The chords of freedom and imprisonment

-Shepherd of This Flock by JT Music

In the book, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood we get introduced to Gilead, a very authoritative religious society. Like many authoritative societies, people are made into symbols. Those that don’t adhere to the social conditioning are executed and used as a symbol to all those who dare step out of line. This is no more apparent than on page 33, as our main character Offred stares at the bodies of the people deemed rebellious by the nation, “These men, we’ve been told, are like war criminals. It’s no excuse that what they did was legal at the time: their crimes are retroactive. They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest. “ This idea of punishing sinners to wake up God’s children, is a main theme in the song, “Shepherd of This Flock” by JT Music. The song revolves around a cult religious group taking over a small town, and the chorus alludes to the group’s main ideology:

“The nonbelievers sowed their seeds and all they’ll reap is flames Judgment’s coming, and my God will set me free from chains Make your confessions, pay your penance, in my sweet embrace I’ll shake my people from their sleep, so they can see his grace”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRhjMcjg7vQ

-Time in a bottle by Jim Croce

As we know, living in Gilead can be oppressive to the mind. People are no longer people, but ranks and cogs in a larger machine. Offred mentions this numerous times throughout the book, on how she doesn’t feel as much as she used to, the keyword is ‘used to ‘. She keeps herself sane by living out her past life and romance with Luke in the chambers of her mind. On page 97 we see her hunger for his love, “I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not;” By remembering him, she can once again feel human. Time in a bottle connects back to reminiscing past love, and wishing for life to have been different. She uses these memories as a way of escaping, thinking of something that is entirely human:

“If I could make days last forever If words could make wishes come true I’d save every day like a treasure, and then Again, I would spend them with you”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h1davKgBYM

-Digital Silence by Peter McPoland

The news plays an important role in Gilead. It’s a glimpse into the outside world, even if fabricated or completely false, it’s a refreshing sight. Unsurprisingly, the news is used as another propaganda tool by the higher ups in the government. The news anchor tries deluding the people watching that everything is under control, on page 83, “What he’s telling us, his level smile implies, is for our own good.”- “You must go to sleep, like good children.” They are trying to delude the people into believing their brand of truth. In the song the lyrics are trying to wake the masses up to show them that the media is not their friend. That you are being tricked into believing the lies you’ve been fed.

“Why don’t you get it? Can’t you get it? Understand They’re gonna execute the mother to elevate the man They’re gonna propagate the killer, eliminate the youth”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8CYUW7HpoE

-Cherry Bomb by The Runaways

A major theme in the book is complacency in the system. Many of the women in Gilead no longer fight back on the gender roles and situations they are put into. Gilead was successful in making women too scared to even think about escaping, all except Moira. Ever since we were introduced to her at the red center, we know there’s something different about her. She wears a lot of punk rock clothes and had seemingly escaped the first round of capture. After that she continues to openly defy the Aunts. This results in beatings like on page 91 “Afterwards she could not walk for a week, her feet would not fit into her shoes, they were too swollen.” This all culminated to her escaping the society. The song Cherry Bomb, encaptures her defiance of the expectations laid out by the system. In this, she is one if not the only woman, who escapes the machine.

“Hello, daddy, hello, mom I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb Hello world I’m your wild girl I’m your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ws6vMFF3c

-My War by Shinsei Kamattechan

This whole book is based on real life events, and thinking through the lens of ‘what if?’ We find out that Gilead is a future version of America on page 4, “and army-issue blankets, old ones that still said U.S.” In real life there’s a real fear in the religious right, and that fear is not unfounded. There are certain policies and overturnings such as Roe V Wade, that could be explained by the growing influence of Christian Conservatism in American politics. However in this book it turned over into an actual war. The rights of the public are stripped away, and children, especially poc children such as on page 83, “Resettlement of the Children of Ham is continuing on schedule,” are being taken and segregated. This relates to the song’s pre-chorus, which talks about angels or people who are supposed to be righteous subjecting the people with devilish intent. The christian conservatives see themselves as in the right but are not doing the people right. As a result the children and the future of the generation are suffering the consequences of war:

“Angels playing disguised with devil’s faces Children cling to their coins squeezing out their wisdom Angels planning disguised with devil’s faces Children cling on to their very last coins”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK8PKIiAbrM