Mitski in The Handmaid's Tale

Liquid Smooth by Mitski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfurc6KcMwk

Liquid smooth by Mitski is about recognizing that youth and beauty is a privilege. This privilege wants other people to notice it in you before it is gone; referring to getting older and plain.

Liquid smooth implements the idea of a woman’s body being seen as an object to men “my skin is plump and full of life”. We see Offred referring to this idea with her own body. “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation… Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (pg. 73)

The women in The Handmaid’s Tale are living in a civilization where the youth are more fortunate. Older women like the wives aren’t successful the way the handmaids are. Yes they have power compared to them, wealth and husbands. But they can’t have what is mostly important in the society of Gilead, children.

Once more to see you by Mitski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9yfLGT_ozQ

Once more to see you by Miski explores the strong desire to be with someone even with the circumstances of trying to maintain an image to the public. Mitski explores this by singing about important moments individuals experienced together.

“If you would let me give you pinky promise kisses, Then I wouldn’t have to scream your name. Atop of every roof in the city of my heat. If I could see you. Once more to see you.”

In The Handmaid’s Tale, the main character Offred is alone and often depressed. Her past life is gone, and the person she loved the most is as well. Throughout the book, Offred calls out to Luke in hopes he will hear her. “I looked up at the blind plaster eye in the ceiling… I wanted to feel Luke lying beside me, but there wasn’t room” (pg. 52). Offred’s state of mind is fragile and the more time passes, her deepest wish is to have someone by her side.

Bag of bones by Mitski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf0rzDVijC0

Bag of Bones by Mitski is a song about feeling trapped in one’s routine while being lost and looking for an escape. Mitski explores the song’s character as their messy room, translating to the chaos of their life and mind. “I’m all used up, pretty boy, over, and over again.” We see this feeling of being trapped with Offred’s character multiple times in The Handmaid’s Tale.

In chapter 7, Offred is able to explore the memories of her life in hopes to escape. The memories in the beginning are good and later become dark. The complete tone shift shows the chaos that is going in her mind. “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance.” (pg. 39) Offred is tired and deeply wants to escape, she has hopes but hopes might not last forever.

Wife by Mitski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7FwNXxgl10

In the song Wife by Mitski, the deep exploration of the struggle of women defining themselves in relation to their marriage shows a sense of entrapment. Offred is not the only one that might feel trapped. Every woman character seems to have their own trouble relating to their new life. The chorus reveals that the speaker feels pain to her partner by their inability to have children together. Like Serena Joy, she daydreams about having a song and giving a name of her own.

The speaker in the second verse wants to break away from the “cliff” and find her own path but she is again held back by her inability to give children. Serena Joy is met with this fate. She spends time gardening for this exact reason. “Maybe it’s just something to keep the wives busy, to give them a sense of purpose.” (pg. 13) Hoping to take her mind away from everything she can’t give, she does things in hope to give something.

Me and my husband by Mitski

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU_Dbxciei8

Me and my husband by Mitski explores the idea of companionship, unconditional love, and stability. Mitski reflects upon the dying good moments and the comfort of her marriage. The song explores the character’s sentiment towards her husband and that she is grateful to be able to depend on the man in her life.

This dynamic is seen with Serena Joy and the commander. Eversince the new age of Gilead has set in place, her relationship with the commander has undergone turbulent waters. With her inability to give children, their relationship is a mere picture and something to display stableness in the family. “As for my husband, she said, he’s just that. My husband. I want that to be perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final.” (pg. 16) With her old life gone and everything she had power over, Serena Joy guards what she does have heavily in hopes she won’t lose it again.