Behind the melody, lives a message. In between the lyrics, lies a story.

Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 - Pink Floyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrxX9TBj2zY

The Handmaids are just normal women, or at least they were. When a handmaid is being “trained” they find themselves at the Red Center. There, they are taught the ways in which they are supposed to think, the ways they are supposed to see each other, themselves, and the things they have experienced. The control that is imposed upon them brought me to the song Another Brick in the Wall, Pt 2 by Pink Floyd. The lyrics in this song vividly reminded me of a specific scene that takes us back to the Red Center in the early days of Offred’s story. The specific lyrics that relate to this instance are “We don’t need no education, We don’t need no thought control”. In chapter 13 Offred and other soon-to-be Handmaids are Testifying, speaking about horrible things that happened to them in the past, the example given is of Janine who shares that she was gang-raped at fourteen and had to have an abortion. In response to Janine’s statement Aunt Helena prompts the group by saying “But whose fault was it?” and the women respond with “Her fault, her fault, her fault” This degrading chant doesn’t end there, it continues when Aunt Helena asks another question “Who led them on?” already expecting an answer, the women say “She did. She did. She did” If that wasn’t enough Aunt Helen tears Janien down ever more by asking, “Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen?” and the women respond “Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson.” All of this is meant to make the women think of their situations as their own faults as if they are to blame for the things that have been done to them. It’s all a way to get a hold of their minds, to “control their thoughts” just as the Pink Floyd song repeats through its lyrics, constantly reminding the listener “We don’t need no thought control”. They are taught they are part of a system, part of the machine that is the government of Gilead, they are broken down via a warped, not just education, but re-education to make them think they are simply “just another brick in the wall”.

Linger - The Cranberries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Kspj3OO0s

In Gilead love is basically outlawed, it is a thing that only gets in the way of the system, as can be seen on page 220 when Atwood writes “Love, said Aunt Lydia with distaste. Don’t let me catch you at it”. Due to this fact, Offred’s only access to it is in her memories and “lingering” feelings. Offred is constantly reflecting on her relationship with Luke and the love she was once able to express freely in the before times. Linger by the Cranberries is about those feelings that are just hanging on and the massive effects they have on someone’s ability to function. In chapter 35 Offred reflects on the intricacies of love before Gilead, she reminds herself of the good and the bad. Linger is a melancholy song, a song of longing, a song where emotions that are slipping away but not gone yet are “tearing” the subject apart as the song describes. It’s about how these recurring feelings such as Offred’s constant reminder and reflections of love and loved ones. We see it tearing her apart, a line in the song, when she thinks of Luke and realizes that she’s slowly losing that wisp of a feeling when Offred says “And he was, the loved. One. I say. Is, is, only two letters, you stupid shit, can’t you manage to remember it, even a short word like that?”. You can see how much these vivid but distant memories are affecting her when Offred says “I wipe my sleeve across my face.” She is emotionally wounded by these feelings, and Linger reflects those emotions of not wanting memories to “fade” as Dolores O’Riordan the lead singer of the Cranberries emphasizes throughout the piece.

It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World - James Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvlioQ2Ot2c

James Brown’s It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World sounds on the surface to just be about the ways men rule the world. The ways men control everything, and everyone. Under the surface and within the lyrics through the song contains a theme that is subtly similarly present in The Handmaid’s Tale. In the song, James Brown sings “This is a man’s, man’s, man’s world. But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl” In The Handmaid’s Tale it is the men who hold the majority of the power, or at least they hold positions of theoretical power. Nonetheless, they hold the highest rank and therefore can get away with more and have different duties than others below them. The commanders perform the ceremonies, they oversee the house. Angels are allowed to hold guns. The men have the power in this society that is undeniable. At the same time none of the men of this society can have absolute power without the women of Gilead. Women play a crucial role in the world of Gilead even though it is structured by men. We see this theme when the commander requests to start seeing Offred alone in his quarters, they play scrabble and he requests a kiss, and says “Not like that,” he says. “As if you meant it.” like he has been missing any sort of real attention, any sort of true connections. We see how even in a society where the commanders who are men rule and have power and control they are unfulfilled and lonely, they lack companionship and real emotion even in a world where they run supreme it would be pointless without women, as James Brown says. None of it matters, “it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”.

Something in the way - Nirvana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VxdufqB9zg

Offred’s dreams and memories constantly hunt her, they are relentless. Although they are hard to remember and hard to consider they keep her grounded they keep her from feeding into the manipulation of Gilead. It’s a wedge between her mind and their mold. It’s what the song Something In The Way by Nirvana reminds me of. The song is dreary and repetitive just like Offred’s circumstances, the same boring things every day, and the only thing that stands “in the way” are her memories, the things that make her an individual, the individual Gilead is trying to strip away. Offred is in her room when she reflects on some traumatic events that led to the place she is now and she realizes “I don’t want to be telling this story. I don’t have to tell it. I don’t have to tell anything, to myself or to anyone else. I could just sit here, peacefully. I could withdraw.” but in saying this, in not wanting to tell her stories, the something that Nirvana repeats slips away and she thinks “Why fight?”. This song both in its lyrics and musical elements reflects Offred’s mindset in relation to her memories and the painful benefits they have in keeping her an individual.

Stronger Than Me - Amy Winehouse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N6IjW-2fb4

The handmaids are expected to be simply a vessel for childbirth. They are expected. The aunts are expected to be forceful and constantly forcing Gilead propaganda down your throat. The guardians are meant to be courteous and respectful. The commanders are expected to do their “job”. Everyone in The Handmaid’s Tale is supposed to be something. Stronger than Me by Amy Winehouse is about the expectations in gender roles, Winehouse throughout the song says things like “All I need is for my man to live up to his role” and “You should be stronger than me”. Harping on the expectations she has for the role of a man. I feel like this heavily relates to the ways Gilead expects the people enslaved by its ideology to act and to be. Gildeasd expects the women to be childbirths, to only exist to have commander babies as is shown in the line from one of Offred’s thoughts “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.” Sometimes expectations base all a person is, in the song Winehouse only talks about the expectations hse has and how the man isn’t living up to them, it’s the same in Gilead, the women are their expectations and if they live up to them or not.