brain. I have no common sense. (He’s got.) I got nobody left.” As Offred is always in her own mind she’s in the Maze of Gilead as she doesn’t have any control over her own focus. As in chapter the seasons changing is touched on perfectly described as it reads “I once had a garden. I can remember the smell of the turned earth, the plump shapes of bulbs held in the hands, fullness, the dry rustle of seeds through the fingers.” We get this glimpse of her control being lost. Evans, she doesn’t have her original lover she still wants someone who is looking for love as she is not her own “self,”

               Wolves/Frank’s Track - Kanye West 

In this song, Kanye explores the complexities of human relationships and the raw emotions that come with them. “The Republic Of Gilead ” dapple with politics & godly traditions being the driving force for its success. As the melodic tune about love and loss makes the listener question what makes emotional attachment so important for a lover? Just as the Handmaid’s Tale brings up love and loss constantly as characters have scars of fear, hope, and love. A quote about the times being in love is expressed through this quote as it reads,”We thought we had such problems. How did we know we were happy?”As Offred and Kanye West don’t get to reminisce on what certain moments could have been or would have been as they look to the past to get something that is never coming back. Lines such as “Lost and found out” and “Cause I know God’s got us in for a greater plan” speak to a sense of resilience and hope in the face of adversity. Donda was Knaye’s Mother, and losing her was devastating to him as he was never the same and he can’t seem to forget the pain nor the loss of his mother.